Finding Solid Ground – Stabilization Program for Trauma-Related Dissociation

Updated on August 8, 2025

Overview

Finding Solid Ground is a structured, psychoeducational stabilization program specifically designed for individuals with trauma-related dissociation. Developed by Dr. Bethany Brand, Dr. Ruth Lanius, and other experts in dissociation, it provides a step-by-step, skills-based framework that can be delivered in group or individual formats. Its goal is to help clients strengthen safety, self-regulation, and cooperative functioning between dissociative parts before engaging in direct trauma memory work.

Foundational Principles

  • Phase-Oriented Trauma Treatment: Finding Solid Ground aligns with the first phase—Safety and Stabilization—of the treatment guidelines for complex trauma and dissociation.
  • Parts-Informed: Uses concepts from structural dissociation theory, normalizing internal divisions as survival adaptations.
  • Psychoeducation as Empowerment: Knowledge about dissociation, triggers, and nervous system functioning reduces shame and increases self-awareness.
  • Skills First: Emphasis on practical coping and grounding tools to reduce crises and promote everyday functioning.

Core Components

  1. Understanding Dissociation
    • Education about how trauma impacts memory, identity, and bodily states.
    • Framing dissociation as protective, not pathological.
  2. Grounding and Orientation Skills
    • Techniques for returning to the present (sensory orientation, movement, visual cues).
    • Progressive practice to reduce time spent in dissociative states.
  3. Emotion Regulation Strategies
    • Identifying triggers and early signs of dysregulation.
    • Using breath, posture, and self-talk to down-regulate activation.
  4. Building Internal Communication
    • Introducing ways for parts to share information safely.
    • Negotiating cooperation and reducing internal conflict.
  5. Safety Planning
    • Developing personal crisis plans.
    • Identifying safe people, places, and coping sequences.

Clinical Applications

  • Dissociative identity disorder (DID) and other specified dissociative disorder (OSDD)
  • Complex PTSD with dissociative symptoms
  • Clients in early therapy stages who are destabilized by direct trauma work
  • Outpatient, inpatient, and partial hospitalization programs

Empirical Evidence

  • Practice-Based Reports: Clinicians report improved daily functioning, reduced crisis events, and increased therapy engagement after program completion.
  • Program Evaluations: Preliminary outcomes from group implementations show enhanced use of grounding skills, better emotional regulation, and less reliance on emergency services.
  • Research Status: Formal peer-reviewed RCTs are limited, but the program content is consistent with established, evidence-informed stabilization practices for dissociation.

Neurobiological Mechanisms

  • Enhanced Prefrontal Engagement: Repeated grounding practices strengthen top-down regulation over subcortical threat circuits.
  • Autonomic Flexibility: Regulation skills target sympathetic–parasympathetic balance, widening the window of tolerance.
  • Implicit Memory Modulation: Internal communication tools help transform overwhelming implicit material into manageable, explicit awareness.

Strengths and Limitations

Strengths

  • Specifically tailored for dissociation—a population often underserved by generic trauma programs.
  • Flexible delivery format: can be adapted to different cultural contexts and therapy settings.
  • Builds a solid base for later trauma processing, reducing risk of retraumatization.

Limitations

  • Does not address trauma memories directly; requires follow-up phases.
  • Client progress depends on regular practice between sessions.
  • Research evidence is emerging rather than fully established.

Clinical Tips

  • Introduce the program early in therapy for clients with high dissociation scores.
  • Encourage a skills journal to track which grounding methods work best.
  • Use visual aids (handouts, diagrams of the nervous system) to reinforce learning.
  • Coordinate with the client’s therapist to integrate skills into ongoing individual work.

References

  • Brand, B. L, Schielke, H. J., Schiavone, F., & Lanius, R. A. (2022). Finding solid ground: Overcoming obstacles in trauma treatment. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/med-psych/9780190636081.001.0001
  • Steele, K., Boon, S., & van der Hart, O. (2017). Treating Trauma-Related Dissociation: A Practical, Integrative Approach. W.W. Norton.
  • Fisher, J. (2017). Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors. Routledge.
  • ISSTD (2011). Guidelines for Treating Dissociative Identity Disorder in Adults, Third Revision. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 12(2), 115–187.

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