Your Window of Tolerance - Part 1
Are my meds failing me? What is valid and what is my mental illness? What is a reasonable emotional response in this situation?
For those of us who take medication for our mental health, a common difficulty exists in discerning whether our response to situations is “realistic” or even “valid”. I’ve thought about this a lot as both a therapist and human navigating my own mental health.
First of all, managing day to day can be hard. And for many, medication is one component of our ability to do just that. So how do you know what’s what? How do you know if you might need support?
Our emotions and chemical responses are hardwired to release chemicals such as adrenaline, cortisol, dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin to name a few. Psychotropic medication seeks to balance some of these hormones, but we have not yet found the “perfect” solution. So, how do you make sense of all this neuroscience psychobabble? How does it apply to you?
Learn about your “window of tolerance”.
For those of us who take medication, we must be vigilant in understanding ourselves and understanding that medication is only one aspect of mental health maintenance. We are responsible for getting to know ourselves and our warning signs.
While a “window of tolerance” is often used within a trauma model, it can apply to anyone with access to their sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
Imagine you are floating down a river. The bank above you is the land of heat, fire, and lava. The bank below you is the land of ice, cold, and glaciers. As stressful events occur during your trip through calm waters, the stream narrows and you become dangerously close to these lands. The stream at times may become a trickle, forcing you to step onto one of the banks.
We all have individual experiences in these lands, but here is what many experience in the land of fire: anger, hypervigilance, mania, tension, irritability, anxiety, inability to calm. This is the land where your sympathetic nervous system is exacerbated by different forms of high energy.
Stepping onto the bank of the land of ice provokes a parasympathetic nervous response. You’re frozen, and all you want to do is hibernate. This often feels like depression, immobilizing sadness, low energy, procrastination, feelings of hopelessness, or powerlessness. The longer you stay here, the colder and more exhausted you become.
Get to know your window. Which land are you pulled toward most often? Do you bounce back and forth between them? How do you know when you’re not in the “danger zone?”
Check out this model of the window of tolerance here and jot down the symptoms that resonate. The next blog post will be actionable steps toward how to use the window of tolerance to your advantage and begin to better understand when you might need to seek further support.
