Stuck in Stress

Welcome to our latest blog, where we will be talking about the fight, flight or freeze stress responses. Most people have heard about ‘fight or flight’ but did you know there is a third response? Oddly enough, ‘freeze’ is not generally included when stress responses are described, and yet its impact can be profound and devastating to our mental and our physiological health.

In this blog, I want to explore fight, flight and freeze, and look at the triggers for them individually  and the science behind these primal instincts and how they impact our daily lives.

So, what is fight, flight or freeze?  We hear this terminology used often enough, but what does it actually mean? Put simply, they are your three involuntary responses to a perceived danger or threat, whether physical or psychological. Fight is to take action to eliminate the danger or threat. Flight is to escape the danger or threat and freeze is to become immobile. The freeze stress response causes you to feel stuck in place and happens when your body doesn’t think you can fight or escape.

The response your body selects is not a conscious decision. It is a rapid, subconscious process, evolved as a survival mechanism to ensure quick and adaptive responses to danger, without the delay of conscious deliberation. The response that your body selects is an automatic and instinctual reaction, geared towards preserving your life. Therefore, while you can learn to recognise and manage these responses, the choice of which one is activated lies beyond your conscious control.

So, if you are unable to consciously choose how to react to a perceived threat, how is the relevant response determined? What determines which response is activated?. The activation of fight, flight or freeze is triggered by your amygdala. Think of the amygdala as your brain’s alarm system. It’s a small, almond-shaped cluster of neurons, located deep within your brain and its primary role is to keep you alive.

How does the amygdala do this?. Well, in the presence of a perceived threat or danger, it swiftly assesses incoming sensory information, such as sights, sounds and smells, while also receiving your visceral inputs, originating from within your body such as increased heart rate, rapid breathing, muscle tension, sweating, nausea or a ‘knot in the stomach’ feeling. It integrates this information to evaluate the presence and severity of danger or threat.

To then determine which response is triggered, your amygdala will assess your visceral inputs with your sensory inputs and will trigger the appropriate response. For example, if your amygdala detects that your heart rate is increased and that your muscles have tensed, combined with the smell of a fire and the sound of people screaming, your amygdala will prepare the body for action in readiness to either fight’, which is to confront the perceived danger. Take flight, which is to flee from the perceived danger. Or the amygdala may interpret the visceral cues as overwhelming, leading to freeze, whereby your body is temporarily shut down or immobilised, in an effort to avoid detection.

Several factors will influence which response is triggered within you. Your amygdala will be working to evaluate the nature and severity of the stimulus, quicker than you can think, basing its selection process on a complex scenario of data inputs. It will be considering contextual information, such as past experiences and learned associations. Previous encounters with similar sensory and visceral inputs can influence the amygdala’s response.

It will be taking into account your current emotional state as well. For example, heightened anxiety or stress may lower the threshold for triggering a certain response. Variations in personality traits and past experiences can lead to differences in how your amygdala responds to inputs. What may be perceived as threatening to you may not elicit the same response in someone else.

Then there are the feedback loops. No, not a breakfast cereal or dance move! Your amygdala continuously receives feedback from your body and other brain regions regarding the effectiveness of its previous responses. If a previous perceived threat proved to be non-threatening, the feedback received may dampen the amygdala’s response to a repeated perceived threat in the future.

Ultimately, the amygdala’s response selection process is dynamic and adaptive, allowing it to rapidly assess and respond to potential threats, in a manner that maximises survival chances. It is literally your own personal protection system, with this complex interplay of sensory, emotional and cognitive factors shaping the selection of the fight, flight, or freeze response in any given situation.

With its innate cleverness, your amygdala stands as your vigilant protector, swiftly mobilising stress responses in the face of perceived threats. Yet, while its efficiency in safeguarding you is undeniable, it is important for you to recognise signs of prolonged stress reactions. This leads to a crucial question, can someone truly get stuck in a stress response?

Yes. Absolutely! and what’s more, this is more common than you may think. You might have been stuck in a stress response for years and not even realised it. When you experience repeated exposure to stressors, such as an abusive relationship, debt, grief, homelessness, loneliness, to name just a few, even when the thing causing the stress is taken away, your body might still react as if it is under constant threat, even in the absence of real danger.

