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When you can't connect, can't run, and
can't fight, there's one option left.

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The body shuts down.

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In this episode, the shutdown state,
the bottom of the polyvagal ladder.

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We will talk about what it feels
like from the inside, the fog, the

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numbness, the pull to disappear.

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We'll talk about why your body would
ever choose it and how it overlaps with

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depression, and the gentler way back
up your ladder and out of shutdown.

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I'm Justin Sunseri, a therapist,
self-regulation coach, and Polyvagal

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Institute Editorial Board member.

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You're listening to Stuck Not Broken, Book
One: Trauma and the Polyvagal Paradigm.

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A quick note before we begin.

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This is an audiobook and it's
meant to be heard in order.

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Each episode builds on the ones before it.

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So if you're just finding the show
now, welcome, and, but also go

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back and start from the beginning.

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It's gonna make a lot more sense that way.

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And if you want to support the show or
if you'd rather read, this book and the

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next two in the series are available
now in both digital and softcover.

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I'll put a link in the description
and thank you ahead of time if you

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choose to support the show financially.

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I really appreciate it.

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The final rung on the polyvagal ladder
is the shutdown state, stemming from

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the dorsal motor area of the brainstem.

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Shutdown is also a parasympathetic
branch using the vagus nerve, just

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like the safety state, but it has
a distinct function and experience.

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When we can't socially engage,
when we can't run, and when

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we can't fight, we shut down.

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The shutdown state is
responsible for immobilization.

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In shutdown, immobilization
specifically takes on the

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characteristics of a limp collapse.

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Muscles go weak and bodily
processes slow down dramatically.

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Like the other two primary states
that we've discussed, shutting

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down might increase survivability.

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When the organism shuts down, there
are a handful of potential benefits.

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The organism in shutdown is
still unconsciously neurocepting

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for safety or danger.

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If there's a potential for
the organism to fight and flee

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the situation, it may do so.

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When an organism exits shutdown, the
next rung up the polyvagal ladder is the

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sympathetic state, fight then flight.

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With this returning fight energy,
the organism can use its sympathetic

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power to create space between itself
and the predator, and then use its

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sympathetic flight potential to
escape and to return to safety.

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During an acute shutdown in a life
threat situation, the body might go

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into dissociation and/or numbness, which
further increases survival chances.

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If the organism is numb and not
feeling the pain of the experience,

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then escape is probably more likely.

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Likewise, not remembering the
events and focusing on escape could

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also help the organism to survive
if, if it's, uh, dissociated.

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Finally, in this state, the
body conserves resources.

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Everything in the autonomic nervous
system slows down, including heart

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rate, blood pressure, and breathing.

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The body mimics and may even prepare
for death, giving that organism a

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painless and disconnected end of life.

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The organism can use these conserved
resources in a large sympathetic

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burst if it neurocepts mobilization
for survival is possible.

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possible.

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What shutdown feels like.

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Shutdown feels like disconnection
from others, from the environment,

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and even from yourself.

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An extreme presentation of disconnection
is actual dissociation, like

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depersonalization and derealization.

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However, someone in shutdown
may experience less intense or

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obvious forms of disconnection.

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Doesn't have to be as obvious
as the, the two examples.

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Common emotions of shutdown
can include lonely, numb,

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hopeless, and drained, and heavy.

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The person in shutdown does not
have access to the mobilization of

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the sympathetic flight-fight state.

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Their body is slowing down and needs lower
stimulation, and often it needs solitude.

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In this state, things can
seem overwhelming, but also

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uninteresting or even pointless.

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This person lacks the energy necessary
to feel excitement and passion.

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This individual commonly describes
existing in a fog, cloud, or gray.

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The vitality of life has been
drained from them, leaving

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them with dulled experiences.

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what shutdown looks like.

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Shutdown is a state we enter when we
can't run away or fight or be safe.

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In the moment of survival, shutdown looks
like a limp collapse, immobilization,

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playing dead, or even fainting as
the body goes into conservation mode.

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There's an impulse to hide or to
become smaller when in shutdown.

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I overheard a coworker next door to my
office after she made a major mistake.

