What is the Window of Tolerance?
We’re big on nervous system healing in Dallas here at Onward. Understanding the window of tolerance is key to long term mind and body healing. In fact, we rely on this concept when using eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) and other trauma informed care methods in work with clients.
The “window of tolerance” is a term used in psychology to describe the range of emotional and physiological states within which a person is able to function effectively. It refers to the zone where a person can manage stress, regulate emotions, and process information effectively. Basically, it’s when you feel enough but not too much energy.
The concept was first introduced by Dr. Dan Siegel, a renowned psychiatrist and author, to help people understand their own emotional and behavioral responses to stress and trauma. It is often used in the context of trauma therapy and other forms of psychotherapy to help individuals identify when they are becoming overwhelmed or dysregulated. This helps support the healing process as we develop strategies for returning to a state of equilibrium in the present moment.
Nervous System Stress - how it works
When a person is within their window of tolerance, they are able to engage with the world around them in a relatively calm and focused manner. They are able to regulate their emotions, think clearly, and communicate effectively. In talk therapy, a client could discuss traumatic memories without becoming overwhelmed if they’re able to stay within their window of tolerance. However, when they become either hyperaroused (i.e., experiencing intense emotions like anxiety or anger) or hypoaroused (i.e., feeling numb or disconnected), they may move outside of their window of tolerance and struggle to function effectively.
By understanding the concept of the window of tolerance, individuals can learn to recognize when they are becoming dysregulated and tend to the parts of the brain that are active. This might include practices like mindfulness, breathing exercises, or other self-care activities that can help regulate the nervous system and reduce stress.
Trauma and the Window of Tolerance
Experiencing trauma shrinks our Window of Tolerance. So for those of us who have endured trauma, at no fault of our own, we typically spend too much time outside of our Window of Tolerance This is due to the fact that it’s smaller, we’ve become more sensitive to stress, and because we have triggers. Our protective parts are highly reactive and our defense mechanisms are highly sensitive. This is normal when it comes to trauma and complex trauma.
Expanding The Window Of Tolerance
By understanding our Window of Tolerance, and what it uniquely looks and feels like for us like to be in or out of it, we can slowly expand it through the mindful use of skills like Titration and Pendulation while we work toward healing and integration.
Emotional Dysregulation
Emotional dysregulation happens when our stress begins to overtake our capacity for resilience and we are pulled outside of our Window of Tolerance. Traumatic experiences and traumatic events are examples of this.
Most simply stated, when we’re overwhelmed it means we are outside of our window of tolerance.
While emotional dysregulation is normal, chronic dysregulation is a symptom of unresolved trauma. This is an indicator that you need a mental health professional to help with nervous system healing.
There are two types of emotional dysregulation and both have a spectrum of subtle and obvious signs:
- Hyper-arousal or being above your window of tolerance threshold
- Symptoms include: feelings of overwhelm, rigid, tension, addictions, rage, overeating or restricted eating, irritability
- Hypo-arousal or being below your window of tolerance threshold
- Symptoms include: reduced awareness of sensation, emotionally numb or flat, unable to think, dissociated, lethargic or sleepy, spacey
We can be in both types of dysregulation at the same time and by learning to recognize the subtle signs we can learn to regulate our emotions before we become overwhelmed. Tuning in to our thoughts and feelings is a practice incorporated in treatment plans for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Overwhelm
Is an extreme level of emotional dysregulation, intense to the point of feeling like life is unfolding faster than we can manage. This is more than stress — we are so far outside of our Window of Tolerance that we lose our ability to function. This can happen in an instant, like when triggered, or over time like with Burnout.
According to Carol Gohm, overwhelm describes an experience where:
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- Our Emotions are intense (10/10)
- Our focus on them is moderate (5/10)
- Our Clarity about what we’re feeling is low enough that we get confused trying to name or describe our emotions (1/10).
Tips to help someone experiencing overwhelm
- Do not ask them many questions.
- Do not allow them to make any decisions.
- Do not ask them to help with anything.
- Do not ask them to drive or to solve any problems.
- To ask anything of them is to misunderstand what they’re experiencing.
- Someone in overwhelm is not capable of doing much of anything — and the best thing they can do is nothing at all.
- The cure for overwhelm is unproductiveness or play.
- Don’t do anything.
