Understanding the Fight, Flight or Freeze Response: The Body’s Reaction to Threat
The fight-flight-freeze response is the body’s automatic reaction to perceived threats, designed to protect us in moments of danger. This survival response, which affects animals and humans alike, releases a powerful hormonal surge to enhance strength and speed, preparing us to either confront the threat, escape it or remain motionless to avoid detection.
What is the Fight, Flight or Freeze Response?
This response is driven by the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which serves as the body’s central control system, regulating heart rate, breathing, digestion and even responses like pupil dilation, urination and sexual arousal. The ANS includes two main branches, each with a unique function in our reaction to and recovery from threats:
Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS): The SNS triggers the fight, flight or freeze response by releasing hormones like adrenaline, which rapidly increase heart rate, energy and focus, preparing the body for quick action.
Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS): After the threat passes, the PNS, which surrounds the SNS in the spinal cord, restores balance by activating a "rest-and-digest" state, helping the body return to normal functions and homeostasis.
The Role of the Nervous System in Trauma
When we experience a traumatic event, the ANS can struggle to regain balance, causing physiological and psychological impacts that may last long after the threat has passed. This is because the nervous system essentially “stores” the memory of the trauma, making it difficult for the body to fully relax or reset.
Ongoing imbalance in the ANS due to unprocessed trauma can result in prolonged issues such as anxiety, PTSD and chronic stress. Professional support and therapeutic techniques are often needed to help release these stored responses and support the nervous system's recovery.
Healing the Fight, Flight or Freeze Response
Many therapies focus on rebalancing the autonomic nervous system and supporting individuals in releasing traumatic memories stored in the body. By retraining the body’s natural rhythms, individuals can restore health, happiness and resilience, improving their ability to cope with future challenges and achieve a balanced, peaceful state.
Understanding the fight, flight or freeze response helps us recognise the physiological roots of trauma and the importance of nervous system health for overall well-being.
