According to mental health charity Mind, one in four people experience a mental health problem of some kind each year in England. Many mental health conditions, including anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), can cause people to feel overwhelmed, experience negative emotions, and sometimes have unpleasant flashbacks.
Grounding is a technique that can be used during moments of distress to help distract people from their thoughts and bring them back to the present moment.
Here, we’ll explore what grounding is, who it might be helpful for, and how to use it.
What is grounding?
Grounding is defined as a set of strategies that are designed to help people manage traumatic memories, anxious feelings, or emotional pain.
The basic purpose of grounding is to bring a person’s focus back to the present moment. It differs from practises like mindfulness because it purely focuses on connecting with the external world, rather than focusing inwardly on yourself, too.
Grounding techniques involve visualisation and connecting with the senses to provide distraction from unwanted thoughts and feelings. Examples include focusing on the sensation of placing your hands in water or on the smell of a strong scent like lavender.
Grounding isn’t intended as a formal treatment for mental health conditions, but as a useful tool to help people manage their symptoms.
When can grounding be useful?
Grounding is primarily used to help people cope with and detach themselves from unwanted memories, flashbacks, and negative emotions.
During these times, it’s easy for our emotions to take over and influence our thoughts and physical responses. Using grounding techniques can be a way to interrupt the body’s natural response to distress and help return the brain to a place of safety.
Grounding can be used in nearly every situation, but can be particularly helpful for dealing with…
- Traumatic flashbacks, such as those common in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Difficult emotions like anger
- Feelings of distress and fear
- Nightmares
In turn, grounding can help people avoid turning to unhelpful coping mechanisms such as binge eating, excessive alcohol consumption, or self-harm.
What types of grounding techniques are there?
Generally speaking, grounding techniques can be separated into three different categories: physical, mental, and other.
Different techniques will work for different people, so it’s important to take the time to find what’s right for you. This might take a bit of trial and error, and that’s perfectly okay.
Below we’ll cover some common grounding techniques…
Physical grounding techniques
Physical grounding techniques involve engaging your five senses or using objects to help you cope with feelings of distress.
For example, you could sip on a hot or cold drink and focus on how the cup or mug feels in your hands, or what you can taste; hold onto a soft blanket or toy and notice their texture; or take a short walk and focus on the smells, sounds, and sights around you.
If you’re not sure where to start, the 5-4-3-2-1 method can be useful.
The 5-4-3-2-1 method involves working through each of your five senses, listing things you notice around you one by one. For example…
- Five things you can see
- Four things you can touch
- Three things you can hear
- Two things can smell
- One thing you can taste
Mental grounding techniques
Mental grounding techniques involve cognitive and behavioural exercises to shift and reframe negative emotions into more realistic or positive ones.
Examples include…
- Describing your situation objectively to try and separate facts from emotions
- Reciting something in order (for example, saying the alphabet backwards or counting in fours)
- Naming items in a category (thinking of as many romance novels as you can, for example)
- Using affirmations like “This will pass” or “I am okay. I am safe”.
Other grounding techniques
Other grounding techniques are those that don’t necessarily fit into either category.
For example, some people find it useful to call a loved one for a chat; to listen to sounds from nature like birds or rolling waves; or to laugh out loud, even when it feels difficult at first.
For more ideas, you might like to have a read of this list of 30 grounding techniques and how they help from Choosing Therapy.
How can I start using grounding techniques?
A huge benefit of grounding techniques is that they can be used anywhere, at any time, and no one has to know. You might find you have some grounding techniques that you use at home and some when you’re out.
When you first start with grounding, it’s best to keep your eyes open, so that you’re aware of everything that’s going on around you.
It’s also important to avoid waiting for your levels of distress to get too overwhelming. If you can, try grounding yourself when you first start to notice stressful emotions.
When possible, it can also be helpful to rate your mood or level of distress before and after your grounding exercise on a scale of 0-10, so that you can see the impact. Even if a technique doesn’t work at first, it’s worth sticking at it for a little while and practising to see if things change over time.
Grounding isn’t always easy and it’s completely normal to need time to find the right techniques for you. Like any skill, grounding takes practise, so remember to be patient with yourself.
Some people also find it useful to practise grounding when they’re feeling okay, as this can take less effort and mean you know what to do when you need it the most. You might also like to make a list of any triggers that tend to provoke your symptoms, as this can help you feel more prepared and anticipate situations where you may need to use grounding.
Final thoughts...
With more people than ever before struggling with their mental health, grounding can be a useful technique to help people cope with and manage distressing emotions.
Remember, grounding takes practise, but it becomes easier with time. Plus, everyone’s different so the most important thing is finding a technique that works for you.
For further reading, head over to the healthy mind section of our website. Here, you’ll find everything from tips for building confidence to information on counselling, therapy, focus, and motivation.
Have you used grounding techniques before? Do you think grounding could be useful for you? We’d be interested to hear from you in the comments below.