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The window of tolerance
SAID ALOUD
The window of tolerance
Aim. To introduce a model for understanding our reactions to stress and trauma.
Trainer [ draws the window of tolerance ]. This is a model for understanding reactions to stress and trauma.
PART II: THE TRAINING
Being within the window indicates that we are in the ideal state of emotional response. In this state we can absorb and respond to information effectively. Above the window we experience hyper arousal( often associated with the body’ s‘ fight and flight’ response). Below the window, we experience hypo arousal( associated with freeze,‘ playing dead’, submission and dissociation responses).
Traumatised survivors have narrow windows of tolerance, are quick to leave their window, and may swing between hyper- and hypo arousal.
The‘ window of tolerance’: maintaining optimal arousal
Hyperarousal: too much arousal to integrate
Emotional reactivity Hypervigilance Intrusive imagery Obsessive / cyclical cognitive processing Tension, shaking, ungrounded
‘ Window of tolerance’ Optimal arousal zone
Hypoarousal: too little arousal to integrate
Adapted from Ogden and Minton 2000, at www. sciencedirect. com.
Flat affect Inability to think clearly Numbing Collapse
Discussion. Applying the window of tolerance.( In plenary or in pairs. 10 minutes.)
DISCUSSION
Discuss how you can use the window of tolerance to understand over-activation and underactivation, and apply it as a tool to help a survivor remain within her optimal arousal zone.
Trainer. Thank you. We have discussed how important it is to anchor ourselves in our senses, to cope with fear. Our senses help us to remember where we are, now, and remain in the present. When we are coping, we return within our window of tolerance. When we help a survivor, we help her to return within her window of tolerance and stay in it, instead of being either hyper- or hypoaroused.
END OF DAY 2.