Polyvagal theory

[Bella]

Hi everyone!
Just wanted to tell someone what happend in therapy yesterday. I go see this therapist that uses different techniques concerning how trauma affects the body, and work on reconnecting body and mind/memories/emotions. Everytime I'm there, my little self shows up, and she is very hypervigilant, anxious, and shaking like crazy. But yesterday my body suddenly collapsed (!) like I fainted, but I was semi-conscious and could hear what she said. I just couldn't respond! My body felt totally limp, and I felt dizzy and nauseous. It took quite a while for me to become normal again. She then told me about the Polyvagal theory, and how collapsing is the body's last resort defense mechanism.
There might be something about this elsewhere on this forum. If so, I'm sorry, I just found it truly interessting. I've read a lot about it today, and it makes so much sense to me. In the same way your body can stay in a perpetual state of hypervigilance, it can also stay in a "collapsed " state for longer periods of time. What I thought was "just" depression fatigue getting worse over the last couple of weeks, might just be my body trying to tell me it is overwhelmed and really scared about all the new stuff going on in my life. Strangely that was comforting to me.

If anyone wants to share any thoughts about this, personal experience, knowledge etc. I would be grateful.

[marta1234]

Hi Bella, I have no idea if this is what you're talking about but I feel something similar although not to your measure. When I have this specific flashback, usually one of physical a*use, every time my body shuts down. I cannot speak nor move my legs or arms, it feels like I'm non existant. However, as this has been happening to me for most of my life, I've never really thought about it and so I just push myself so much to get out of the flashback. It's still interesting for you to have shared this.

[Bella]

Marta1234: To me, after what I've read about it, your experiance sounds very much like your nervesystem shuts down to protect you. What you have experienced, have been over and above what your body/nervesystem could manage. Just like a gazell being attacked by a lion. It runs for its life, but when catched, it just goes limp and still, increase threshold for pain, and possibly trick the lion to think it is dead! And then suddenly jumps up, and run away if the lion get distracted. To me it's facinating, and explains why my body reacts the way it does. Lots of scientific research have found how trauma gets stuck in the nervesystem/body, and how it affects survivors. Hopefully this knowledge will help many traumasurvivors in the future, cause new therapy techniques will be developed. I think to many people/therapists focus only on mind and emotion, and forgets the body. Anyway, thank you for responding to my post!