What Is Grounding Or Detaching From Emotional Pain?
By Dr Huzaifa Ashraf
MD, Psychiatrist, Chicago, Los Angeles
Reading Time:
1 minute
Grounding is a simple strategy to detach from emotional pain. It works by distracting from outside world and focusing towards self.
Grounding anchors you to the present and to reality
Many people with substance use issues and trauma struggle with either feeling too much emotion or too little (numbing and dissociation).
Grounding helps you to attain balance between the two – conscious of reality and able to tolerate it
Grounding can be done anytime, in anyplace and anywhere. It’s not the same as relaxation and is much more active, focuses on distraction strategies and is intended to help negative feelings. It’s believed to be more effective for PTSD* than relaxation training.
I will be discussing more about grounding techniques in a next article.
*Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
LAMSA’s note: Thank you Dr Ashraf for your collaboration.
