There’s been a big influx of people talking about nervous system healing. It’s another dead end. One more idea that sounds helpful but quietly shifts people away from what’s actually going on, while selling tools, programs, or identities they don’t really need.
The nervous system has automatic responses like your gag reflex, pulling your hand away from a hot stove, or your heart rate increasing when you perceive danger. You don’t want to “heal” those. If anything, you want them to stay sharp and reliable.
That’s not what people mean when they talk about nervous system healing. What they’re pointing to are experiences like anxiety, panic, racing heart, shallow breathing, or feeling on edge in social situations.
These responses can feel overwhelming, so it makes sense that people assume something must be wrong with their nervous system. But the system itself isn’t the problem.
Healthy Nervous Systems
Imagine you’re in a social situation and your heart starts racing, your chest feels tight, maybe your hands are clammy and you want to escape. While definitely uncomfortable, and likely interfering with connection, it doesn’t mean your nervous system is damaged, dysregulated, or in need of healing. In fact, it often means the opposite.
In this situation, your nervous system is responding exactly as it was designed to respond to a perceived threat. The key word being “perceived.” The trigger isn’t the room, the people, or the conversation itself. It’s the interpretation happening internally. Something like “I’m not safe here,” “I’m going to be judged,” or “I can’t handle this.”
Once that interpretation happens, the nervous system is directed to “help.” In this case, an increased heart rate, heightened awareness, and readiness to flee are a healthy, functional response to a perceived threat. If there were an actual physical threat, these same reactions could help you get out of harm’s way.
The problem isn’t that the nervous system is broken. The problem is that it’s responding to a signal that doesn’t match the reality of the situation. This is where the idea of “nervous system healing” misleads you. It suggests the system itself is faulty, when it’s simply following instructions.
Why Regulation Tools Feel Helpful
Things like breathwork, tapping, grounding exercises, or cold exposure can calm an alert nervous system in the moment. They reduce intensity and can help you see situations more neutrally, which is especially helpful when you’re overwhelmed or having a panic attack.
And while they are beneficial, the help is only temporary since they don’t address the root of why you interpreted a neutral social situation as a threat to begin with. So while you may feel the initial benefit and get tricked into thinking you’re healing a damaged nervous system, what you’re really doing is coping and ignoring the root of the issue.
Without addressing the interpretation or belief that created the response, the pattern will happen again because your nervous system keeps getting the same message and will keep producing the same response.
What’s Actually Being Sold
There isn’t really such a thing as nervous system healing in the way people market it. What’s being sold are coping mechanisms and tools to calm yourself down after the alarm has already gone off. These aren’t useless, but they’re also not healing.
Real change happens when you address the root of the interpretation. That means focusing on your thoughts and the stories you’re telling yourself about what’s happening, what certain situations mean, and what you can handle. When those interpretations shift, your nervous system follows. Not because the system was “healed,” but because the was no trigger to sound a nervous system response.