As a physiologist, I am well aware of the “fight-or-flight” response—the physiological response to a perceived threat that prepares the body to either combat the threat or turn and run. We have all experienced the response—heart rate increases, muscles tense, blood flow is diverted from the skin and the gut to the muscles (causing the skin to go pale and the sensation of “butterflies in the stomach”), etc.). It is a positive adaptive response intended to protect life and limb.
Recently, I have begun to hear references to what some call the “fight, flight, or freeze response”. Being a physiologist, my initial response was to deem it inaccurate. After all, when presented with a potential life-or-death threat, freezing can get you killed. As well, the sympathetic nervous system that drives the fight-or-flight response prepares the body for activity. So, I dismissed the initial mention of the fight, flight, or freeze response—until my wife brought it up the other day (she had it mentioned to her in a recent conversation). Thus, I was compelled to give it more thought. We had been talking about the fight-or-flight response and the “third way” over recent weeks. In my mind, “freeze” is not the “third way”. So, were we considering now a “fourth way”?
With a rather cursory study of the “freeze response”, it is apparent that we are talking of a psychological, rather than physiological, response. Notice that the fight-or-flight (and fight, flight, or freeze) response is to a “perceived threat”. Threats are either real or imaginary. The magnitude of the threat is often a matter of perception.
A number of years ago, I travelled from Michigan to Northern California with students to a research conference. Our hotel was in what I perceived to be a less than nice area of town, and it was a modest walk to the university campus where the conference was being held. Early one morning, I was walking by myself to the conference when I heard footsteps running up behind me. I immediately tensed up (went into fight-or-flight mode). Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the perceived “threat”—a gentleman, a foot shorter and, perhaps, a hundred pounds lighter than me, running with a grocery bag. I can’t help but embarrass myself by telling this story to my exercise physiology students as an example of the fight-or-fight response.
My embarrassing story paints a humorous, but accurate, portrait of the necessity of the fight-or-flight response. Fortunately, there was no threat (and, if there was, I could have easily defended myself). Had the threat been greater (I like to use the example with my students of Dwayne Johnson wielding a knife), then my body (ideally) would have elevated the response. This is a key point I make with my students about the importance of being in good physical condition and having an appropriate response to stress. Had the threat, indeed, been real and someone the size of Dwayne Johnson, my moderate sympathetic response would have allowed me to magnify the response without causing, say, a heart attack.
Many stressors in our lives are acute stimuli, like in the above story. The perceived threat quickly diminishes and the response subsides. There is sometimes, however, stress (perceived or real) that persists and causes a prolonged fight or flight (or, possibly, freeze) response. Such persistent stress can potentially have harmful effects. Herein is where I consider the “third way”—the way of dealing with stressful situations (often people) in a way that requires neither conflict or escape. So, the option of “freeze” warrants consideration.
To freeze is, in a sense to do nothing (though freezing is doing something). We sometimes hear the phrase “paralyzed with fear”. It would seem correct to me to say that the “fight, flight, or freeze response” is a psychological response that precedes the physiological response—it is the (likely) unconscious or subconscious processing of the perceived threat. In this way, “freeze” is the ideal psychological response to an acute perceived threat—stop and process the information we are receiving. When I perceive the “threat” in Northern California, I did not immediately run or turn in a crazed frenzy to fight the little guy. I paused and prepared. The unfamiliar environment, perhaps, lead to a premature physiological response, but it was, over all, a controlled response. Thus, the healthy psychological response to a perceived threat is to pause and assess—Do I fight? Do I run? Or Is there a third way? Stephen Covey referred to this as the space between the stimulus and the response. He suggested that “in that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response.” Alternatively, the irrational responses of immediately running or fighting or remaining in a prolonged state of “paralysis” is unproductive. We have all seen people (and have perhaps responded as such ourselves) who “fly off the handle” and immediately fight at the slightest provocation. Likewise, we have seen people who immediately “escape” at the slightest provocation.
I read in one article that we don’t have a choice when we freeze. I would agree in the immediate sense, but we do have choose in the duration of time we spend in “freeze mode” and in what we do during this time.
We should allow an appropriate time to process the threat (or stressor) and determine our response. I would prefer to call this “pause” rather than “freeze”, but I suppose that “fight, flight, or freeze” has more appeal. “Freeze” leaves me with the image of a “deer in the headlights”. “Pause”, on the other hand, it purposeful and allows one the time to process and decide on an appropriate response. The key here, in my opinion, is that there is a response—there is no sense of paralysis or defeat.
When presented with a stressful situation, it is important to pause and assess the situation. Take a few breaths, consider the options, and act. If stressful situations lead to excessive freezing, e.g., “panic attacks”, professional help may be warranted. Being focused and prepared is essential. This is, in my opinion, one of the greatest benefits of a morning journaling and growth routine—of pursuing “well-centered fitness”. When we seek to understand the things that cause us undue stress and why we respond the way we do, we are better prepared to determine the “third way” option and not battle unnecessarily, shut down, put up walls, or any other unhealthy coping mechanism we may have created to respond to our “triggers”. If fight, flight, and or freeze is prolonged or frequent, take time to consider why and what are your options. Herein is where the practice of “productive pause” is useful. Begin the day with intentional thought and meditation, but also interject the day with periods of contemplative pause—like stopping to check the map (if anyone uses maps anymore) on a road trip to confirm one is on the right route.
We teach in exercise physiology that the muscle contraction “begins and ends with the brain”. Likewise does our response to stress and perceived threats. Choose well how you respond. Learn from previous responses.
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
Carpe momento!