What Helps Anxiety, Dissociation, and Both?

Once you have a sense of whether you are experiencing anxiety, dissociation, or both, it can be easier to identify strategies that may help.

No strategy works for everyone. The goal of this tool is not to provide a perfect answer but to help you identify approaches that may be worth trying.

If anxiety is more prominent

Anxiety often involves feeling overwhelmed by experience.

Common signs:

• racing thoughts
• excessive worry
• panic
• physical tension
• hypervigilance
• catastrophizing
• feeling constantly on guard

Strategies that may help:

Reduce nervous-system activation

• diaphragmatic breathing
• progressive muscle relaxation
• slowing your pace
• reducing stimulation

Orient to present-day safety

• notice what is actually happening right now
• distinguish current situations from anticipated dangers
• identify evidence of safety

Address anxious thinking

• identify fears
• challenge catastrophic predictions
• focus on what is known rather than imagined

If dissociation is more prominent

Dissociation often involves feeling disconnected from experience.

Common signs:

• emotional numbness
• feeling unreal
• feeling detached from your body
• feeling detached from your surroundings
• memory difficulties
• feeling disconnected from emotions

Strategies that may help:

Increase present-moment awareness

• orient to your surroundings
• notice sensory details
• identify colors, sounds, textures, and smells

Increase connection

• movement
• stretching
• body awareness exercises
• grounding activities

Increase continuity

• review recent events
• use notes or journals
• reconnect with system communication if applicable

If both are present

Many trauma survivors experience both anxiety and dissociation.

Often the pattern looks like:

• anxiety increases
• distress becomes overwhelming
• dissociation activates

Strategies may include:

• reducing overwhelm first
• using grounding alongside anxiety-management skills
• pacing yourself
• focusing on stabilization rather than immediate resolution

Questions to consider

• Am I feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, or both?
• What seems to have triggered this state?
• What has helped in the past?
• What tends to make the situation worse?
• What would increase safety right now?

Related Resources

• Anxiety, Dissociation, or Both?
• How to Recognize When You’re Dissociating
• What Is Dissociation? Symptoms, Causes, & How It Feels

 

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