If you shut down after a trigger, it’s because, growing up, your nervous system learned that the safest response to triggers was to shut down rather than escaping, fighting back, or trying to get help. Earlier in life, those other responses may have led to an increase in harm. Shutting down, getting quiet and passive, may have led to less harm. Your nervous system would then use this response for similar situations. Over time, shutting down might become the default response for many situations and triggers.
Shutting down can also reduce the amount of overwhelm the nervous system has to process in the moment.
Shutting down following a trigger can also happen in dissociative systems when certain parts act to reduce overwhelm or prevent an escalation of harm.
This page is part of the Why Do Trauma Responses Show Up Even When You Know You’re Safe section of the CommuniDID site, which explains why the nervous system continues protective responses long after the original threat has passed.
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