Depression in the Nervous System

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Feb 7, 2025

Discover how depression affects not just the mind, but the entire nervous system. Explore how trauma, especially from childhood, can lead to feelings of emotional numbness and lack of motivation. Learn about hypoarousal and its effects on emotional well-being. The discussion reveals practical strategies and body-based techniques to help move from states of shutdown to feelings of safety and connection. Reconnect with your body to foster healing and overcome chronic exhaustion and despair.

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INSIGHT

Depression: A Universal Response

Depression isn't simply laziness or a chemical imbalance, but a complex issue with varied underlying causes.
These causes, ranging from grief to trauma to physical illness, manifest as similar symptoms because depression is a universal human response to feeling overwhelmed.

ANECDOTE

Childhood Trauma and Shutdown

A child witnessing violent parental fights, with no escape, learns to withdraw and detach.
Chronic emotional or physical unsafety, like constant belittling, can lead to this shutdown state and depression.

INSIGHT

Nervous System Responses

The nervous system responds to threats in stages: ventral vagal (calm), sympathetic (fight-or-flight), and dorsal vagal (shutdown).
This shutdown, or hypoarousal, is a survival mechanism marked by numbness, exhaustion, and disconnection.

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Depression isn’t just in your mind—it’s in your nervous system. In this video, we take a somatic and polyvagal-informed approach to understanding depression as a state of nervous system dysregulation. Learn how shutdown, freeze, and dorsal vagal states keep you stuck and how somatic therapy can help you shift into safety, connection, and regulation.

Using insights from polyvagal theory, we’ll explore how the vagus nerve influences mood, energy, and emotions. Discover body-based techniques to move out of chronic exhaustion, numbness, and despair. Whether you struggle with low motivation, fatigue, or emotional overwhelm, these nervous system regulation tools can help you heal from the inside out!

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Therapy in a Nutshell and the information provided by Emma McAdam are solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and are not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health. In therapy I use a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Systems Theory, positive psychology, and a bio-psycho-social approach to treating mental illness and other challenges we all face in life. The ideas from my videos are frequently adapted from multiple sources. Many of them come from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, especially the work of Steven Hayes, Jason Luoma, and Russ Harris. The sections on stress and the mind-body connection derive from the work of Stephen Porges (the Polyvagal theory), Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing) Francine Shapiro (EMDR), and Bessel Van Der Kolk. I also rely heavily on the work of the Arbinger Institute for my overall understanding of our ability to choose our life's direction.

And deeper than all of that, the Gospel of Jesus Christ orients my personal worldview and sense of security, peace, hope, and love https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/believe

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