Window of Tolerance and Emotional Regulation (Dr Dan Siegel)

The window of tolerance was originally described by Dr. Dan Siegel as the optimal zone of emotional arousal. If you stay within your window of tolerance you are able to process and successfully respond to the demands of everyday life.

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🔵 HYPER-AROUSAL

During times of extreme stress you can move outside of your window of tolerance and into a state of hyper-arousal. The sympathetic nervous system is ignited and the fight or flight response activated. In this state you may feel angry, irritable, chaotic, hyper-vigilant, anxious, have racing thoughts and a sense of restlessness. Hyper-arousal results in the deactivation of your prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for executive functions such as attention and impulse control. When the prefrontal cortex is essentially shut down it's Very difficult to think clearly and rationally.

🔵 CHAPTERS

0:05 What is the Window of Tolerance?
0:53 Hyper-aroused state explained
1:36 Hypo-aroused state explained
3:00 How to emotionally regulate

🔵 HYPO-AROUSAL

Stress can also make you plummet into a hypo-aroused state. The parasympathetic nervous system is engaged and you freeze in response to stress or danger. In this state you may feel overwhelmed, emotionally numb, exhausted, lack motivation and feel depressed. Your body posture may collapse or curl up in a ball and you may disconnect or dissociate in order to cope. In the hypo-aroused state you have essentially shut down.
The good news is that you can widen your window of tolerance and therefore increase your ability to manage stress. For example, if you are hyper-aroused you might find it helpful to use techniques that settle your mind and body such as mindful breathing, listening to calming music, going for a gentle walk or talking to a friend.

🔵 HOW TO INCREASE YOUR WINDOW OF TOLERANCE

If shifting from a hypo-aroused state this tends to require getting more active so going for a brisk walk, doing some exercise or engaging socially. Stimulating the senses via smell or touch, listening to uplifting music, or eating some food with a strong taste or crunchy texture. Psychological Therapy can also widen your window as it can provide an external source of safety, a protected space and a personal connection with someone.

I summary you can learn to modulate your internal states to raise arousal levels when too low and to shift then down when too high. By monitoring and modulating your internal state you can increase resilience and promote self-regulation.

🔵 LINKS TO HELPFUL EXERCISES

🔵 ABOUT TERESA LEWIS

Teresa Lewis is the founder and Director of Lewis Psychology and a Senior Accredited psychotherapist with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP Snr. Accred). Qualified in 1995, Teresa has been providing counselling and psychotherapy treatment for nearly 30 years. Teresa holds a masters degree in counselling and psychotherapy and is a qualified EMDR Practitioner having completed training accredited with EMDR Europe. Teresa is also a qualified adult educator and an accredited Mindfulness teacher As a recognised expert in her field Teresa is frequently asked to conduct editorial reviews and endorse counselling and psychotherapy books for international publishing houses.

🔵 GRAPHICS AND THUMBNAIL

#LewisPsychology

[_Marthinzen]

CPTSD champion here, this is spot on.

[CarltonMasonNorwood]

Thank you. If you only understood. This is life saving and life changing. Im 32 years old. Recovering alcoholic/addict. I'm suffering through some type of ptsd. I've remained in the state of hyper and hypo arousal it's truly exhausting to be fully energized or to be fully depleted. Every day starts out in the State of Shock which stairs into a fight Fawn flight freeze all of the different varieties once that's over with it's as if you've used all your energy for a week and you just want to sleep for 14 hours but then you know when you wake up it's all going to start again so you're afraid to even go to sleep. I'm just a thirty-year-old man child who hasn't figured out how to get insurance or mental health and a self-admitted myself to places when I was Ill before now that I've gotten older so I got become more afraid they're funny Farms I don't want to be back inside those places even though I need help feel like I'm going down the rabbit hole into the darkest depths of despair. I live in a rural area isolated also don't have any friends or communication. One thing I've been tripping on for so long is my next door neighbor shot himself in the neck and his wife tried to save him and I was there in the midst of it all and I never really got over it and she didn't either this many years and years were nobody lived there and now there's all these people working there and don't even speak English. I feel like I've got a literal skeleton in my backyard and a ghost haunting me. Learning more about these Mental Health Resources extremely beneficial not using it as an alternate I'm just using it as a compliment so they care that I'm thank you for helping people who can't afford help that is what you're doing with this information education is the most valuable thing we can share in this world can you put a price tag on medical information is the most detrimental thing we could do to those who are truly suffering. To be ad-free and to be able to watch these simple informative videos with the calming tone has bee.n so uplifting and for that I'm eternally grateful

[KeithWickliffe]

My window of tolerance is very small. Im close to Hyper arousal all the time. Over reacting over nothing. My psychologist/therapist just told me about this today. Its something im going to work on in the near future.

