Grounding 101 by USVCP Staff Educators   What Is Grounding? Grounding is a set of simple strategies to detach from emotional pain (e.g. drug craving, self-harm impulses, anger, sadness).  Distraction works by focusing outward on the external world, rather than inward toward the self.  You can also think of it as “distraction,” “centering,” “a safe place,” “looking outward,” or “healthy detachment.”   Why Do Grounding? When you are overwhelmed with emotional pain, you need a way to detach so that you can gain control over your feelings and stay safe.  As long as you are grounding, you cannot possibly use substances or hurt yourself!  Grounding “anchors” you to the present and to reality. Many people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse struggle with feeling either too much (overwhelming emotions and memories) or too little (numbing and dissociation).  Using the grounding method, you attain a balance between the two:  conscious of reality and able to tolerate it.  Remember that pain is a feeling; it is not who you are.  When you get caught up in it, it feels like you are your pain, and that is all that exists.  But it is only one part of your experience - the others are just hidden and can be found again through grounding.   Guidelines Grounding can be done any time, any place, anywhere,  and no one has to know. Use grounding when you are faced with a trigger, engaged, dissociating, having a substance craving, or whenever your emotional pain goes above 6 (on a 0-10 scale).  Grounding puts healthy distance between you and these negative feelings. Keep your eyes open, scan the room, and turn the light on to stay in touch with the present. Rate your mood before and after grounding, to test whether it worked.  Before grounding, rate your level of emotional pain (0-10, where 10 means “extreme pain”).  Then rerate it afterward.  Has it gone down? No talking about negative feelings or journal writing – you want to distract away from negative feelings, not get in touch with them. Stay neutral – avoid judgments of “good” and “bad.”  For example, instead of “The walls are blue; I dislike blue because it reminds me of depression,” simply say “The walls are blue” and move on. Focus on the present, not the past or future. Note that grounding is not the same as relaxation training.  Grounding is much more active, focuses on distraction strategies, and is intended to help extreme negative feelings.  It is believed to be more effective than relaxation training for PTSD.   Ways of Grounding Three major ways of grounding are described below – mental, physical, and soothing.  “Mental” means focusing your mind; “physical” means focusing on your senses (e.g., touch, hearing); and “soothing” means talking to yourself in a very kind way.  You may find that one type works better for you, or all types may be helpful.    Mental Grounding Describe your environment in detail, using all your senses-for example, “The walls are white; there are five pink chairs; there is a wooden bookshelf against the wall…”Describe objects, sounds, textures, colors, smells, shapes, numbers, and temperature.  You can do this anywhere.  For example, on the subway:  “I’m on the subway.  I’ll see the river soon.  Those are the windows.  This is the bench.  The metal bar is silver.  The subway map has four colors.” Play a “categories” game with yourself.  Try to think of “types of dogs,” “jazz musicians,” “states that being with “A”,” “cars,” “TV shows,” “writers,” “sports,” “songs,” or “cities.” Do an age progression.  If you have regressed to a younger age (e.g., 8 years old), you can slowly work your way back up (e.g., I’m now 9; I’m now 10; I’m now 11...”) until you are back to your current age. Describe an everyday activity in great detail.  For example, describe a meal that you cook (e.g., “First I peel the potatoes and cut them into quarters; then I boil the water; then I make an herb marinade of oregano, basil, garlic, and olive oil…”). Imagine. Use an image: Glide along on skates away from your pain; change the TV channel to get to a better show; think of a wall as a buffer between you and your pain. Say a safety statement. “My name is __________; I am safe right now.  I am in the present, not the past.  I am located in __________; the date is __________.” Read something, saying each word to yourself.   Or read each letter backward so that you focus on the letters and not on meaning of words. Use humor.  Think of something funny to jolt yourself out of your mood. Count to 10 or say the alphabet, very s…l…o…w…l…y.

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