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This self-assessment Shutdown Dissociation Scale (SHUT-D) , was originally developed by Schalinski I, Thomas Elbert, Maggie Schauer, and colleagues . TraitProfiler provides an interactive digital version for educational, informational, and self-exploration purposes only.

Shutdown Dissociation Scale (SHUT-D)

Background

About the Shutdown Dissociation Scale (SHUT-D)

The Shutdown Dissociation Scale (SHUT-D) is a self-report questionnaire designed to measure shutdown dissociative responses that may occur during overwhelming stress, fear, trauma, or extreme emotional activation.
The SHUT-D was developed by Inga Schalinski, Thomas Elbert, Maggie Schauer, and colleagues as part of trauma and dissociation research focused on defensive survival responses and psychophysiological shutdown reactions.
The questionnaire evaluates dissociative shutdown experiences including fainting, motor inhibition, numbness, sensory shutdown, autonomic distress, depersonalization, paralysis-like experiences, and speech inhibition.
Research studies have demonstrated strong reliability and validity for the SHUT-D across trauma psychology, PTSD research, dissociation studies, psychophysiology, psychiatry, and stress-response research.

Psychological Domains Measured

Fainting and Collapse
Measures collapse responses, fainting episodes, passing out, and shutdown-related loss of physical stability.
Sensory Shutdown
Measures sensory disruptions including temporary blindness, hearing disturbances, sensory disconnection, and altered perception.
Physical Numbing
Measures numbness, loss of bodily sensation, reduced pain sensitivity, and altered physical awareness.
Motor Inhibition
Measures paralysis-like reactions, physical freezing, bodily heaviness, immobility, and shutdown-related motor inhibition.
Autonomic Distress
Measures nausea, sweating, dizziness, weakness, autonomic activation, and physiological stress reactions.
Depersonalization
Measures out-of-body experiences, altered self-awareness, and feelings of detachment from oneself or one’s body.
Speech Inhibition
Measures temporary inability to speak, whispering, speech shutdown, and difficulty producing speech under stress.
The SHUT-D is commonly used in trauma psychology, PTSD research, dissociation studies, psychiatry, psychophysiology, and stress-response research. The questionnaire is intended as a screening instrument and should not be used as a standalone diagnostic tool.

Procedure

This questionnaire is designed to evaluate shutdown dissociative experiences and defensive physiological reactions that may occur during overwhelming stress, fear, trauma, or emotional overload.

Participants select the response option that best reflects how often each physical, sensory, emotional, or dissociative experience occurs.

The assessment focuses on fainting, numbness, motor inhibition, depersonalization, sensory shutdown, autonomic distress, and shutdown-related physiological reactions.

Participation

This assessment is designed for adolescents and adults interested in understanding dissociative shutdown reactions, trauma-related physiological responses, and stress-related dissociative experiences.

The questionnaire is intended for educational, screening, and research purposes only.

Results should not be considered a clinical diagnosis or substitute for professional psychological, psychiatric, trauma-focused, neurological, or medical evaluation.

Scoring & Interpretation

Responses are scored according to the frequency of shutdown dissociative experiences, sensory disruptions, motor inhibition, autonomic distress, and depersonalization-related reactions.

Higher scores generally indicate stronger shutdown dissociation tendencies, physiological shutdown reactions, dissociative stress responses, and trauma-related autonomic dysregulation.

Dimensional scores are also calculated to evaluate specific shutdown-related psychological and physiological domains independently.

Shutdown Dissociation Scale (SHUT-D) Questionnaire

Instructions & Terms

Below is the Shutdown Dissociation Scale (SHUT-D), a digitally adapted 13- items self-assessment questionnaire. This assessment does not provide a clinical diagnosis, medical determination, or substitute for professional psychological evaluation. Anonymous responses may be included in research statistics and normative datasets.Please answer each question honestly based on your personal experiences.

Select the response option that best represents how often each experience occurs in your daily life or during periods of stress, fear, emotional overwhelm, or traumatic activation.

There are no right or wrong answers. Some shutdown-related physiological and dissociative experiences may occur naturally during overwhelming emotional or physical stress.



Psychometric Norms

7
Participants
71%
Community Mean
6.3%
Sample SD
74%
Highest Observed Score
56%
Lowest Observed Score
2026–2026
Collection Period

All response data are collected anonymously through Shutdown Dissociation Scale (SHUT-D) and are intended exclusively for educational, psychometric, and non-commercial research purposes. Privacy Policy | Research Statistics

Sources
  1. Schalinski I, Schauer, M., & Elbert, T. The Shutdown Dissociation Scale (SHUT-D) European journal of psychotraumatology vol. 6 25652. 13 May. 2015