10 Grounding Skills To Help Cope with Flashbacks Related to Trauma
You can learn how to cope with flashbacks by using some of these skills to keep you in the present moment!
One of the most common symptoms associated with PTSD and trauma that my clients want help with are flashbacks.
What Are Trauma Flashbacks?
Flashbacks are when you re-experience a traumatic memory in such a way that you think you are currently reliving it. A flashback can be a temporary moment where you are still able to be connected to your present or you may lose all awareness of what’s currently happening around you and be immediately transported back to your trauma. For example, the smell of a perfume or cologne can remind you of a former abuser and instantly take you back to the abuse you experienced.
Triggers of Past Trauma
In order to help cope with flashbacks, it’s very helpful to know what your triggers are. For example, being around certain people or going to specific places/events may trigger flashbacks of past trauma. I don’t suggest you avoid these things, although people who have experienced trauma often do, I just recommend that try to learn what your triggers are so that you’re better prepared to handle them.
Grounding Skills Can Help You Cope With Trauma
In my trauma work with clients, I spend a lot of time teaching grounding techniques to help clients cope with flashbacks. As the name implies, grounding is a particular way of coping that is designed to "ground" you to keep you in the present moment. Grounding techniques help us be in the present moment rather than in the traumatic experience of the past. It’s also really good to use your five senses (sound, touch, smell, taste, and sight) when trying to ground yourself.
Here are a few grounding techniques you can try:
Look around the space you’re in and notice what’s around you- colors, objects, and people.
Notice and listen to the sounds around you. Do you hear cars, voices, music, birds chirping?
Make sure your eyes are open and if you’re in a dark space, turn on a light.
Notice your body. How do your clothes feel on your skin? How is the chair or floor supporting you? Can you feel your toes in your shoes?
Move your body. Make sure to stretch, dance, clap your hands, or walk around. If you can’t do that because of your current setting, wiggle your toes or rub your hands on your legs.
Breathe. When we get scared, we either forget to breathe or breathe too quickly. Make sure to take slow deep breathes to help calm your body.
Ask yourself questions in order to bring yourself into the present moment: Where am I right now? What day is it? What are my plans for the day?
Recite a positive affirmation: It might help to have a few affirmations or mantras already written down in your iPhone. Try “I am safe right now”, “I am in control”, or “This will pass”.
Eat something: Mindfully savor a mint, candy, chocolate, or any kind of food. If it’s something sour, even better!
Hold on to something: Notice how this item feels in your hand. This can be a piece of ice, a tissue, a pen. Anything. If you don’t have an item around that you can grab on to, squeeze your hands as tight as you can.
You Are NOT Going Crazy
Remember that flashbacks are a common symptom for people who have experienced trauma. You are not going crazy. Something bad happened to you and has left a lasting impression in your brain. These grounding skills are a great way to cope with flashbacks but the best way to prevent them is to get professional help. The fact that you are experiencing flashbacks is a sign that you are struggling to cope with the traumatic event you experienced.
NEED A LITTLE MORE? LET ME HELP YOU!
If you live in New York and are interested in getting started with a therapist who specializes in trauma, I’m located in the Scarsdale area of Westchester and would love to work with you! To learn more about me and all the counseling services that I offer, explore my therapy website and feel free to send me an email at mguerrero@mindmattersmhc.com.
I want to be sure you are comfortable with this process from start to finish. If you still have insurance and procedural questions after reading this website, I am happy to schedule a free, 15-minute consultation first.
ADDITIONAL WESTCHESTER, NY THERAPY SERVICES
From my Scarsdale therapy practice, I want to bring peace and contentment to all types of individuals and families. This is why I provide therapy for adults, therapy for teens, and other specialized techniques such as EMDR, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Cognitive Processing Therapy. In fact, I can support anyone in the state through online therapy in New York. If you want to explore these options further, let’s connect!
Loving Yourself After Surviving Trauma
Here are some of my #TheraTips for how to show yourself the love you deserve after surviving trauma.
If you’ve struggled with self-esteem and self-care, learning to love yourself doesn’t happen overnight. It’s even more complex if you’ve been through trauma and have been made to feel unworthy or unlovable. But I’m here to remind you that you are worthy of love and so very deserving of it.
Tips for Boosting Your Self Love from a Trauma Therapist
After helping so many survivors, I am thrilled to share my best #TheraTips for how to show yourself the love you deserve after surviving trauma.
Self-Love Tip #1: Stop Hiding Yourself from the World
People who have experienced trauma often find themselves avoiding. Avoiding people, avoiding attention, avoiding intimacy, avoiding feelings, or avoiding anything that could remind them at all about the trauma. I get it. Avoidance keeps you safe. Avoidance keeps you from the unknown. But avoidance also keeps you from living and fully embracing what the world has to offer you and what you can offer the world. I’ve worked with many trauma survivors who have hidden so much of themselves from others, that they also realize that in many ways, they have also been hiding from themselves. Have you gotten to know who you are after your trauma? If your trauma occurred when you were a child, how does your adult-self remember your inner child? How has that impacted how you see yourself as an adult today? I encourage you to think about letting yourself shine through, not just to other people, but to yourself as well.
