August 8, 2024
In Prehistoric times, in Human fight - or - flight response, the fight response was manifested in aggressive, and combative behaviour, while the flight response was manifested by fleeing from potentially threatening situations, such as being confronted by a predator.
In Current Times, these responses persist, but fight - or - flight responses have assumed a more extensive range of behaviours. For example, the fight response may manifest in angry, argumentative behaviour, and the flight response may manifest through social withdrawal, substance abuse and even becoming absorbed in video games or the internet.
The fight - or - flight response is triggered when danger is perceived and can either last a short time, providing lifesaving burst of energy, or prolonged and remain “Switched ON” for a long time, even years, I observe this in PTSD, Domestic Violence Victims + Family Breakdowns when a person is under constant or frequent Stress, or a Traumatic situation, they maybe in fight or flight all the time. Parenting in modern times can also be a cause of activating and prolonging the fight or flight response due to shock observing teen milestones at a much younger age that previous times.
When people are subject to ongoing stress, and when they are unable to escape the perceived danger by physically running away or fighting, the physical reactions occuring in the body can manifest into the freeze or fawn response.
Fawning may include trying to talk your way out of a stressful situation. Rather than fighting, running or freezing, we decide to reason or rationalise the situation. This can be anything from flattering the abuser, cringing in obedience, attempting to please and seek favor, offering alternatives: doing whatever we have to do in order to save ourselves by talking our way out.
FREEZE - FAWN RESPONSE ; is a typical hybrid response to stress for many abuse survivors and also for people living in, what feesl like, unescapable domestic violenve or workplace bullying situations.
Males + Females tend to deal with stressful situations differently. Males are more likely to respond in an emergency with aggression ( fight ), while females are more likely to flee or befriend the abuser ( fawn ) : Men are more likely to withdraw emotionally ( freeze )
Still Today, the fight or flight response remains a significant part of our physiology, but fight or flight responses have taken on a much more extensive range of triggers and behaviours. For example, the fight or flight response may be triggered due to an email causing anger, an unexpected bill arriving, an argument, being stuck in traffic, finding out your child participated in dangerous activities or explored recreational drugs too early, even a deadline at work can trigger this stress response ( fight or flight ) .
we can even be thrown into the fight - or - flight response by thinking about a situation or event from the past or imagining something that may or may not even occur in the future.
When we are faced with modern day predators, we now have to sit in our office chairs and “control” ourselves. We have to sit in our cars in traffic jams and “Deal with it”. We have to wait until the bank opens to “handle the overdrawn card”
Many of the significant stressors we encounter today trigger the FULL ACTIVATION of our Fight - or - flight response, but we are unable, or it is inappropriate for us, to take the physical reaction required to release us back into functioning normally through the relaxation response.
IN an appropriate stress response situation when the perceived threat is gone, ( once the predator has been outrun or fought off ) our bodies are designed to naturally return to the relaxation response ( homeostasis ) [ Normal function via the relaxation response ]. But in our times of chronic stress, this often doesn’t occur and we remain in the fight - or - flight reaction for prolonged periods of time, causing serious damage to our Body.
Stress Responses are also sometimes a result of mental and emotional disorders such as PTSD, in which the individual shows a stress response when remembering a past trauma and panic disorders in which the stress response is activated by the catastrophic misinterpretations of bodily sensations.