Emotional Safety
Emotional safety. We all need it. We really can't do without it.
Emotional safety is evident when a particular neurological subsystem is in full operation. When this social engagement subsystem is inhibited or short-circuited, emotional safety is not viable.
Stephen Porges, Ph.D., neuroscientist says taken together it is easy to see that when this subsystem is active we are at our best, connecting and working through whatever needs to be dealt with in the social-emotional realm. This subsystem defines the functionality of our readiness to invite and respond to others.
Depending on the information gleaned from sensory input we determine whether the situation we find ourselves in, is either of these three qualities, safe, dangerous, life-threateningly dangerous.
But what happens when this system is not up and running? Should our sensory organs detect an internal or external threat to safety, the social engagement capacities described above shut down instantaneously.
When our senses detect danger, a second system fires up. If that danger seems life-threatening a third system comes to the fore and the other two go dark. Depending on the degree of safety or danger one of the three sub-systems lights up and the others are dark.
Psychology Today
see sense and attention
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