3 Grounding Techniques for When You Feel Triggered

By: Megan Samuels, MSW, LCSW-C, Eating Disorder and Trauma Therapist

If you have experienced trauma, triggers happen when stimuli activate the nervous system, feeling similar to the activation or arousal that happened during the traumatic event or situation.  This activation can be activated by any of the 5 senses: sight, touch, sound, smell, and/or taste.  For example, someone who was in a car accident hit by a red car may feel triggered when they see a red car driving on the road.

Triggers can decrease for you over time, especially when using a trauma-focused evidence based treatment modality, such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy.  

Phase 2 of EMDR therapy is known as the preparation phase.  In this phase, you will learn resources and ways to ground yourself to cope with triggers that come up in the moment.  These skills and resources will help you to feel prepared when moving forward with the other phases of EMDR therapy (including phases 4-7, which are reprocessing phases).

Here are some grounding techniques to try out when you next feel triggered:

1. Container

• Container is a grounding technique that involves creating a real or imagined space to temporarily hold overwhelming thoughts, feelings, or urges until you're in a better position to process them.
• It's important to understand that this technique isn’t about avoiding or permanently locking away those emotions. Instead, you're placing them in a safe mental "holding space"—not to forget, but to return to later when you have the time, support, or therapeutic setting needed to work through them.
• More information about the container, in addition to a handout explaining the skill, can be found HERE!

2. 5,4,3,2,1

• This grounding exercise helps to bring you back into the present moment using the 5 senses.  One thing I like about this exercise is that you can do it whenever and it can be discreet (for example if you are in a work meeting).  
  • The first thing that you do is notice 5 things that you can see.  Label them for yourself as you count the 5 things. 
    • Ex: “1 - I see a brown book.  2 - I see a red bag…”
  • Notice 4 things that you can touch.  Label them for yourself as you count the 4 things. 
    • Ex: “1 - I feel a soft blanket...”
  • Think of 3 things that you can hear.  Label them for yourself as you count the 3 things. 
    • Ex: “1 - I hear my dog barking in the next room...”
  • See if you can smell anything.  Notice 2 things that you can smell.  Label them for yourself as you count the 2 things. 
    • Ex: “1 - I smell my peppermint candle...”
  • Notice 1 thing that you can taste.  Label them for yourself as you count that thing.
    • Ex: “1 - I taste the toothpaste in my mouth.”  If you cannot taste anything, think of one thing that you might want to taste (my go to is imagining tasting chocolate chip cookies).

3. Sensory Experiences

• Sometimes our brains get stuck in what I like to call “trauma-time,” which is when our trauma memories are running the show and we don’t have access to the parts of our brain that tell us that the trauma is no longer happening and that we are safe-enough (like the pre-frontal cortex).  
• Sensory experiences can help our pre-frontal cortex come back online so we can stop the loop of being triggered.  These experiences can include taking a warm bubble bath, taking a cold shower (similar to the DBT TIPP skill), sucking on sour candy, or spending time with a beloved pet.

Interested in seeing if trauma therapy and/or EMDR therapy is a good fit?  We offer trauma therapy and EMDR therapy in MD and VA.  Reach out to us for more information!

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The Eating Disorder Center is a premier outpatient eating disorder therapy center founded by Jennifer Rollin. We specialize in helping children, teens, and adults struggling with anorexia, binge eating disorder, bulimia, OSFED, and body image issues. We provide eating disorder therapy in Rockville, MD, easily accessible to individuals in Potomac, North Potomac, Bethesda, Olney, Silver Spring, Germantown, and Washington, D.C. We also provide eating disorder therapy in Arlington, Virginia and virtually throughout Virginia. Additionally, we offer eating disorder therapy virtually in Florida, Pennsylvania, and California. We provide eating disorder and EMDR trauma therapy in Rockville, Maryland and virtually throughout Maryland and Virginia. We provide eating disorder recovery coaching via Zoom to people worldwide. Connect with us through our website at www.theeatingdisordercenter.com