Self-Love Tip #2: Don’t force yourself to find meaning or a silver lining in your trauma. But if you see it, don’t shy away from it!
Meaning is one of the values I highly prioritize in my counseling work with clients. Meaning is not something we can directly search for and obtain. It is an ongoing process we will struggle with throughout our entire lives. In my work with clients, I’ve found that lots of people are struggling with a lack of meaning or purpose in their lives, especially in these modern times. Going through a trauma impacts our lives in such a way that sometimes the meaning in our lives is even harder to recognize or can even be non-existent. Some trauma survivors struggle with enjoying activities that they used to love or have difficulty experiencing positive emotions like joy or happiness. However, it’s also common for people who have gone through trauma, to experience more meaning in their life is at least one way and see a silver lining. The most common things I’ve heard include developing an appreciation for the little things in life like a sunny day or a good meal, feeling more aligned with their spirituality, embracing their relationships with family and friends, and feeling more resilient and even proud of overcoming their trauma. I don’t encourage anyone to force themselves to find meaning in their trauma or to try to justify why it happened, but if you are experiencing some of these positive changes, I want you to embrace it.
Self-Love Tip #3: Accept Where You Are
Loving yourself after trauma involves accepting that some of your interactions out in the world are no longer going to be the same. You may not be eager to open yourself to others without getting to know them extremely well. You may not be the risk-taker you used to be. You may not want to interact with other people. There’s nothing wrong with that. After a child touches a hot stove and gets burned, I would assume and actually hope they’d be more skeptical to touch the stove again without knowing for sure that it’s off. It’s the same with you. Whether you’ve experienced sexual abuse in childhood, physical abuse as an adult, or emotional withdrawal from someone you loved and depended on, I would expect you to be at least a little more cautious in your personal relationships. I often remind my clients that allowing yourself to experience true love from friends and family is part of what makes life so worthwhile. But trauma recovery takes time. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Other people may not understand you, but you do. You know why you’re protecting yourself. And I do too.
Self-Love Tip #4: Choose to Show Yourself Some Love
If you’ve been through trauma as a young child, you most likely grew up knowing what it was like to feel unloved. Being unloved not only includes the actual experience of abuse but neglect as well. After years of this, I get why you’ve learned to feel unworthy of love. Even if your trauma happened later on in life, you know what I’m talking about-- that feeling of not being good enough or not being worthy of love and attention. You actually may still be waiting for that love from a parent or partner that you never got. But that kind of love you’ve been yearning for probably isn’t going to ever come from them. YOU need to learn how to give yourself the love you have not received. Do you know why? Because you are worthy of love. So very worthy of love. People often ask me, “How do I love myself?” That’s such a big question and the answers may look different for each person.
One thing I usually say is that loving yourself is more than just the feeling of love but more like the act of love.
These are some of my favorite acts of self-love:
Participate in activities you enjoy (either alone or with someone else)
Spend time with the people that you love and that love you
Enjoy healthy foods but also indulge in a dessert that you love and enjoy every single bite!
Find your favorite positive mantras and quotes and live by them. My favorites are “This too shall pass.”, “Beautiful are those whose brokenness gives birth to transformation & wisdom.”, and “I am not what has happened to me. I am what I choose to become.”
Focus on what’s great about you. This can be harder for some people than others. If it is, start with the basics, “ I’m a really good listener” or “ I make my friends laugh a lot”.
Prioritize your physical and mental health. Go to the gym, yoga, kickboxing, whatever! Just get your body moving. And find a therapist- preferably one who specializes in trauma. Having a trusted and skilled professional guide you through your trauma recovery will make all the difference for you in your journey. Even if you think your trauma isn’t really affecting you, it’s worth going to a therapist, even if it’s just to confirm that everything is okay.
Need a Little More? Let me help you!
If you live in New York and are interested in getting started with a therapist who specializes in trauma, I’m located in the Scarsdale area of Westchester and would love to work with you! To learn more about me and all the counseling services that I offer, explore my therapy website and feel free to send me an email at mguerrero@mindmattersmhc.com.
Wishing you all so much love because YOU deserve it! ~Dr. G.
BEGINNING THERAPY IN SCARSDALE, NY
Taking time for your mental health is key to overall wellbeing, especially as a young adult or working professional. Let’s get you feeling good so you can keep doing amazing things for the world! To begin counseling in my Westchester counseling office, follow these simple steps:
Click the button below to schedule our first session.
Meet with me, Dr. Minerva Guerrero, a professional and experienced therapist.
Begin to feel more peace and less worry about your life!
I want to be sure you are comfortable with this process from start to finish. If you still have insurance and procedural questions after reading this website, I am happy to schedule a free, 15-minute consultation first.
MORE THERAPY SERVICES IN WESTCHESTER, NY
From my Scarsdale therapy practice, I want to help you feel more comfortable, confident and connected to others. This is why I also provide therapy for teens, therapy for adults, trauma therapy, therapy for anxiety, and specialized techniques such as EMDR, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Cognitive Processing Therapy. If you want to explore these options further, let’s connect!