If you have been exposed to any form of prolonged anguish, your body’s stress response system may become dysregulated, leading to a persistent state of heightened reactivity. This can result in you getting stuck in a fight, flight or freeze response. Physiological and psychological reactions remain activated even in non-threatening situations and over time, this chronic activation can have detrimental effects on your physical and mental health, impacting various bodily systems and increasing the risk of developing stress-related disorders.

So, how can you tell if you are stuck in a stress response? Well, there are certain personality traits, emotions and triggers to be aware of and recognise that may help you to determine if you are indeed stuck in either of these stress responses.

Let’s start by looking at the fight response. When your body gets stuck in a prolonged fight response, it remains in a state of heightened activation and readiness for confrontation, even in the absence of an immediate threat. This chronic activation of the sympathetic nervous system can lead to constant muscle tension, which can show itself in headaches, neck and back pain and overall discomfort.

You may start to develop cardiovascular problems such as hypertension and heart disease, which can be identified by a persistent elevation of your heart rate and blood pressure. The prolonged stress you will be under will weaken your immune system, making you more susceptible to infections and illnesses, which can show itself in ongoing or repeated ill-health.

Your emotions can become dysregulated, causing chronic anger, irritability and aggression, which could go on to impact your relationships and overall emotional wellbeing. The long-term exposure to stress hormones like cortisol can contribute to the development of mental health disorders, leading to anxiety, depression and even PTSD.

Getting Stuck in the flight response will manifest in different symptoms. When your body remains stuck in a perpetual flight response, you may experience ongoing anxiety and avoidance behaviours, even in non-threatening situations. This can lead to constant feelings of worry, apprehension and nervousness and in particularly bad cases, this can lead to panic attacks brought on by unexplained episodes of fear, with physical symptoms, such as rapid heartbeat, sweating and shortness of breath occurring unpredictably.

You may, whether consciously or subconsciously, develop avoidance behaviours, whereby you go to great lengths to avoid certain situations, such as social gatherings, leading to social isolation and impairment in daily functioning.

You may experience physical exhaustion. This is because the constant vigilance and hypervigilance associated with the flight response can lead to fatigue, sleep disturbances and decreased energy levels. Chronic anxiety and fear may impair cognitive function, which could cause impaired decision making, difficulties in maintaining concentration, problem solving and making rational decisions.

Getting Stuck in the freeze response, will again show itself through its own array of symptoms. When your body becomes stuck in a freeze response, you may feel emotionally numb, disconnected or immobilised and unable or unwilling to engage fully with your surroundings. In severe cases, this can result in emotional detachment with feelings of dissociation and if left unresolved, emotional numbing may lead to a sense of detachment from yourself and others.

These feelings of disconnection from your own body or surroundings can be distressing and disorienting, which can in itself further perpetuate any feelings of anxiety, depression, fear and overwhelm. You may have difficulty expressing your emotions and struggle to express or process your emotions. This can lead to interpersonal difficulties and a sense of emotional emptiness, whilst simultaneously experiencing physical symptoms such as fatigue, lethargy and decreased motivation.

What is particularly important for you to be aware of is that, by being stuck in a freeze response may expose you to being more vulnerable to re-traumatisation, as you may have difficulty asserting any boundaries. This is generally a direct result of what has put you in a chronic freeze response in the first place.

We have mentioned that the stress response of freeze is the one that is commonly left unspoken. Well, to add to that, there is also a fourth stress response that we haven’t mentioned yet. In addition to the fight, flight and freeze responses to stress and trauma, there exists a lesser-discussed fourth response, known as ‘fawn’. This response occurs when an individual, instead of fighting back, fleeing or becoming immobile, attempts to please or appease the source of their trauma.

In the presence of danger, if your brain has determined that you are unable to fight to defend yourself, can not take flight to escape and can not freeze, to avoid detection, you may be thrown into a fawning response, whereby you attempt to appease or please the aggressor.

