Fight or flight is an adrenaline-induced reaction to perceived, or actual threat. There has been less research about freeze than the other two responses. Here we look at these three responses, their purpose, and where they might be unhelpful, or inconvenient, in our daily lives.
Fight or flight are states of heightened arousal – there is an increased release of ‘stress hormones’, causing increased heartrate and faster breathing. They can be caused by pain, perceived threat, or by emotional responses, like upset or anger about a past event. This is not a conscious process, but an automatic reaction to real or perceived danger.
Freeze is similar, an automatic response to real or perceived threat; it differs because it is not a state of arousal. Freeze involves ‘deceleration’, meaning we experience decreased heartrate and movement during this response.
Which one?
The defence or survival response we engage varies depending on the situation. For example, animals might freeze if they have not yet been seen by a predator, or, if there is nowhere to run. Flight would ideally happen if there is somewhere to run and the animal knows they cannot fight the predator. Fight might occur where there is nowhere to run, or if there is not enough distance between the predator from the prey. This doesn’t always happen though – past experience may influence which response is employed. If flight has worked in previous situations, we may be more likely to engage this response, rather than fight or freeze. Zoe Lodrick explains that the brain, specifically the amygdala, remembers survival strategies which have been successful in the past. So not only might distance, situation, and the type of danger influence our response, so too will the past experiences we survived.
The amygdala
The amygdala is responsible for our automatic, quick responses. During fight or flight, the amygdala works to make us react to danger, either by reacting, or attacking (to scare), or to run and hide (to flee). The quicker our response to threat, the more likely we are to survive. Our bodies respond to threat to keep us safe and alive. To do this effectively, the amygdala overrides the logical, and slower part of the brain, called the prefrontal cortex (Arsten, Mazure and Sinha, 2012). Our prefrontal cortex is our logical/advanced brain, which helps keep us in check; it’s involved in abstract thought and helps us regulate what we say and do. When under stress, the amygdala takes over and we react from this more primal region, rather than engaging with our prefrontal cortex. This is evolutionary – more primal, more solution-focused/goal oriented, the amygdala allows us to act more quickly and not be slowed by thought and reason, like when we utilise our prefrontal cortex. Think of it as your body being instructed outside of your conscious control, a bit like being on auto-pilot. One example of this would be when you are surprised by a loud noise and jump or shout. It’s not something you choose to do, it just happens. You respond consciously after the event. For example, you might apologise to the person you screamed at, or turn off the scary film that had you on edge and ready to react. Had you been in real danger, this automatic response would’ve aided your survival.
Fight, Flight, and Anxiety
When experiencing a fight or flight response, you experience physiological (bodily) changes. The body’s sympathetic nervous system is activated, aroused, when faced with stress or danger. The sympathetic nervous system releases chemicals, including cortisol, a ‘stress hormone’, and adrenaline, to give us the best chance of survival. This causes increased heart-rate, sweating, increased blood-sugar levels, and changes to breathing. Our body may go into this ‘mode’ when we aren’t in any danger, physically or emotionally. Watching a scary film, or remembering a previous experience can cause these automatic defensive responses, even when this isn’t helpful, or necessary. This can be frustrating. When experiencing anxiety, your body might feel like you are in immediate danger, and this can be really difficult. It might affect how you think and feel, to live with this increased arousal.
Sometimes talking therapy can help you to look at what might be contributing to your anxiety, some therapy might offer coping strategies, or it might feel helpful to share how you’re feeling about living with your anxiety. More information about anxiety can be found here. Other options might be to speak to your GP, or to find things which reduce your anxiety and work best for you.
Freeze
Levine (1997) found another clever way that our brain tries to help us survive; ‘freeze’. This is where the amygdala works to keep our body still and quiet during scary or unsafe situations. During freeze, we are shut down in a sense, losing our capacity to move, speak, or make noise. Our prefrontal cortex, as mentioned before, is our logical/advanced brain. When we speak and/or move, we engage our prefrontal cortex and this takes longer to do, they are more complex processes that we almost can’t help but employ if we have the chance. So, by ‘shutting off’ the prefrontal cortex, we might have a better chance of acting quickly and surviving. In terms of evolution, this freeze response means we are less likely to be noticed or harmed by a predator. We might appear dead, and unthreatening, when engaged in this response. The body may stiffen, and our heart rate may slow. Also, in the case of injury or death, freeze response produces a pain-reducing, analgesic, effect. In this way, it’s a protective and important response.
Research by Roelofs, Hagenaars and Stins (2010) found the freeze response was activated when participants saw pictures of angry faces – so you haven’t got to be in immediate danger for your body to react as if it is. Freeze occurring in ‘safe’ scenarios can be frustrating; it might feel like we can’t get our words out, or like we are glued to the spot. Through therapy you might be able to explore this experience with someone who will try to understand what it’s like for you. Some people might try to ground themselves when experiencing freeze, and it’s important to find a way of dealing with this which works for you, and feels safe for you.
Calming, self-soothing, self-regulation
One technique won’t work for everyone – get to know what works for you, and seek medical advice from a GP or healthcare provider if you are concerned about your health and/or safety.
There are ways to reduce our automatic responses to stress. Though the reaction might be outside of our control (increased heart-rate; panic; freezing in-place), once we realise this is happening, there are some things we can do. For example, by noticing our breathing is shallow and quick, we might consciously take deeper breaths to try and slow down our breathing – this can feel calming. Some people take longer, slower breaths when in a state of heightened stress. It might also be useful to notice what came before this experience – was there a ‘trigger’, something which caused you to react? Some people find that realising what’s caused the reaction can be calming in itself. That said, these stress responses can occur for no apparent reason. It might be something you can explore in therapy if you want to look into potential experiences of anxiety, or experiences which you think might have impacted you and made you feel worried or stressed.
It might be helpful to look at what is around you or think about things which are calming to you. When you’ve felt stressed in the past, what have you done which has been soothing or helpful?
Why might it be helpful to know about Fight, Flight and Freeze?
By knowing more about fight, flight, and freeze, we can understand why we have physical reactions to events, and why we might react in ways we don’t expect. It helps us see that we don’t always choose how we respond to real or perceived danger. For survivors of traumatic events, it might be helpful to understand that your actions during the event weren’t something you consciously chose. Rather, your primal brain might have overtaken your ‘thinking’ brain, and somewhat removed your ability to choose the action you took.
These responses we made might frustrate us, for example, if we froze and were harmed as a result. It’s important to remember that this was not your fault, or because of some flaw, or mistake. Research indicates that that even exposure to pictures of angry faces can induce a freeze response in us. Watching a scary film causes our heart-rate to increase, readying us for fight or flight, even when we logically know that we aren’t in danger. This might be helpful to remember if we feel frustrated about feeling anxious and prepared for threat, even when there isn’t one around. Our fear responses are not always logical.
In conclusion
This provided a summary of the fight, flight, and freeze response. Engagement in these responses increases our chance of surviving in dangerous situations. These defensive responses can vary based on our past experiences of survival and exposure to stress, fear and threat, and by the individual situation. The brain has processes in place to change its function and purpose when we are in a state of fear. These processes are outside of our conscious control, but there may be ways we can sooth ourselves through these physiological changes and when we feel anxious.
References
https://doi.org/10.1177%2F095679761038474
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5332864/
