08/31/2025
🪟 What Is the Window of Tolerance?
Coined by Dr. Dan Siegel, the window of tolerance is the zone of arousal in which your nervous system can function optimally:
• You feel emotionally regulated
• You can think clearly
• You respond (not react) to stress
When you’re within your window, you’re calm enough to reflect, but alert enough to engage.
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⚠️ How Trauma Narrows the Window
After trauma (especially complex or developmental trauma), your nervous system becomes more reactive, and the window of tolerance can narrow. This means you’re more easily pushed into extremes:
1. Hyperarousal (Fight/Flight Mode)
• You jump above the window
• Symptoms:
• Anxiety, panic
• Anger, irritability
• Racing thoughts
• Hypervigilance
• Difficulty sleeping
• Driven by a triggered amygdala and overactive stress responses
2. Hypoarousal (Freeze/Shutdown Mode)
• You drop below the window
• Symptoms:
• Numbness, disconnection
• Fatigue or dissociation
• Depression
• “Foggy” thinking
• Inability to respond
• Often a protective shut-down response after overwhelm
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đź’Ą What This Means in Daily Life
After trauma, especially unresolved trauma:
• Even small stressors can feel unmanageable
• Emotional swings or shutdowns happen quickly
• You might react impulsively, dissociate, or feel stuck
• Relationships and decision-making can suffer
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đź§ Why This Happens (Brief Neuroscience)
• Trauma rewires the brain to see danger everywhere
• The amygdala (alarm system) becomes hyperactive
• The prefrontal cortex (logic/regulation) goes offline
• The nervous system gets “stuck” in survival modes
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🌱 Healing: Expanding the Window of Tolerance
The good news? You can widen your window over time. Some tools include:
• LENS Neurofeedback
• Mindfulness and breathwork (slow, safe)
• Co-regulation with safe people
• Grounding techniques to reconnect with the present
• Psychoeducation — understanding what’s happening helps you feel less crazy and more in control
Book your session today to get yourself into Your Window of Tolerance