Grounding Techniques

Grounding Yourself Your pectoral muscles involuntary tighten, breathing gets harder and harder, your starting to sweat and you have no clue why. Hands to start to shake as you grab your chest from the pain and discomfort, each breath gets harder than the next one proceeding it. Your heart is now racing, are you having a heart attack, are you slowly dying? Your mind races from one outcome to the next, drawing blank conclusions trying to determine the cause; you scream for help inside your head, as your body constantly shifts back and forth from fight or flight mode. Hopelessness sets in, your body starts to tremble uncontrollably, your breathing has no rhyme or reason, as it becomes shallow and labored. You grow dizzy and nauseous as you look …show more content…
Grounding is a particular type of coping strategy that is designed to "ground" you in or immediately connect you with the present moment. Grounding is often used as a way of coping with flashbacks or dissociation for people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In this way, grounding can be considered a variant of mindfulness. (https://www.verywell.com/grounding-techniques-for-ptsd-2797300) The technique focuses on utilizing the body’s five senses; touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound to bring yourself back to reality and recover quicker from an anxiety attack. According to Staff Psychologist Christine Calmes, Ph.D. at the Perry Point Veterans Affairs Mental Health facility, “grounding is one of the best techniques you can use to relieve your symptoms from enduring an anxiety attack”(Calmes, Christine. Personal Interview. 15 June. 2016.) Doctor Calmes also stated that grounding is an efficient technique that is suitable to use in place of anxiety medicines. Grounding has no side effects compared to that of prescribed medicines to treat anxiety, and can be done at anytime or …show more content…
One doctor who firmly believes on the benefits of the grounding technique is Kim Skelley, MS, CRNP-PMH Board Certified Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner at Perry Point Veterans Affairs Mental Health facility. Dr. Skelley proclaims, “Grounding is one the best techniques developed and is used to treat combat veterans who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) with a very high success rate. (Skelley, Kim. Personal Interview. 21. June. 2016.)” Grounding can even be found in the DSM-V (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edition), and is recognized for contributions in helping our wounded warriors adapt back into civilian life. In the United States the DSM serves as a universal authority for psychiatric diagnosis. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSM-5) The grounding technique can be utilized in two different ways; sensory and cognitive awareness. Both ways are recognized and used in therapy and treatment for PTSD, anxiety and panic attacks; and may even help those who suffer from agoraphobia, or those who don’t feel safe outside their own