![]() The collapse response looks very different from freeze from a biological perspective. The long term effects of a freeze response can look like anxiety, chronic pain, migraines, and other body based symptoms. ![]() Clients will often describe this experience as “I felt stuck” or “I couldn’t move” or “I felt paralyzed”. This immobility is not a choice, it is our body’s way of trying to prepare for the next step but it is unable to release the energy until the threat passes. In other words, the fear response has been turned on, and the heart rate increases so that oxygen can flow to the muscles. We know that there is a threat but our bodies become frozen with sympathetic, hyper-aroused energy. By understanding and normalizing the entire fear response spectrum from fight to collapse, we can create more compassionate language in the way we respond to survivors.įreeze response can be thought of as the “deer in headlights” response. ![]() Comments like, "Well why didn’t they try to fight or run away?” are incredibly harmful, and are indicative of a culture that does not understand our biological responses to fear. There is quite a large stigma in our culture about how people “should” or “shouldn’t” respond to a traumatic situation. We do not have a choice in how our bodies react during a highly traumatic or stressful situation, because our nervous system steps in and temporarily takes over in order for us to survive the threat. The point that I want to make the most clear when talking about our automatic threat responses is just that. This part of our brains is highly evolved and attuned to perceiving threats, and can become even more sensitive to certain environments if we have experienced a trauma, causing anxiety even after the person is “safe” again. Our limbic system is the part of our brain in charge of our fear responses. ![]() We can find ourselves attempting to fight or flee from the threat, but we may also react in ways that are less talked about we might “freeze” or even “collapse”. There are more than just two ways our bodies can react to a perceived threat. As a therapist who works primarily with clients who are experiencing chronic stress or who have experienced trauma, I see the ways that fear and stress responses impact people’s daily lives. You may be very familiar with the term “fight or flight”, and you might also be curious about the purposes and neurological mechanisms that are behind that system. ![]()
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