Biological Differences Between Flight, Fight, Freeze

Van der Kolk (1987) notes that human responses to trauma are relatively constant across various types of traumatic stimuli, where individuals have poor tolerance to arousal stimuli and may experience social and emotional withdrawal. These changes in the body’s arousal and perception prevent the continuance of “normal” life, and require help.

Trauma is an individual’s visceral reaction to a horrible event, events such as early childhood traumas, accidents, sexual abuse, or community violence (apa.org, 2016). An individual may react with shock and denial in the aftermath. As time continues some reactions may comprise of mood swings, intrusive memories, difficulties maintaining relationships and can manifest into physical symptoms to include headache or upset stomach. There are individuals who experience difficulties functioning in their daily lives; these observable responses are a normal response to the trauma (apa.org, 2016).

(Oltmanns,Emery, 2015) A trauma may include rape, which in Melinda Sordino’s case is what she experienced. Melinda Sordino can be diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder, as opposed to acute stress disorder, because her disturbance after the trauma had lasted longer than a month. Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder include intrusive re-experiencing, avoidance of reminders of the trauma, increased arousal or reactivity, negative moods or thoughts, and often dissociation. (Oltmanns,Emery, 2015) Weeks after the terrifying experience, Melinda Sordino experienced all of

Imagine yourself running out of gas in your vehicle, there is a gas station a few blocks away from where your car stopped. At the gas station, there is a Samaritan offering you a ride back to your car once you finished filling the gas container. Trusting this Samaritan, you accept the ride and you notice he has willfully passed your car. Panicking, the child lock is on and there is no way to escape. With all the thoughts rushing through your head, he has reached a destination where he drags you out the car and begins to wrestle you on to the floor to rape and possibly kill you. You are being beaten and forced to cooperate in sexual activity, but there is a sharp object on the floor that saves your life. With no hesitation you puncture the rapist and flee immediately as he sobs in pain. After this traumatic event, there is a great possibility of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD can develop following a traumatic event that threatens your safety or makes you feel helpless (Smith, Lawrence, & Segal, 2015). According to Julian D Ford, PTSD is a psychiatric disorder that affects as many as one in 14 adults and adolescence at some time in their lives as many as 1 in 20 children before they begin kindergarten (Ford, Grasso, Elhai, & Courtois, 2015 ).It personally affects those who witness it as well as their family members. Those with occupations that require exposure to traumatic events such as military, emergency workers, and law enforcement officers can

In my third article by Lenore Walker discusses Battered Women and the impact caused on them from martial abuse that had led to Battered Women to be diagnosed with PTSD from the level of beatings, and constant abuse they took from their partners over the time of the relationship. Walker discusses five major areas that negatively affected with the women’s coping skills they are manipulation, dissociation, anger, intimacy, and compliance. When she was assessing women of the PTSD like symptoms she had come to notice a few things about the women, that lead to diagnose them with PTSD as the symptoms, as well as what triggered the responses are the same across the board for all those diagnosed with PTSD. She noticed that many of the victims would minimize the trauma or even deny it happened from the very start which is a common coping method that she had pointed out in her article. She also noticed that some of the women would almost go into a sort of trance like state in which they would gaze

Physical. Every nine seconds a woman is beaten by her spouse (Protection Against Crime, 2002). Seventy-five percent of the victims of intimate murders are female with a total of three to four million women being battered each year by their respective intimate partners (Protection Against Crime, 2002).The victims of domestic abuse by law enforcement officers endure a special kind of torture, that others in that similar situation do not. The victims are most likely to endure the dangers of professionals who are experienced in firearms, knowledge and training of subduing their victims, etc. During these types of events, one might lose the sense of control and order they once had in their lives. Victims of abuse may suffer physical and emotional pain from the ordeals they had to live through, long after their

In the next lecture, Allan Wade immerses into how people react and resist violence, why it is significant to understand it and what difference it can make. In addition, Mr. Wade asserts that the details are essential in all contexts in order to get a tangible image of how human beings respond to violence. Several of the examples he presents later comes from his own experiences as a therapist.

Subtle or covert microaggressions may prove to be more psychologically damaging than overt ones, any may also present more catch-22s for the victim. This is because it may be hard to accept that the attacker may not be a true ally and thus alter a relationship, along with uncertainty if the message contained prejudicial meaning, while being unclear on how to deal with it (88). The general adaption syndrome model was created to explain reactions the body experiences from these assaults. The alarm stage, or “call to arms,” occurs when a person senses physical or emotional threat in order to protect themselves against potential harm. They experience physiological effects such as increased blood pressure and heartrate. Next, the adaption/resistance process occurs where the body protects against such harm, preparing to wipe out disease or nurture injury, or adapt to it instead, if unable to successfully get rid of it. Because of this, those of marginalized groups become blind to prejudicial assaults. The stage of exhaustion occurs after the accumulation of these effects on the body, along with its spirit, begins to disintegrate and shut down, ultimately affecting the victims’ social interactions and their overall health (89). Another model was created called the Crisis Decomposition Model that deals with the ways the body copes with stress. Impact occurs when dealing with a stressful incident causes confusion, depression, isolation, and upset feelings. Attempted resolution then

Trauma is a serious issue that more than 25 percent of children in America experience by the age of 16 (Pynoos & Fairbank, 2003, as cited in Williams & Lent, 2008). Trauma may can involve: household violence, sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, terrorisms, natural disasters, and loss of a loved one through death, divorce or abandonment (Van Westrhenen & Fritz, 2014; Williams & Lent, 2008). Dripchak defines trauma as a sudden extraordinary event that overpowers an individual’s ability to cope and manage their reaction to the event (2007, Williams & Lent, 2008). An individual’s response to trauma is subjective and multidimensional. With several factors influencing how individuals respond to trauma.

When people experience trauma, they often

Victims also worry about economic dependence, welfare of their children and the lack of support from their families and friends. Domestic violence victims fear both staying with and leaving the abuser. Some victims may call the police because they believe the police presence will allow them to have control over the situation, but they do not want the abuser to be arrested. If the abuser is arrested, victims do not want them prosecuted. It is difficult for an arrest to result in prosecution when victims do not want to testify against the abuser in court. The satisfaction of domestic violence victims with police response is influenced by several factors including whether victims were given referral information, the positive attitudes and behaviors of officers, and whether the police acted accordingly with the victims' expectations. Victims do not make the decision to call police lightly; they often weigh their options determining if the call is worth the repercussions (Johnson

QP shared with Sean when you experience or remember trauma, your body releases chemicals that trigger the fight, flee, or freeze reaction, but controlled, deep breathing helps signal your brain and body that you are safe, and ends the flight, flee, freeze reaction.

When caught in a life-threatening situation, we often feel that we do not have control over the outcome, when in reality, we do. Phycological research concludes that our brains take over for us during traumatizing times, usually without us even realizing it. A common area where our brains take an automatic route is in situations of exploitation, specifically in those who are exploited. One of the common thinking routes is Stockholm syndrome, a psychological phenomenon that causes those who are in stressful situations to develop a feeling of trust for who/what is causing them distress. Kidnappers, recruiters, and abusers are all successful in exploiting due to either conscious and subconscious knowledge of Stockholm syndrome in their victims,

Reading your post made me think that trauma responses are really our normal reactions to an abnormal event. When the circumstance is beyond our comprehension in some ways,

One of the oldest forms of survival is the fight or flight response. Numerous examples of outrageous feats performed by people can be found, but the most pure form can be found in those who still use it daily, and actually use it for survival. Animals utilize their fight or flight response to survive in nature, where a delay or lapse in judgement could result in their death.