# Grounding



## DM

Hi, glad the forum is online again. Pitty that so many good posts dissappeared - we have to rebuild the knowledge again. I'll kick of with grounding techniques.

Grounding Skills are interventions that assist in keeping a person in the present. They help to reorient a person to reality and the immediate here-and-now. Grounding skills are useful in many ways. They are particularly helpful with symptoms of dissociation (dp/dr). They can help a person prevent dissociating. However, they can be used to help re-orient oneself when experiencing intense and overwhelming feelings and intense anxiety. They help to regain one's mental focus.

Pull up the daily newspaper on your browser, like The Washington Post. Notice the date and read a current article. 
Stomp your feet to remind yourself where you are. Press your feet firmly into the ground. 
Try to notice where you are, your surroundings including the people, the sounds like the t.v. or radio. 
Concentrate on your breathing. Take a deep cleansing breath from your diaphragm. Count the breaths as you exhale. Make sure you breath slowly so you don't hyperventilate. 
Cross your legs and arms. Feel the sensations of you controlling your body. 
Call a friend and ask them to talk with you about something you have recently done together. 
Take a warm relaxing bubble bath or a warm shower. Feel the water touching your body. 
Mentally remind yourself that the memory was then, and it is over. Give yourself permission to not think about it right now. 
Keep a rubberband on your wrist and pluck it -- feel the slight sting as it touches your skin. 
Realize that no matter how small you feel, you are an adult. If you have kids think about them now. 
Find your pulse on your wrist and count the beats per minute. Concentrate on feeling the blood pulse throughout your body. 
Go outside and sit against a tree. Feel the bark pressing against your body. Smell the outside aromas like the grass and the leaves. Run your fingers through the grass. 
If you are sitting, stand. If you are standing sit. Pay attention to the movement change. Reminding yourself -- you are in control. 
Rub your palms, clap your hands. Listen to the sounds. Feel the sensation. 
Speak out loud. Say your name, or your childs name or significant others name. 
Hold something that you find comforting, for some it may be a stuffed animal or a blanket. Notice how it feels in your hands. Is it hard or soft? 
Eat something. How does it taste, sweet or sour? Is it warm or cold? 
If you have a pet (a dog, cat, hamster, gerbil) use that moment to touch them. Feel their fur and speak the animals name out loud. 
Go to a mirror and make yourself smile. Watch your reflection as the expression changes. How does it make you feel. 
Visualize a bright red STOP sign to help you stop the flashback and/or memory 
Step outside. If it's warm, feel the sun shining down on your face. If it's cold, feel the breeze. How does it make your body feel? 
During a non-crisis time make a list of things that are in your house and what room they are in. Give this list to friends that you can call during a flashback so they can help remind you what is around you. 
During a non-crisis time make a list of positive affirmations. Print them out and keep them handy for when you are having a flashback. During a flashback read the list out loud. 
Take a walk outside and notice your neighborhood. Pay attention to houses and count them. 
Listen to familiar music and sing along to it. Dance to it. 
Make a list of known triggers and give it to your therapist. Ask them if they can help you find a way to desensitize those triggers so they aren't quite so powerful. 
Write in your journal. Pay attention to yourself holding the pencil. Write about what you are remembering and visualize the memory traveling out of you into the pencil and onto the paper. Tear the paper up or seal it in an envelope. Give it to your therapist for safekeeping. 
Go online and talk with an online friend. Write an email. 
Imagine yourself in a safe place. Feel the safety and know it. 
Watch a favorite t.v. program or video. Play a video game. 
If you have a garden, work in it. Feel your hands running through the dirt. 
Wash dishes or clean your house. 
Meditate if you are comfortable with it. 
Exercise. Ride a bike, stationary or otherwise. Lift weights. Do jumping jacks.

I didn't have a checklist like this - I had to figure it out myself. It is very helpful - I start with the news on the television and go to sleep with news on the radio. Harsh reality (and speaking to others) is the best way of grounding (staying in touch with reality) - however, although these tricks help you in reducing the symptoms - cure is psychological (ie becoming the real self and doing the things you really want - feeling).


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## Guest

I will send you a pm


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## person3

I love your avatar Des..that is freakin' hilarious.

Also, I printed out a thread you replied on that Nanilove started, as well as "Reality is what you feel" (i think, hey it is a classic!)...before the board got hacked...haha whoever did it couldn't take it ALL away could they!


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## DM

yep - they can take our site but they cannot take our knowledge (and need for control  ); anyway I have some good threads on paper as well (some threads by our honourable Ms Baker); I'll scan them and will put them back online. Good to hear from you again Person!


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## Guest

Thank you so much for the advice, Des. I am new to this forum but have suffered from what I think is DP for almost 10 years (although, officially the doctors have me down as suffering from anxiety/depression).

I honestly didn't know that there was a community of fellow sufferers such as this and it makes such a difference.

Just out of interest, did you get your symptoms of DP all of a sudden or was it a gradual thing? I remember about 10 years ago that it happened very suddenly for me after a distressing event - it was almost like I had fractured or dislocated my mind (I know that sounds weird!). I have had that drunken, dreamlike feeling ever since. All the best to you, P


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## Guest

My DP was brought about very suddenly it seems, about 8 months ago. I thought I was experiencing depression and thought I may be bipolar, but now I think I was getting the symptoms confused. Although, I WAS suffering from depression as well. Anyway, my experience with DP was quite sudden, within a day or two it seems.

The human brain is equally frightening, mysterious, and surprising.

russ


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## DM

Well - IT struck me all of a sudden - while walking out of a supermarket, 28 February 1992, 12:48, on my way to my business economics lecture (hey - scary stuff I know :lol: ). I was suddenly looking at all the things I knew by heart with amazement - like being stoned/drunk but KNOWING I was sober and it was an illusion. Felt like melting with the environment, the people I spoke with and even with myself...It scared the hell out off me! Then I got panic attacks! But...learned to know that anxiety and especially avoidance (and pretending/acting) caused all this...I was even hospitalized because THEY thought I was on the brink of psychosis...NOT! I overcame it by...becoming more and more myself...Later more :wink:


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## DM

By the way - it is anxiety: when I chomped away my anxiety (by loads of drugs) I was able to think rationally and felt happy etc. DP is pretty easy to beat, but DR is a bit harder...Don't know why - once I entered and did the scary stuff I was avoiding the DP diminished (sounds like piece of cake - however took me a bloody year) - but the DR stayed; althoughbeaten it still comes back once in a while; I think it has to do with social anxiety :?


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## Guest

You know I am still not sure of the difference between DP and DR - can someone help me out here?

Until I searched on the internet recently, I had no idea that there were such terms to describe my condition (I have just been diagnosed as 'anxious/depressive' by all of the doctors I have seen over the years but they have never taken my complaints of feeling 'unreal' seriously). I don't know if this is the case where you live but I find it quite unsettling the we - the sufferers - seem to know a lot more about the condition than the experts that we often go to for help!


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## Guest

Just curious, has anyone tried or had success with acupuncture?? I have seen this work on my ex-girlfriend's SRD (nerve disorder) and so I know that acupuncture is something that works for other things, and so I'm very serious about going to try it out on DP/DR here soon.

laters, and please know that you are all in my thoughts!

(we gotta stick together)
russ


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## desperado

good post!!


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## Universal

http://www.guidetopsychology.com/pmr.htm


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