What Happens When You Go Emotionally Numb?

When you are emotionally numb your nervous system is so overwhelmed you have little motivation to reach out to others and you are unable to respond to others in your normal fashion. Your usual way of talking to others shuts down.

Most likely, the emotional numbing indicates that your nervous system has gone into survival mode. When you are in survival mode, your biology has three options: to fight, to flee or to freeze. The emotional expressions of the fight and flight responses are often anger and anxiety, respectively. Freeze, on the other hand, often gives rise to emotional numbing. Becoming numb is not a conscious choice; it is a survival strategy.

Why Would You Go Emotionally Numb?

Becoming emotionally numb is a form of self-protection in face of a perceived threat that seems very dangerous or even life threatening. Note that I say “perceived threat”. What the other speaker may be saying may not be intended to be threatening, but, from you point of view, there is something about it that IS threatening. You may not be conscious of the real threat because it is often tucked away in history.

If your reaction to a dangerous or scary situation that had happened in the past is still unresolved, your nervous system could get “fooled” into acting as though what you are hearing now is threatening. This may happen with certain topics, people, manner of speaking or intensity of emotions. There is enough similarity between what happened in the past and the present conversation that your nervous system will continue to protect you by going emotionally numb. That way you do not have to feel the earlier painful emotions like terror, loss and shame

http://healingaftertrauma.com/free-articles/why-do-you-go-emotionally-numb-when-others-talk-to-you

I want to stay in this state.