5 Ways to Feel more Grounded

Transcript and Further Thoughts

Today’s topic is dissociation. I’m going to do a brief video here. I actually did two podcasts on this that people found absolutely fascinating. It was Episode 4 and 5. There’s a part one and part two about dissociation. If you want to learn more about it, then I suggest listening to those.

Part 1 – “Who is That? Our Different Selves Part 1″

Part 2 – “Our Different Selves Part 2 – Dissociative States”

Let’s talk about a couple of things that you can do if you find that you’re dissociating, if you’re feeling unreal like you’re not present. That’s what dissociation feels like. Like you’re outside of yourself somehow, and you want to get back into yourself. We work on these particularly with borderline personality disorder in my office in Broward County / Fort Lauderdale area. Also when I work with anxiety. Addicts often describes this –  that they’re sometimes trying to get to this feeling. There’s a whole range of this, and one of my friends and I joke,  “Is it just run of the mill dissociation?” Like you’re standing in front of your sink doing dishes or is it more intense? That feeling varies.

There’s a couple things you can do that come straight out of DBT and Dialectical Behavior Therapy Workbook.

Treatment for DID and BPD in Broward

Treatment for DID and BPD in Broward

One – Cold Water

One is cold water. Putting your face in cold water or putting ice bags on your cheeks and your face. This actually elicits a dive response in your body. It gives an actual reflex that goes on in your body, and it brings you back into your body. basically.

I’m going to tell you exactly what it does. The dive response slows down the heart. It slows down the blood flow to the organs, non-essential organs. It’s redirected to the brain and heart. What a wonderful thing, right? The blood flow is redirected to the brain and heart. I just think that there’s some lovely poetry in those words as well as just being anatomically correct. What happens is that you start focusing there instead of the strong feelings that you’re having, that are perhaps overtaking your body and causing you to dissociate.

Two – Exercise

Exercise will bring you back to your body. Yoga or going for a run or going to the gym, lifting some weights. That kind of stuff will bring you back into your body.

Three – Call a Friend

Calling a friend will often bring you back into your body. Talk about what’s going on. Let them know what you’re feeling, where you are, what you’re doing. Those are just a couple of strategies. Let’s see if there’s one more here.

Four – Breathing

Breathing! I teach breathing all the time. Deep breathing, paced breathing, counting your breath will bring you back into your body.

Five – Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Relaxation, like a full body progressive muscle relaxation will bring you back into your body often. You have to be careful with that. Sometimes people describe this feeling of dissociating in meditation, so you have to see what is good for you and what works for you. If you’re really concentrating on the muscles and flexing the muscle and releasing the muscle that often will bring you back into your body.

hypnosis treatment browardThose are a couple of tips. I hope they help you today. If you’re struggling with this, I really encourage you to get some help with it from a practitioner in your area. If you’re local to Broward County and the Fort Lauderdale area, I’m happy to see you and help you learn to feel more grounded, less anxious, and more real. We do this with a mix of talk therapy, DBT informed treatment and hypnosis treatment. Just give me a call to set up an appointment.

Remember there’s free meditation hypnosis on my website. There’s one for emotional stability, so if you’re struggling with that just go and sign up for the newsletter, and on the thank you page there’s like three or four there, and that’s one of them. All right, I’ll see you next week.

Yours in health,
Dr. Liz