Trauma and emotional numbness are closely linked. When the nervous system encounters an experience that exceeds its capacity to process, it can respond by shutting down emotional processing entirely. This is sometimes described as dissociation, a disconnection from one's own emotional and sometimes physical experience that can range from mild detachment to a profound sense of unreality. Not all emotional numbness is trauma-related, but when it is, the numbness often serves as a barrier between the person and the emotional content of the traumatic experience. The feelings are not gone. They are sealed off.
Dr. David Steinbok works with patients from the Deerfield Beach, Florida area who may be experiencing emotional shutdown connected to past trauma, whether the trauma is something they remember clearly or something they sense but cannot fully access. His office in Boca Raton provides a psychodynamic framework that approaches the sealed-off material with care, respecting the protective function of the numbness while gradually creating the conditions in which emotional access can be restored.