[pamnoble]

My ADHD therapist sent me a link to this video during our session today and I am absolutely astounded by the concept of the window of tolerance.

I believe, with CPTSD since early childhood, and PTSD which started a little over 10 years ago, that I have spent the better half of my life living outside my window(s) of tolerance. I identify strongly with the symptoms of both hyper and hypo arousal states and just assumed this was normal for everyone (and wondered how on earth people managed to accomplish things!) This new information is eye-opening and gives me hope that I'm finally on the right path to address many of the issues caused by spending so much time outside my window.

Learning about the deactivation of the prefrontal cortex really hit home. No wonder the other work I've been doing to improve my executive function has only been able to take me so far! I feel like I finally understand why I'm stuck in my trauma recovery.

Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this! I have also seen your brief intro to feeling present in my body, and between that practice and your suggestions in this video to bring myself back into my window of tolerance, I can see how these simple activities will make a huge impact on my life today and in the future. I plan to share this video with others in my ADHD and Trauma therapy groups in hopes they will find it to be as impactful as I have.
😊👍🏻❤

[theresar]

These videos are worthy of an award. So clear and simplified. I use the videos as psychoeducation for the clients I work with. thank you thank you!

[MyMerryMessyGermanLife]

Such a helpful video! I have a child who has a small window of tolerance due to autism. It’s so helpful to learn the biological reasons her hyper arousal state is happening.

[cameronayers]

Thank you so much for this. I tend to go into a hypo-arousal when I am pushed out of my window of tolerance and therapists kept recommending I do breathing exercises or calming activities, but that would make me feel worse, not better. Now I understand why that didn't work and what I can do instead.

[irreverentjules-]

Thank you for this video. I watched another one that talked about Dorsal Vagal shutdown. I have a great life partner of almost 40 yrs. He has not let the same dialog around covid/mandates right into conspiracy theories go. I get daily rants and I feel like a blanket has been thrown over me. I now know thanks to your video, that I am experiencing Dorsal Vagal shutdown and become hypo tolerant. My struggle with saying something too often is I don't want to shut down his need to be heard.

[lechatleblanc]

dan, in general, is an absolute genius, , , , he confirmed thru his research what i theorized

[fatherburning]

Outside my window of tolerance right now. It's f n overwhelming man. Great info. My algorithm knew what I needed. Thanks

[saharaharris]

Recovering from CPTSD and got here after reading Porges, I know it’ll take practice but it’s so hard for me to transition out of a hyper aroused state. I’ll stick at it!

[erica]

Wow! Your video is full of technical useful information! I am a licensed clinical social worker, and I had to pause several times to take notes and rewind because I want to share this with my clients! Of course, I subscribed! And I will share it with my students as well!

[katecraibcounselling]

Thank you for doing these videos. ❤️⭐️❤️

As a counsellor and mental health practitioner I have been sharing them with both my private clients and with the university students that I work with. They act as a visual psychoeducative reminder for some of the themes that come up during sessions. ❤️⭐️❤️

[KOZMOGRAFX]

Teresa, thank you for your insights. Based on what is presented in this video, I've been stuck in a state of HYPO-arousal for AGES... which gets to the root of every struggle that I have faced during all of that time. This makes so much sense. In hindsight, the medications that I have been on will actually solve nothing because the structure of my default response mechanism has never been properly dealt with. Now... how to deal with THAT after 62 years of conditioning...

[joselynwoodson]

Thank you for this. I use these types of psychoeducational videos with my trauma clients and my own professional development. I especially like the summary and links that you provide.

[pedrom]

What’s very confusing is that some therapists say that we need to process our trauma first in order to get out of hyperarousal, but then some say that we shouldn’t be doing any processing while hyperaroused!

For an anxious mind these contradictions are debilitating as it’s so hard to know what to do

[SoulMedia]

Amazingly clear insights ! Thank you !

[jyotivyas]

Beautiful Eye Opening. Thank you Dear Lewis🎉❤💐👌

[SesalyDavidson]

This is an excellent video for clients - concise and informative. Thank you for sharing this and for including strategies for increasing WofT.

[juliesheldon]

i really like your clear explanations with case examples to illustrate, really helpful reource thank you