“We need co-regulation, not neoliberalism of the soul.”
This week’s episode with trauma-informed systems thinker Jill Barrett opens with a gentle existential jolt: Keegan, riding a wave of political and psychic tension, asks whether deregulation under authoritarian regimes is dysregulating our nervous systems.
Now, deregulation is typically what happens when lobbyists win—rules get gutted, protections disappear, and markets run wild. But the nervous system doesn’t deregulate; it dysregulates, getting stuck in survival mode. That means either revving into fight-or-flight or shutting down into freeze or fawn, even when there’s no real threat.”
And yet… Keegan’s slip might be more accurate than it seems.
Because what is happening in this moment—through media, policy, climate disruption, fascist tactics, and everyday isolation—is both a political and a biological dismantling. The rules of human thriving are being stripped away. This isn’t just an assault on government protections. It’s an assault on our ability to feel safe, grounded, and connected.