Touch is a basic need, yet for some it has become frightening, triggering and unbearable.
Touch is one of the strongest way we can experience comfort: in contact with another person by being hugged and held. Its important. It is desperately needed. Yet often it is impossible.
Stay with me when I explain how we can imitate this effect without needing another person and without having to touch skin.
While searching for ways to help overstimulated autistic kids scientists found that deep pressure touch (DPT) is actually helping them reduce their arousal levels.
The idea is to put surface pressure on the body, by using a weighted blanket or weighted vests, and imitate the feeling of a firm hug or being held.
Body chemistry reacts in a special way to deep pressure on the skin. It doesn’t make a difference if DPT is applied through a hug or through weights.
They found out that DPT has a positive influence on endorphin (happy hormones) and oxytocin (happy relationship hormones, that also reduce stress), dopamine and serotonin (happy neurotransmitters) levels. That’s all stuff we want.
It also brings down: anxiety levels, stress, hyper/hypoarousal, heartbeat, blood pressure…..
It increases: body awareness, grounding, ability to concentrate, focus and attention, calm….
It has first been used for autism, then for ADHD and anxiety, but because of the strong effect on arousal levels it makes perfect sense to use it for PTSD and because of the sensory integration it is especially useful for dissociation and increasing body awareness.
And: it comforts.
The body reacts exactly like it should ,when you get comforted by a loved one. Having someone to talk to is best, but if there is a deep hole inside and you feel un-comfort-able with other people this is the best thing you can do to comfort yourself thru the body.
Put on some weight.
There are different ways you can do that. The most common is using a weighted blanket. Those can be bought in different sizes (full size to just lap blankets) or you can make one yourself. It is basically a blanket with a lot of square pockets that can be filled with (small bags full of) plastic balls, beans, stones etc.
I own a full-sized store-bought blanket.
For some traumatized people the weight can create a sense of being trapped and some simply can’t tolerate it. So before you invest time or money into this it would be wise to try with an improvised version. You can create the effect by getting under a blanket and just putting some kind of light weights on top (cherry pit pillows are good for that)
A full-sized blanket is a lot to handle if you are a beginner. I recommend starting with a lap blanket that can
also be placed on the shoulders or a weighted vest. Those cover smaller areas of the body and don’t make you feel so weighted down. (while stores for autism sell weighted vests you can also find them in any bigger sports gear store, just aim for low weights)
I recommend first trying it while you are sitting because again, a lying position could trigger traumatic memories more easily and covering your legs while lying can make you feel trapped. Whatever you do, make sure you feel safe with it.
Don’t go too heavy. It should feel like there is a sweet little cat sitting on your lap. Weight depends on your body size, weight and strength. You got it perfectly right when it doesn’t feel heavy the moment you put the weight on. The sense of heaviness should creep in with the slow relaxation that will happen.
Be patient. It takes a few minutes for the effect to develop. We recommend taking at least 10 minutes for calming and reducing anxiety and about 30 minutes for full relaxation and comforting. The body gets used to it and will start to relax more quickly after a while.
We do not recommend actually sleeping under a weighted blanket. This has proven helpful for autistic kids, but there is a huge risk for nightmares and flashbacks. It’s best to be fully awake when using the blanket. In a drowsy state the weight can easily be misinterpreted.
We strongly believe that every first aid kit should have a weighted blanket in it.
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