24/03/2026
This looks really interesting!
Carolyn and Julie are doing a free presentation Wednesday night Brisbane time
Brisbane Borderline Personality Disorder Mental Health Network - Pickle juice and pungent tastes- A practical grounding strategy for managing dissociative shutdown and other distress states.
Wednesday, 25 March 2026
Join the meeting online
Meeting Description
Carolyn and Julie will explore the use of pickle juice — and other pungent tastes — as a practical grounding strategy for managing dissociative shutdown and other distress states. Drawing on the recent article on the Homeostatic Sensory Reset Hypothesis, they will explain how strongly flavoured, sour, and pungent inputs activate transient receptor potential (TRP) channels within the gastrointestinal system, helping to interrupt shutdown responses and support a return to regulated engagement.
The session will bridge theory and application, outlining when and why this strategy may be useful, clinical considerations, and practical implementation within everyday contexts. Time will be allocated for discussion and questions.
Participants are invited to bring a pungent taste (see attached list) to trial during the session.
- O’Sullivan, J., Fitzgibbon, C., Carrive, P., & Kozlowska, K. (2026). Pickle juice – and other pungent foods – as a grounding strategy for managing episodes of dissociative shutdown. Human Systems: Therapy, Culture and Attachments, 0(0), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/26344041251411521
Time Zones for meeting:
Melbourne: at 7:00 pm AEDT
Brisbane: at 6:00 pm AEST
Adelaide: at 6:30 pm ACDT
Darwin: at 5:30 pm ACST
Perth: at 4:00 pm AWST
RSVP via MHPN: https://mhpn.org.au/members/ #/Network/91305
Thanks to those that attended . this was not recorded but we did a presentation that had some similarities that is free : https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14cFtDcbTme/?mibextid=wwXIfr
