Grounding Techniques for Trauma and Anxiety
If you experience high anxiety, moments of panic, or frequent hypervigilance, it can be difficult to know what to do in these moments when it feels like your emotions have taken over. Grounding techniques can help you find some relief and a little more control in these instances. These heightened states of anxiety and physiological arousal can stem from a traumatic experience and can sometimes be accompanied by flashbacks (i.e., reliving the memory as if you’re back there) or disassociation (i.e., detaching from reality through having an out-of-body experience or your mind “blacking out”).
Grounding can refocus you to the present moment to help shake off these overwhelming, anxious, or debilitating moments. Like any coping strategy, finding the right effective technique for you will involve trial and error. It’s important to try out different techniques to figure out what works best for you. So try not to get discouraged if some aren’t helpful or effective. That’s useful information to know, and you can pick other ones to try the next time.