Understanding Shut Down— Depression and Your Body’s Protective Disconnection (Different States Series – Part 4)
Episode 122: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube
View transcript on Buzzsprout
Shut down is your nervous system’s most protective response. If you’ve ever felt heavy, numb, and completely disconnected from life—like you’re moving through a thick fog with no energy or motivation—you’ve likely experienced a nervous system state called “shutdown.”
This episode offers a deeply compassionate guide to understanding this protective state and provides a roadmap of gentle, micro-steps to help you slowly and safely reconnect with yourself and the world.
What We Cover in This Episode
- Why shutdown happens, from chronic burnout and overwhelm to unresolved grief and past trauma.
- How to understand shutdown from a “parts work” perspective, seeing it as a protector trying to keep you from feeling more pain.
- A toolkit of gentle, sensory-based practices to slowly reawaken your system without causing more stress.
- Why patience is one of the most crucial tools when working with this state.
What Shutdown Really Is
Shutdown is your nervous system’s last-ditch survival strategy, governed by the dorsal vagal system. When there’s been too much for too long—and no clear way out—your system powers down to protect you. It’s not a mindset problem. It’s not a character flaw. It’s your body keeping you alive.
Physiological symptoms include slowed heart rate, shallow breath, low appetite, weakened immune function, and even changes in body temperature or vision. Psychologically, it can feel like numbness, disconnection, hopelessness, or watching your life from the outside.
Shutdown is your nervous system saying: I love you enough to turn the volume down.
The Difference Between Freeze and Shutdown
While freeze carries urgency, shutdown brings collapse. In freeze, there’s still inner tension. In shutdown, there’s often apathy or despair. Amanda breaks down how knowing the difference helps release shame and points to more effective support strategies.
Why Shutdown Becomes Chronic
Chronic stress, unresolved trauma, illness, caregiving without support, financial instability, or growing up with unmet emotional needs can all push us toward a shutdown baseline. Amanda explores both current and past contributors, including how early disconnection becomes a protective pattern.
Parts Work Perspective on Shutdown
Amanda shares how parts of you may have learned to disconnect to survive disappointment, chaos, or pain. These parts aren’t defective—they’re protective. With compassion, curiosity, and support, it’s possible to gently reconnect and rewire.
Inside Restore, clients often shift their self-talk from “I’m broken” to “a part of me learned to protect me this way”—and this changes everything about how they approach their symptoms and healing. This shift is the beginning of them building a bridge back to themselves.
Gentle Tools to Support Shutdown
Working with shutdown isn’t about pushing through—it’s about creating safety. Amanda shares five categories of tools:
Gentle Sensation & Grounding: Hold a warm mug. Feel your back against the chair. Let your body register “I’m here” without needing to do anything.
Visual Orientation & Tiny Movements: Move your eyes slowly. Wiggle your fingers. Sway side to side. These micro-movements begin to thaw immobilization.
Voice & Vibration: Try soft humming, a gentle “vu” breath, or saying “I’m right here.” Sound moves through your body and reminds your system it exists.
Symbolic Connection: Can’t do social interaction? Look at a photo of a loved one. Text a friend you trust. Pet a dog. Watch a comforting show. Co-regulation can be subtle.
Parts Work Phrases: Instead of “I have to get out of this,” try: “I see you, and you’re allowed to be here.” Gentle acknowledgement creates the conditions for safe return.
In shutdown, less is more. Go small. Stay gentle. That’s the medicine.
Longer-Term Healing from Shutdown
Amanda outlines deeper steps for chronic shutdown recovery:
- Address physiological stressors (nutrition, labs, sleep, hormones)
- Reduce unsustainable pressures in work or relationships
- Add predictable routines and safe structure
- Get curious about early patterns and protective parts
Exploring both the internal and external contributors to shutdown and then building a custom approach is at the heart of the way we support our clients get to the otherside of chronic shutdown.
Three Tangible Takeaways
- Shutdown is protection, not pathology. Your system didn’t fail. It adapted. And it can learn new ways to feel safe.
- Tiny actions > big pressure. Start with sensation, presence, or gentle movement—not productivity.
- The root needs attention, not just the symptoms. Compassionate curiosity, physiological support, and real-life changes pave the path out.
Looking for more personalized support?
- Book a FREE discovery call for RESTORE, our 1:1 anxiety & depression coaching program (HSA/FSA eligible & includes comprehensive bloodwork)
- Join me inside the Regulated Living Membership, a mental health membership and nervous system healing space (sliding scale pricing available)
- Join my Release Class – Monthly guided nervous system regulation class
- Order my book, Healing Through the Vagus Nerve today!
*Want me to talk about something specific on the podcast? Let me know HERE.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or qualified mental health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
