General Is it possible to come back from emotionally shutting down?

[Seasounds]

My husband admitted today (I’ve suspected but he wouldn’t say) that he’s emotionally shut down. He’s dead inside and feels nothing. He said it’s comfortable. He stopped therapy a few months ago. I know he needs to be in therapy. My question is; does anyone know or believe if it’s possible to come back from a shut down?

I do. I did recover; as it should’ve been, it went and is still going at the speed that I could/can tolerate. It is quite a shift. Along the way, I’ve learned to let other people’s shame and anger be theirss, join support groups, and stop being close to people who blame and shame their loved ones.

Most importantly, I needed to continually renew my desire to experience the world with each new challenge.. It became easier as I developed skills to deal with flashbacks, new traumas, rude people, heart-break while I continually pursued mind-body related therapies (Yoga, martial arts, Craniosacral therapy, etc) at my own speed to help me physically and emotionally come alive.

Through my path and more so now, I’m discovering a deeper spiritual center where, since I have the skills to move out of shut down and process the trauma, I connect to my deeper Self, that know these pesky trauma symptoms may be my friends for life AND I can find relief and SAFETY through safe people and in my spiritual practice.

The question comes if the people who are partners to people who are shut down can be patient with the shut down persons process..so friends could wait, some couldn’t.

 

[Kopykat]

I think it’s possible. I can shut down and feel empty for days. I am trying to reconnect, learn and identify feelings again. It’s slow going. I can identify intense feelings if I have them like anger but otherwise it takes a lot of introspection to figure out how I am feeling in the moment about something. It has gotten easier with time and I’ve been getting faster with identifying. It gets frustrating and if I feel overwhelmed or threatened I shut down again. But I believe you can come back from a shut down, the pace just varies.