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Yes, I was eavesdropping,
but it was hard not to.

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At first, I just heard her say,
"Help me, Jesus." She was mumbling to

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herself in exasperation and mild panic.

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I could hear her rapid breathing as
another coworker came to check on her.

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I thought about checking on her, I swear.

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She explained to this other coworker
that she sent a text message to the wrong

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person, which was not a flattering one,
something about not wanting to deal with

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them and have them come over to her home.

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She could not run from this situation, and
she couldn't really fight it off either.

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As the other coworker chatted with her
and attempted to provide her reassurance

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and levity, she said, "I could go under
that bridge over there and just curl up

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into a ball." She was expressing that her
body had an impulse to go into shutdown,

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to be smaller and hide from a danger
she could not run away from or fight.

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She didn't go into a full-on shutdown and
literally collapse, but those biological

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pathways were active enough for her to
notice, at least through the lens of the

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Polyvagal Theory, that's the assumption.

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Luckily, she received that
support from our coworker.

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I swear, really, I was going
to check on her, maybe.

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She expressed gratitude to the coworker
as he reassured her that it, it

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wasn't that bad and he had seen worse.

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He provided smiles to her and
laughter, easing her defensive state.

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She had thanked him for being
present and supporting her.

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Shutdown feels very lonely, and
there's often an impulse to be alone.

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So someone stuck in a
shutdown often isolates.

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Teen and young adult shutdown
clients commonly share that they

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isolate by shutting themselves in
their rooms, closing the blinds,

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and turning off their lights.

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And no, you don't have
to be a teen to do that.

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I think it's common for adults too.

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Through the paradigm of the Polyvagal
Theory, depressive disorders are

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symptoms of a dorsal vagal shutdown.

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Isolation, numbness, lack of motivation,
easy overstimulation, and a general

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lack of enthusiasm or interest in
novelty, these are all similar between

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a chronic shutdown and depression.

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Coming out of shutdown.

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You must climb up your polyvagal ladder
into sympathetic flight-fight to come

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out of shutdown, specifically the fight
sympathetic energy first and then flight.

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Wild animals can do this no problem.

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Humans can technically do the
same, but we seem to have lost our

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ability to do so naturally, or we
had it socialized out of us maybe.

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Yet, the basic ability to emerge from
shutdown into fight is still alive within

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us, though it may seem, uh, inaccessible.

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Our human thoughts make it
difficult to emerge from shutdown

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into flight-fight mobilization.

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We judge the experience, we question
it, and we tell ourselves things that

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keep us stuck in shutdown like, "I don't
deserve to be happier," or, "There's no

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point in trying," or, "I'm not strong
enough," or, "It's not okay to get mad."

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But we can come out of
shutdown eventually.

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Coming out requires a gentle
return of energy for us humans.

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Animals can tolerate, or non-human animals
can tolerate and use the large return

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of sympathetic energy for survival.

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But human animals tend to
do better with small pieces.

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We do so through small actions
like reorienting to the environment

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through our senses, mindfully existing
in calm and quiet, and being with

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safe people in safe environments.

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Even if we can't do all of these
pieces, simply being more aware of

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our shutdown state can be helpful.

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Being aware of and mindfully
experiencing it can be beneficial.

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Feeling the sensations of shutdown
without judgment can be helpful.

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It's not second nature for us at this
point, I know, but it is possible.

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That's the shutdown state, the
bottom of the polyvagal ladder.

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The dorsal vagal collapse the
body reaches for when running

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and fighting are not available.

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Disconnection, numbness, fogginess,
and more importantly, a way back up,

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which is gently in small pieces while
mindfully attuned to the shutdown.

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Next time, we start with the mixed
states, specifically with freeze.

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What happens when two
states are active at once?

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Why freeze is not the same as
shutdown, and we'll come back and

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visit in with Courtney, uh, to see
how the rest of her story unfolds.

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If you wanna take this chapter
further, the written book has journal

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reflections for it, along with
primary source quotes and no ads.

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It and the next two books are
linked in the description if you

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would like to support the show.

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Thank you so much for listening.

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Bye