Trauma can train the nervous system to surrender. “Trauma—particularly the sort that’s extended or feels inescapable—can actually rewire the nervous system to consider security isn’t attainable,” Broff explains. “Over time, disengagement or submission turns into a survival technique.”
For survivors of childhood abuse, home violence or continual injustice, realized helplessness can settle in early. You attempt to combat again. You attempt to converse up. However when nothing modifications—or worse, issues escalate—your mind associates effort with futility. So, to outlive, it’s essential to submit or disengage. “Learned helplessness is the nervous system’s means of claiming, ‘Survive now, heal later,’” says Broff. Whereas staying small, quiet and helpless could also be adaptive within the second, “issues come up when this protecting technique continues even after the risk is gone, making it tougher to pursue change, progress or connection.”
