Today I want to talk about a technique called “grounding” and why it is incredibly useful when dealing with negative thoughts, anxiety and even some types of meltdown.
Lately we have been increasingly dealing with negative ruminations. Imagine a stuck record that keeps playing the same piece over and over. Autistic people can replay events or snippets of conversation over and over in their heads, creating a negative feedback loop. Our job is to break the loop before it leads to obsessive or dangerous behaviour.
The grounding technique is the best method that I’ve found for breaking this pattern. The best thing is that the technique is very easy to do and can be done anywhere. It can also be used in a variety of anxiety-based situations.
The aim of grounding is to return the person to the “real world” using things around them to get them to focus on something other than their obsessions.
The technique is as simple as 5...4...3...2..1
STOP!!!
Name 5 things you can see.
Name 4 things you can touch.
Name 3 things you can hear.
Name 2 things you can smell.
Name 1 thing you can taste.
Give it a try. This method really does work and it is easy. I hope it helps someone reading this.
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