Trying To Identify Psychological Term For "shutdowns."

[marblemaze]

I originally went to see a psychologist 5 1/2 years ago and was told that my symptoms were because of PTSD. I had been in an abusive relationship for many years. When the relationship ended my PTSD symptoms started. I told my psychologist at the time that I felt triggered by certain things which led to me shutting down emotionally and physically. I couldn't move or speak during these "shutdowns" and seemed to greatly withdraw from the outer environment. It was emotionally painful to move around and I didn't feel safe leaving the room or was very uncomfortable moving out into the outer parts of where I living, in other words, just changing rooms was difficult. To this day I have this twice a month if certain things trigger certain feelings in me. It makes me not want to eat or drink or move or talk. I have been researching and trying to find the technical term for this symptom. I have seen the words "psychological shutdown" used, but is this really the technical term for this symptom? Is this considered a flashback or a symptom of disassociation? Originally during the relationship I had smaller versions of this countless times because of the actual abuse. Now how it starts is based on thoughts or something said to me that triggers painful emotions experienced during past abuse. My psychologist at the time called this "emotional flooding." When it happens it tends to affect me for about 4 days, in addition to this I will feel intense emotional pain and depression. Can anyone tell me what the actual correct psychological term for this symptom is? Thanks for any help.

 

[Kintsugi]

Sounds like dissociation or, maaaaybe, one of its cousins--depersonalization/derealization. Can you describe in more detail how you feel/how the world feels in these times?

 

[marblemaze]

It feels like I just start withdrawing, first I have trouble talking, then I have trouble moving from one spot, then I have emotional pain set in which makes it harder to move. After an hour or two I can tell I'm having problems doing normal things, it feels emotionally painful and like I can't move for about 4 days until my mind somehow moves on to feeling more normal. My personality seems to go away. I can tell I'm getting better when I start having normal thoughts again and feel like myself again. It feels very emotionally difficult and overwhelming to try to say or do anything for about 4 days when it happens. Sometimes I can try to get practical things done in the early part of a day the next day, but then it starts to get painful and I have to stay in one spot again, usually laying down in one room only.

 

[Kintsugi]

Definitely sounds like dissociation to me, although that is a rather prolonged episode. I have had derealization that lasts for a week or two before. Usually dissociation for me only lasts 6-8 hours or so at the maximum, although I used to dissociate for hours every day consistently.

I hope that helps.

 

[marblemaze]

Yes, that helps. Thanks for your insight.

 

[NightSky]

I have that happen only when something intense is going on around me and I get almost tunnel vision. I can't think or move. When I come out of it (when I'm alone) I usually experience extremely painful emotions. One time the shut down part happened with my T and she called it flooding.

 

[marblemaze]

Thanks for mentioning that, my T called it "emotional flooding" also so that must be a real term that is used.

 

[Friday]

Watch me throw darts here for a moment ;)

• Isolation -in response to-
• Disassociation -in response to-
• Emotional Flooding -in response to-
• Trigger / Stressor

Aka you get "triggered by certain things" leading to being emotionally flooded, & start to disassociate, & then isolate in order to deal with those 2 components.

One of the things I do a whole helluva lot of is backtrace where things are coming from. It's not always a straight line (although it's nice when it happens, because it makes it easier to find the first domino), but will be several things merging along like tributaries flowing into a river, or a big messy delta. There are a whole lot of possible ways any of these things can play out.

Shutting down in response to too much stress, a stressor, or a trigger is a really common way for things to play out (so is blowing up). Knowing all the different pieces, though? Gives you some real solid tools to interrupt that process (aka stop it) at several different points, as well as tools to recover faster (by hitting each area that is piling on, and creating the next thing.

 

[sun seeker]

I experience the same thing, and never thought of it as due to dissociation. Thank you for asking this question, the answers were a help to me!

 

[marblemaze]

you're welcome, I tried to find a more exact term for the whole thing and could only come up with "dissociative shutdown." I know 2 other people who have this, I wish there was a more definite professional term for the whole sequence of events, in other words trigger > emotional flooding > disassociation > isolation. Maybe "dissasociative shutdown" is the real term that is used.

 

[Kintsugi]

May I ask why the whole chain reaction has to have one concise piece of jargon?

IMO, dissociation is always triggered by too many stress/emotions, so just saying "I'm dissociating" encompasses the whole shebang.

 

[StellaBlue]

There is a lot of new research on the brain-body connection and the effect of trauma on the brain and the body. The polyvagal theory talks about windows of tolerance - when you're outside of your window of tolerance you can either go into hyperarousal or hypoarousal - or swing from one to the other. What you're describing is hypoarousal (which can manifest as dissociation). Understanding this has been really helpful for me. Here's a simple diagram:

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