The Fight or Flight State: Polyvagal Theory

Stuck Not Broken by Justin Sunseri

Jul 14, 202620:46Health

Anxiety and anger can feel like opposites, but they are two sides of the same state. Fight or flight is your sympathetic nervous system mobilizing to protect you: flight shows up as anxiety and worry, fight as anger and...

Related Episodes

Continue listening to more episodes from Stuck Not Broken.

What It Means & Why it's Good to be Stuck

Oct 9, 2026 - 16:56

Stuck and broken are two very different problems, and which one you believe you are changes everything ab...

Why You Stay Stuck in Trauma, Part 2: Cognitive Adaptations

Sep 29, 2026 - 28:28

You already know what Bill does. This episode is about what's underneath it: the stories he tells himself...

Why You Stay Stuck in Trauma, Part 1: Behavioral Adaptations

Sep 22, 2026 - 16:00

Wild animals live with danger every day and don't get traumatized. So why do you stay stuck? In this epis...

Co-Regulation, Explained: Polyvagal Theory

Sep 15, 2026 - 09:43

Your nervous system doesn't just calm down on its own — more often than you realize, it borrows the calm...

Self-Regulation, Explained: Polyvagal Theory

Sep 8, 2026 - 13:24

Sometimes the most useful information in the therapy room isn't in what someone says; it's in their hands...

The Vagal Brake, Explained: Polyvagal Theory

Sep 1, 2026 - 08:37

You can't just decide to calm down, but you can strengthen the thing that makes calming down possible. Th...

What is Trauma? The Two Paths: Polyvagal Theory

Aug 25, 2026 - 19:36

Trauma isn't the event. It's what happens afterward, when your nervous system gets stuck defending agains...

Why Being "Too Nice" Can Be a Survival Strategy

Aug 18, 2026 - 09:02

Not every survival strategy looks like fighting back or running away. Sometimes it looks like befriending...