Episode 7 - Moving from Survival
Welcome back to Reconnection Moments, a space where we get real about intimacy disorders and healing from sexual compulsivity. Not through willpower or shame, but by gently rewiring the brain and body back into connection. I'm Dr. Michael Barta, creator of The Reconnection Model. In each episode, I'll be answering questions I hear most from clients and therapists, and I will also be sharing fresh insights from my ongoing work.
Host:Welcome back to the Reconnection Podcast. In our last episode, Dr. Michael Barta helped us understand what safety actually feels like in the nervous system. That safety is an embodied signal that connection is possible. Today, we're gonna go deeper into that question many listeners have been asking, which is how do we move from survival back into connection? You know, not through techniques, but through an understanding of the nervous system's logic.
Host:Dr. Barta, welcome back.
Dr. Barta:Thank you very much. It's good to be here.
Host:So, you know, not about techniques. Tell me more about that.
Dr. Barta:Okay. So basically, what we're looking at here I mean, the autonomic nervous system does many, many things, but we're talking about its protection device, its role in allowing us to connect with other people. Right? So we're talking today about survival states, and these are what our autonomic nervous system does automatically to protect us. They're not flaws.
Dr. Barta:They're adaptations to our early experiences. And we move between, you know, the social engagement system, that's the green zone where we're open, present, and connected, to the sympathetic activation, that's our red zone, and that's tense, urgent, and scanning around. And then the dorsal vagal shutdown, which is the blue zone, and that's when we're numb, distant, or disconnection. And most people living with intimacy disorder or addiction spend far more time in red and blue than in green.
Host:That's a great overview of those three systems. Now the tragedy is that we assume these states are our identity. Right?
Dr. Barta:That's right. I mean, people don't understand that this has happened subconsciously. Right? They're being driven by this autonomic nervous system. And they say things like, "I'm just wired this way," or they feel and believe that they're too much, or they don't have enough emotion, or they just don't know how to connect.
Dr. Barta:But these statements are just reflection of what the nervous system is trying to navigate in a world that learned that early connection was not safe. And when we start to understand that these are messages from the nervous system, then we can start gaining some type of agency because we have to make the unconscious conscious.
Host:So when someone moves out of the connection into survival, what's actually happening?
Dr. Barta:All right. So, you know, when they experience some type of threat, and we're going to experience a large amount of threat in our lives, real or imagined, if we have an intimacy disorder. Okay? And that's because our social engagement system, the part of the autonomic nervous system that allows us to know real safety and real danger or false danger, right, is not functioning properly. So at this point in time, you know, people are just in a protective state.
Dr. Barta:The body senses something. I mean, it can be a tone, a look, a memory, a belief, and then it's going to interpret it as a threat. All right? And survival shows up in patterns like we try to control everything in our environment. Right?
Dr. Barta:We judge people. We don't allow them to be who they are. We withdraw. We defend ourselves. We shut down.
Dr. Barta:We're walking around pretending like everything is fine. We're always bracing for the next impact. And we're going to always try to avoid any type of conflict. Right? So none of these things are failures.
Dr. Barta:They're strategies that the autonomic nervous system developed. And for many people, these strategies were absolutely necessary.
Host:But now the belief is they keep us from the very connection that we're wanting, though.
Dr. Barta:Yeah. And this is what we want to get to. Right? We want to know our internal state so the moment we recognize, "Oh, I'm protecting myself again," we open a window because that recognition itself means a tiny shift has already happened. The system is starting to consider the possibility, "Maybe I'm not in danger right now."
Dr. Barta:And we don't force this shift, we notice it. So that's why it's an internal job. And that noticing restores our access to choice.
Host:So without the giving tools, let's talk about what makes the shift possible. What actually, in your work, invites someone out of survival and back into connection?
Dr. Barta:That's a great question. Thank you. Well, connection begins inside us long before it reaches another person. All right? What restores the possibility of connection is when the nervous system encounters something that contradicts the belief that danger is present.
Dr. Barta:And often, that something is found in one of those four pillars we spoke about previously. So we can find it in authenticity. And that's when I have the willingness to acknowledge what's happening inside of myself internally. I don't run from it. I don't go, you know, try to act out to avoid it.
Dr. Barta:I really recognize that this is something that's happening inside of me. And just noticing it without creating stories about it, without creating you know, I have this anxiety and my mind immediately goes to the story as, "Oh my gosh, I'm in danger." Stop the story. Right? Just notice there's something going in.
Dr. Barta:My vulnerability is allowing that the acknowledgment of this matters. All right? We all need acknowledgment, and we're constantly looking outside of ourselves to be acknowledged while never acknowledging ourselves and what we're feeling. And transparency is letting other persons see even a small part of what's true within us. I mean, that's how other people, you know, can respond to us appropriately.
Dr. Barta:And presence is staying here instead of disappearing into old narratives or finding a way to immediately quiet the disturbance, like acting out. So when these four are aligned, the nervous system receives a different message. It's receiving, "This moment isn't the past. I'm allowed to be here." And what's powerful in that is this internal shift doesn't require perfection.
Dr. Barta:It only requires honesty.
Host:So it's not all about doing something right. It's about letting what's true be known.
Dr. Barta:Exactly. Connection comes from congruence, not performance. And when we stop managing, comforting, controlling, or hiding our internal world, our nervous system feels less alone. We're there with it. And when it feels less alone, safety becomes internal.
Dr. Barta:Safety becomes possible again.
Host:So when someone begins living more from that connection than survival mode, what really changes?
Dr. Barta:Well, life becomes much softer. A person who once braced for rejection starts to feel steadier. Someone who lived in shame all their life starts to feel accessible. Conversations become less about avoiding danger and more about discovering each other. And maybe most importantly, people begin to trust that they no longer have to disappear in order to be loved.
Dr. Barta:They no longer have to reject their authenticity to be accepted by other people.
Host:And that's an incredible shift.
Dr. Barta:It really is. Because when the nervous system learns connection is safe, not dangerous, everything that addiction once promised becomes actually possible. Right, we get comfort, closeness, relief, steadiness, and belonging.
Host:Dr. Barta, thank you for this. You know, understanding that internal movement from survival mode to connection mode gives people a way to interpret their experiences with so much more compassion.
Dr. Barta:Well, thanks for letting me talk about this. And I think it's important to remember, you know, the shift always begins inside of us. It's not about what other people are doing, right? As our internal world becomes more coherent and less defended, connection becomes a natural byproduct.
Host:That's a great way to close. In our next episode, we'll explore how early experiences shape the stories the nervous system tells us and how those stories continue to shape our adult relationships until we rewrite them. Till then, thanks again for listening to the Reconnection Podcast.
Dr. Barta:Thanks for joining me today. If you want to learn more about how this healing happens, visit doctor Michael Barda dot com. And if this episode spoke to you, share it with someone who might need to hear it. Until next time, keep reconnecting.