Coping By Using the Five Senses
Whether you struggle with anger, anxiety, depression or any number of other uncomfortable feelings, learning basic coping skills can help ease your discomfort and help you develop resilience in difficult situations.
When do I use coping skills?
Coping skills are useful anytime you feel as if you are not in control of your emotions. Whether you are weighed down by persistent worry, are overwhelmed by anger or are having trouble focusing, having a set of coping skills in your mental health “toolkit” always comes in handy.
What are grounding techniques for anxiety?
Many effective coping skills revolve around the five senses and are known as mindfulness grounding techniques. These senses include sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. Purposefully directing these senses can help change the emotions we are experiencing. Our senses are hard-wired to the brain, which impacts how we think and feel. When we focus on our senses, what we see, hear, smell, taste and touch, we get “out of our heads” and focus on the present moment. This concept is called grounding.
Grounding is a useful tool for someone experiencing depression or anxiety. Depression is often a result of thinking and feeling about things that have already happened, which keeps us stuck in the past, while anxiety is worry about what might happen in the future. Grounding exercises help us realign our focus to where we are right now and what we are experiencing in the moment, reducing depressed or anxious feelings.
How do I practice grounding?
As with any new skill, grounding may require time and practice to feel natural.
People also respond differently to different types of coping strategies, so you may have to try out a few different types of coping skills until you find the one that works best for you.
First, find a comfortable space to sit where you will be free from distractions for about 10 minutes. Take note of your level of negative feelings and rate their intensity from 1 to 10. Start paying attention to your environment and surroundings.
Five – Name five things that you can see. For example, a table, a fan, a window, a cup or the floor.
Four – Name four things that you can hear, such as a fan blowing air, music playing, a lawnmower running outside or children playing.
Three – Name three things that you can physically feel. For example, the chair under your bum, the air moving across your skin and sweat rolling down your neck.
Two – Name two things that you can smell. And yes, this is getting more difficult. Maybe you can smell the fresh laundry drying, the shampoo in your hair, food cooking…keep trying, and you will find something you can smell.
One – Name one thing that you can taste, like the onions lingering in your mouth from lunch.
By the time you are done working through everything you can sense, the intensity of your negative emotions will likely have decreased. Which rating would you give your negative emotions now? Even a change from a 7 to a 6 in intensity is an improvement.
How can you make grounding techniques more effective?
You can also change things about your environment to add to your sensory experience. For example, you can add a relaxing scent such as lemon and lavender, or add in a gentle, relaxing sound or some upbeat music. Any scent or sound you enjoy can aid in brightening your mood.
Grounding is a coping skill that you can learn and keep in your personal toolkit to use whenever you need. Mental health counselors and therapists can also teach you additional coping skills and how to use them.
You can also create a mental health toolkit on your phone by downloading apps and videos that guide you through meditations with relaxing sounds.
Everyone struggles with difficult feelings and emotions at times, and everyone has different ways of dealing with them. If you need new ways to reduce stress, anxiety or depressing feelings, try these or other coping strategies and seek professional help if necessary. For additional support, explore behavioral health resources available to you.