Why do I notice myself feeling angry as I start to come out of shutdown?

Shutdown (dorsal vagal) is the highest level of protection the nervous system “activates” to keep you safe.

It’s important to know that “inside” shutdown there is often suppressed fight/flight (sympathetic) energy. With sympathetic energy there is often anger and frustrated attempts to defend oneself.

So as your start to “thaw” from freeze/shutdown you may encounter more tension in your muscles, anger and other strong emotions.

This is a sign of healing. It can be uncomfortable to feel strong buried emotions, but it’s part of the process.

That’s why it’s so important to have mentorship during this period and also develop productive ways and even new skills in dealing with these strong emotions.

Many of us have not developed skills like this growing up. So apart from allowing the “melting” of the freeze and shutdown to occur, you will also need new useful skills of relating to yourself and others.

Anger surfacing at some stages of your healing journey is a sign that healing is going well.