How to Manage Anxiety

Written by Brittany Barnes, M.A., NCC, LPC, CST-Candidate

Anxiety is a common experience that I see presented in and out of the counseling room.  Not only do I notice this professionally, but I witness this in my personal life as well.  Practicing grounding techniques is a way we can manage and cope with anxiety.  One way we can decrease our anxiety is to utilize diaphragmatic deep breathing.  During diaphragmatic deep breathing we inhale slowly through our nose and exhale slowly out of our mouth.  Try breathing in for 4 seconds, holding and breathing out for another 4 seconds. Another piece to diaphragmatic deep breathing we can incorporate is to place our hands over our abdomens as we are inhaling and exhaling.  I personally tend to use this because it provides me with a tactile sensation that I am breathing, which helps to keep my breaths steadier and deeper. 

 In addition to diaphragmatic deep breathing, practicing the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique can be helpful.  This is where we find 5 things we see, 4 things we feel, 3 things we hear, 2 things we smell and 1 thing we taste.  Implementing the 5 senses technique helps us to redirect our thought processing and focus more on what is currently around us and occurring in our bodies.  I like to change up the senses grounding technique and give another option to the 5-4-3-2-1.  In this, we can identify what comforts us instead of what is currently being experienced.  While practicing naming what comforts us, we can incorporate guided imagery as a way to deescalate the anxiety. Visualizing images that bring us peace gives us the opportunity to ground us back into our bodies, steady our breathing and reduce heart racing. 

A last grounding technique is to name everything in the room that we are currently in.  We do not want to place judgements on the items.  We want to state what we see from a factual outlook during this grounding exercise.  We can start from one side of the room and work our way to the opposite side, naming as much as possible from top to bottom. 

Depending on what we are experiencing and where we are experiencing it, we can pull from any of these grounding techniques to help us manage our anxiety.  I notice I use diaphragmatic deep breathing the most but have also incorporated the others when I need to readjust my focus and steady my breathing.  I gently encourage you to practice a grounding technique when you are feeling flooded and anxious.

If anxiety is having a negative impact on your life, anxiety therapy can help. Contact us today to learn more.

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