Fight, Flight or Freeze: 3 Common Responses to Stressful Stimuli due to Trauma

One thing I am determined to change in society is the tendency for professionals to keep important conversations about the nature of human beings to ourselves. Oftentimes we discover new phenomenons, celebrate and promote them, but don't take the time to explain them to the everyday people that the very thing we discovered effects. Brain development, child development stages and trauma are three major developments that are often discussed within my practice as a social worker. These topics I understand are also fairly prevalent in the medical filed, including nursing as well as counseling and psychology. I believing they are attempting to move the conversation in this direction in education and law enforcement areas as well.

When I worked at a residential facility, I made it my personal mission to ensure the youth I worked with gained a better understanding of how their brain worked and how it was affecting the manner in which they related in the world. So I took the liberty of teaching them about the chemicals of the brain and how different parts of their brain reacted to certain stimuli. For some, it helped, others not so much, but at least they were receiving pertinent information about themselves to help them figure out how they relate in the world.

One topic of particular interest was always the concept of fight, flight or freeze. I tried to make this a fun conversation for them in helping them to identify which response level they reacted when met with threatening stimuli. I am going to go through this same presentation in this blog post. The question is, which response level are you?

I should first mention, my best references come from the minds and work of both Dr. Bruce Perry and B. Bryan Post, both who have done extensive work on the effects of trauma on the development of the brain. You should know that trauma has significant effects on the development of the prefrontal cortex and amygdala. Synapses in the brain release chemicals in the brain according to its learned responses. Much of these responses are affected by early attachment and/or lack of attachment, environmental influences and potential of trauma related incidents.

1. Fight

"B!@#*, I will F!*@ you up! Wanna bump?!" This is fight level response in a nutshell. No further explanation needed, but I will elaborate. When a high stress situation occurs, many who have this as their level of response are ready to throw down. In teenagers, I always saw this as a chain reaction when one fight occurred, ALL the fighters would come out because that was the way they released their stress. Oftentimes its difficult to identify what this person is feeling because they seem so angry. Many people give up on a person who responds this way because they are afraid of them.

2. Flight

These would be your runners. Whenever a situation gets tough the first response of their brain is to RUN away! I have had the opportunity to work with a couple of teens who are chronic runners and I am most worried about them because their fear responses are ALL the way down. They aren't afraid of much and typically don't consider the consequences because the synapses in their brain are just telling them one thing....GET AWAY! I once followed a young lady until the staff told me to come back and I just remember feeling as if I couldn't do anything because she was just so shut down in that moment and walking on that busy road where anything could have happened to her just wasn't registering.

3. Freeze

People who respond to stimuli in this manner are who most people refer to as "depressed" or "withdrawn". Individuals who freeze in high stress situations often retreat into themselves and stop talking to other people, even those they trust. When I was doing therapy, these were my kiddos who would often times be labeled as unwilling to participate or uncooperative. Eventually if I asked enough questions and built enough trust I would discover they were protecting themselves from something that was causing their brain to trigger an unsafe situation for them.

It is so important to know for yourself what your response level is to stressful situations. As a helping professional it is beneficial to me in working with those I serve. It should also be noted that sometimes you can exhibit signs of multiple levels and sometimes even all three. For example I know that my dominate level of response to stress is to freeze. I easily withdraw into myself and let my introverted nature take over. BUT there are times, sometimes in my marriage or at work where the fight response exposes itself, especially when I am feel my character is being attacked!

I will have more on this in later posts to give suggestions on how to identify your stress response and how to restructure your brain and help yourself be a little more aware!

Until next time!