Mastodawn

Anyone here also annoyed about bad advice of this kind:

"I'm quite dissociated at the moment" ⇒ "What about doing some grounding/mindfulness exercise?"

[not subposting anyone on here]

Like, dude, there are so many reasons for dissociation; some of them may have to do that our surrounding are inherently unsafe for ourselves, and just doing some "grounding exercises" can do so much harm. It's a symptom, often a protective one, a bit like fewer maybe. Fighting symptom alone often makes things so much worse...

Better advice: Ask yourselves if the dissociation has something to do with pain, overwhelm, or something else that makes it unsafe to engage with the surroundings/senses. Find the causes and make adjustments; maybe a change the setting/location could help, or go have some sleep/nap and stim if everything is too much. If it's safe to engage with the outer/inner worlds again, then it's safe to practice grounding.

~Moss

#dissociation #unsolicitedAdvice

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mess of moss& ♾️🍞🧄️🌱Sep 23

Tl;Dr: grounding exercises can be helpful, but one should be cautious while practicing them.

A funny thing is that the first step of what I suggested, carefully checking the senses (to see if there's anything wrong about them), is a bit similar to a "grounding exercise". But the crucial thing is that dissociative symptoms should be seen as a warning sign that perhaps something about the senses/surroundings is wrong. Sometimes it suffices to just change something about the surroundings (e.g. by going to another place). At other times the dissociating is actually shielding us from severe pain, and in these cases it's often safer to practice pacing or go to rest instead of completely engaging with that pain.

~Moss

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Doggo 🎃Sep 24

@maxine
> dissociative symptoms should be seen as a warning sign

it's exactly like this for me. Dissociation happens when the situation gets unbearable but you can't leave, so you dissociate. It's like you're here but not want to be here

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mess of moss& ♾️🍞🧄️🌱Sep 24

@doggo well, this fox can add a bit to what Moss wrote: Dissociation generally is a coping mechanism especially for situations that doggo described ("the situation gets unbearable but you can't leave, so you dissociate"). moreover, like with every coping mechanism, the brain can also sometimes "overdo" it and accidentally go into dissociative modes even tho the situation is fine. in such cases doing grounding exercises is of course fine (but again, it's still crucial to check if it's really safe).

the situation could also be bearable, but the brain be like nah, our environment is safe but boring, let's rest a bit and "sociate" again in half an hour that's just one form of "good" / desirable dissociation, where of course no grounding is needed.

~fuchsia 💚