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If you feel on edge even when nothing is happening, you may be experiencing hypervigilance. Hypervigilance is when the nervous system remains on alert and ready to respond to threats…

When you are triggered, you are responding to reminders of past trauma, not the present situation. If butterflies are a trigger, for example, they will not cease to being a…

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,…

You may not feel safe even when you are because the thinking parts of the brain and the threat-detection parts of the brain do not always agree. The sense that…

Trauma time refers to the experience of the past feeling as if it is happening in the present. In dissociative systems, some parts may remain focused around the time when…

Trying to relax can sometimes increase anxiety if your nervous system is used to staying on guard. In unsafe or unpredictable environments, staying alert may have been necessary. Relaxing can…

Calm can feel unsafe after trauma because your nervous system may not be used to it. If you spent long periods in environments that were unpredictable or threatening, your system…

Some people become sleepy after a trigger because the nervous system becomes overwhelmed. One response to overwhelm is hypoarousal, in which the system begins to shut down. Numbness is one…

Some parts may experience the past as if it is still happening because they are developed around the time when those experiences occurred and they may not have full access…

This can happen when your nervous system has learned to expect danger, even in situations that are objectively safe. Past experiences can shape how your body scans for threat, making…