Tolerance window: what is it and how does it affect us emotionally

Some people may recall their experiences with uncontrollable emotional overflow. They are people who for a simple stimulus related to a traumatic experience makes it come to mind all kinds of disturbing memories that can both paralyze them and provoke the most serious of attacks of go to.

Each person has limits of calm, a phenomenon called the tolerance window. These are the levels of calm in which we can function optimally, without being too excited but not standing still. It is functional calm within certain parameters, different from person to person.

Next we are going to find out exactly what this tolerance window is about and what can make it look narrow.

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What is the tolerance window?

The tolerance window model It was developed by Pat Ogden, Kekuni Minton and Claire Pain (2009), although based on a concept by the psychologist dr. Dan siegel, with the intention of explaining in a simple way how the regulation of the Autonomous Nervous System occurs and the response to certain stressful or emotionally disturbing stimuli. Within the framework of polyvagal theory, this system is made up of two branches: the Sympathetic Nervous System is related to alertness, while the Parasympathetic to relaxation and calm.

When a person does not have the ability to prevent defense responses to an emotionally disturbing stimulus, your nervous system may be in a constant state of strategies focused on survival. In this sense, you can resort to one of the following two: mobilization survival strategies (hyperarousal) or immobilization survival strategies (hypoexcitation).

People who do not have enough capacity to regulate the activation of their autonomic system can have different problems. Among these problems we would find psychosomatization, cognitive deficits and behaviors socially dysfunctional leading to distressing relationships and desperate search for safety and relief. Mental disorders can appear and be aggravated because the person is hyper or hypo-excited.

The model of the tolerance window has three differentiated activation zones, two pathological and optimal: the optimal activation zone, the hyperarousal zone and the hypoactivation.

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1. Hyperarousal zone

The hyperarousal zone is the state in which the person experiences an increase in all kinds of organic and psychological sensations. It happens when it is above the maximum tolerance level and corresponds to an increase in the activity of the sympathetic nervous system.

When one is in this zone, they present greater emotional reactivity, hypervigilance, experience intrusive images and memories, and all their cognitive processing is disorganized. Hyperactivity also makes it difficult to sleep and eat.

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2. Optimal activation zone

The optimal activation zone, also called the tolerance margin, it is the zone in which psychologically and biologically well regulated people are found. We would say that it is the zone of calm and, thanks to this, the individual is able to integrate the information he receives in a effective, connecting with our emotions and being able to think about our physiological and mental states in a functional.

3. Zone of hypoactivation

The zone of hypoactivation involves several symptoms, all of them associated with low energy and poor response capacity. Unlike hyperarousal, it is below the tolerance range.

Among its symptoms we have relative absence of sensations, numbness of emotions, slowing down of the cognitive process and slow movements. Tiredness, confusion, distraction, or embarrassment would also be experienced.

It would correspond to an excessive increase in the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system.

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Trauma and emotional dysregulation

The autonomic nervous system and trauma are related. What causes a certain situation to be experienced as a traumatic experience has to do with the individual's perception, especially if he perceives it as potentially dangerous to his life. If this is the case, the person puts into practice several survival responses, which can become chronic if not properly managed. If this happens, it would be when the emotional dysregulation would happen, either due to hyperarousal or hypoexcitation.

Stressors can be internal or external: internal can be memories intrusive, physical discomfort that causes concerns about health, feelings, and sensations overwhelming; while the external ones are usually social situations, although they can also be stimuli such as smells, tastes, tones of voice or any element that is unpleasant for the person who does it receives.

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What does it mean to be outside the tolerance window?

Sometimes emotions overwhelm us. The reasons for this are many. It may be due to lack of distrust, lack of strategies to manage emotions, difficulties to reflect... The two limits of tolerance window correspond to two extreme states of the ideal activation of the organism, the aforementioned hyper and hypoexcitation.

Depending on the life experiences of each one, we develop a pattern of response to different stimuli. As everyone has their own way of responding to certain experiences, there are some people who can be very reactive, suffering from panic or anger attacks. Others, on the other hand, may find themselves disconnected from their body and mind when they are in front of a certain stimulus, their mind is blocked and, practically, they become depersonalized.

Faced with dangerous or traumatic situations, our body acts to survive and sets in motion mechanisms that, sometimes, cannot return to its normal state. People who are outside the tolerance window are often because their window is very narrow, making it difficult for them to find themselves in a basal state of security, calm and relaxation. At the slightest, these people are hyper or underactive.

How to expand the tolerance window?

The narrowness of our window of tolerance depends on our life experiences, especially childhood ones. Childhoods full of traumatic experiences usually give rise to adults whose hyper and hypo-excitement in the face of stressful elements are easily activated. If you have not yet overcome your traumas, it is quite likely that you will very frequently manifest symptoms ranging from fits of anger to mental blockage.

We cannot change our past, but we can work on our present to have a better future. The traumatic events of the past will not cease to exist, but we can change the narrowness of our window of tolerance, widen it so that the stimuli that induce us to psychological tension are less and less.

We can use various techniques to stay within our tolerance window and gradually expand it. First, it is essential to recognize what this window of tolerance is, to know what limits it has so that, working from there, to make these increasingly wider. Among the techniques that can help us we have:

• Being physically active: walking, running, going to the gym ...
• Recognize negative thoughts and reformulate them in a positive key.
• Share our thoughts and concerns with a trusted person.
• Practice guided breathing and meditation.