As stress increases, the nervous system becomes more focused on survival defenses. The more active these defenses are, the more mental bandwidth they consume. This leaves less capacity for the parts of the brain responsible for coping skills.
As a result, access to thinking, emotional regulation, and cooperation between parts may become more limited.
Importantly, this does not mean you have lost your coping skills. The skills are still there, and they often become accessible again once the overload decreases and the nervous system has more capacity available.
In some cases, you may find that a skill needs modification or additional practice. Practicing coping skills when you are not in distress helps make them more automatic, which is especially helpful when overload temporarily reduces access to the thinking parts of the brain.
This page is part of the When a Dissociative System Collapses section of the CommuniDID site, which explains why decompensation happens, why it can occur without warning, and how stabilization and reduced demand help systems recover.
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