Grounding Techniques for Trauma
What are Grounding Techniques for Trauma?
Many people who experience a traumatic event often carry this experience with them for years to come in the form of trauma responses such as intrusive, avoidant, re-experiencing, and altered arousal symptoms. Grounding Techniques for Trauma are tools for behavioral health providers to utilize when treating clients with a trauma history and can be helpful in mitigating moments of heightened emotion (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2014). These are distinct from the more well known trauma treatments, such as Prolonged Exposure and Cognitive Processing Therapy, and instead are acute interventions for destabilizing moments, rather than manualized treatment modalities. The goal of these grounding techniques is to center an individual in the present moment when they become overwhelmed by painful memories, strong feelings, or dissociations and return them to the here and now. Flashbacks to a traumatic event can be experienced as feeling real and that the event is happening currently, even if it's years after it actually occurred; grounding techniques are used to remind individuals that the threat they are experiencing is in the past and cannot harm them any longer.
Grounding Techniques Providers Can Use
There are a variety of methods for providers to choose from when it comes to Grounding Techniques for Trauma. One option is to directly ask the client to state what they observe. Re-orienting them to the safe space they are currently in and redirecting their focus away from a previous scary situation to focus on what they feel in this moment, such as their feet on the floor, can ground them. Moreover, prompting the individual to name what they see in the room, what's on their agenda for the rest of the day, and what they can touch and feel right now can distract them from the distressing thoughts and images and recenter them. Similarly, assisting the client in decreasing the intensity of what they are feeling by having them picture themselves lowering a switch, or “emotional dial” to reduce the volume in their head and bodies can help ground them. Additionally, posing strengths based questions to glean how they were able to survive and emphasizing their own ability and agency can be powerful. Finally, deep breathing practices where the client is encouraged to place their hands on their chest and stomach to feel the breaths entering and exiting can clear their minds.
Applicability of Grounding Techniques
While it is recommended that people who are experiencing symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder following exposure to a traumatic event seek mental health care from providers trained in evidence based treatments, these grounding techniques are excellent tools for all sorts of providers from doctors and nurses, to social workers and psychologists, to hospital and urgent care staff, to teachers and caregivers, to have in their back pockets if someone presents as dysregulated and in need of support to ground themselves into the present moment. These Grounding Techniques can be done anywhere, anytime, without any additional resources needed, and that makes them valuable and accessible tools to support anyone who needs it.
Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (US). (2014). Trauma-Informed Care in Behavioral Health Services. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US).