Similarly to being stuck in a freeze response, a chronic fawn trauma response can manifest in various ways, involving behaviours such as people-pleasing, conforming to others’ beliefs or values without considering your own, dissociation, avoiding conflict and an excessive focus on meeting others’ needs at the expense of your own. Stemming from the brain’s limbic system, this instinctive behaviour is shared with other animals, where forming a closer attachment to an aggressor, known as fawning, can sometimes diffuse danger.

Particularly prevalent in cases of childhood or domestic abuse, fawning involves being highly agreeable to abusive figures, suppressing your own needs to appease the aggressor in an effort to avoid an aggressive situation from starting. Fawning behaviour can lead to submissiveness, dependence on others’ opinions and difficulties in setting boundaries.

So, what can you do if you are stuck in a stress response?. It is important to understand that there is a broad spectrum of chronic stress response symptoms and if you believe that you are experiencing severe symptoms of a prolonged stress response, such as persistent anxiety, irritability or difficulty functioning, then it is important for you to seek professional help.

However, even if you notice more subtle signs, it’s essential to address them proactively. One way to begin breaking the cycle of chronic stress response is by practising the ‘power of why.’ This practice will help you to start understanding the root causes of your stress responses and to start actively challenging them and in doing so you can take steps towards healthier coping mechanisms, leading to your improved overall wellbeing.

Sounds great, but what is the power of why?. The power of why, is its ability to help you understand why things happen, or why you feel a certain way, which can lead to problem-solving, self-discovery and healing. So, how do you exercise the power of why?. Well, this bit takes time and patience and it requires you to be mindful about your feelings and your reactions. If you have recognised any of these symptoms within yourself though, it would be a very good idea for you to invest this time for the sake of your mental and physical health and wellbeing. Let’s start by identifying your triggers.

Start by identifying the specific situations, events or thoughts that trigger your stress response. This could be anything from people, places, smells, events, songs, sounds. particular items, literally anything. Once you’ve identified a trigger, ask yourself ‘why’ it leads to you feeling stressed, scared or angry. Explore the underlying reasons behind your emotional reactions, for example;

“Why does this situation make me feel so anxious?” “Why do I get angry whenever someone criticises me?” “Why do I feel overwhelmed when faced with this task?”

Explore the root causes. Use the answers to your ‘why’ questions to uncover the root causes of your stress response. This might involve reflecting on past experiences, beliefs or thought patterns, for example;

“I feel anxious in this situation because it reminds me of a past failure” “I get angry when criticised because it triggers feelings of inadequacy” “I feel overwhelmed by this task because I worry about the consequences of not being able to meet expectations”

Challenge your beliefs and assumptions. Once you’ve identified the underlying causes of your stress response, challenge any negative beliefs or assumptions that may be fuelling it. Ask yourself if these beliefs are rational or if they are based on distorted thinking patterns, for example;

“Is it realistic to assume that one mistake defines my abilities?” “Am I truly inadequate, or am I holding myself to unrealistic standards?” “Are my fears about this task based on current facts, or am I catastrophizing based on past events?”

Finally, you can start to reframe your perspectives and adopt more constructive ways of thinking about the triggering situations. Start to focus on empowering beliefs and alternative interpretations that reduce stress and promote resilience, for example;

“Failure is a natural part of learning and growth. Each setback is an opportunity to improve”. “Criticism can provide valuable feedback for self-improvement. It doesn’t diminish my worth as a person”. “I can break this task down into smaller, manageable steps and ask for help if needed. I’m capable of handling challenges, and I am safe”.

Don’t rush through this process, give it the reverence it deserves. Allow yourself time to consider and acknowledge your answers. It took a great deal of time and emotion to put you in a stuck stress response, it will take time to release yourself from it and yes it will be emotional too. Be kind to yourself.

By using the power of ‘why’ to delve deeper into your stress responses you can gain insight into your thoughts, emotions and behaviours and this self-awareness will allow you to challenge your negative patterns and adopt healthier coping strategies. It does take practice, it does take time and you may find it challenging, but this practice can really help you to break free from a stuck stress response, and can help you to cultivate a greater resilience for your brighter future.