On occasion, when threatened with immediate and intense danger, we may freeze rather than go into our automatic fight-or-flight mode. We become temporarily paralysed, frozen to the spot.
Those in high-risk occupations know that, regardless of how much training they undertake, often in threatening situations they will revert back to the primary instincts of fight-or-flight briefly before returning to their training - generally to fight. Our evolutionary automatic nervous system response is so strong that we have trouble overpowering it.
When faced with most dangers, we make a decision within a millisecond based on what we perceive to be danger. If it appears that we might be able to overcome the danger, our sympathetic nervous system kicks in and we get a rush of adrenaline and cortisol to provide instant energy to fight. If it seems that the danger is greater than our ability to overcome it we will have a similar response so that we can run.
As with fight-or-flight, the freeze response is part of our autonomic nervous system, it occurs outside of our conscious control. The difference being on this occasion that our freeze mode occurs when we can't make the decision to fight or to flee, our parasympathetic system engages and our heart rate decreases rather than increases as it does with fight-or-flight.
These three automatic responses tend to occur in the order of fight, flight, then freeze depending upon our perceived ability compared with the level of danger. If we think that we can overcome the danger we will fight, if we think that the danger is greater than our ability we will run, and if it appears the danger is insurmountable we will freeze whilst the situation unfolds to allow us time to process what is occurring.
Additionally, in freeze mode our brain has the ability to shut out the danger altogether. (Warning, graphic detail). As a former police officer, entering a room where a person was in the process of dismembering another, when I looked at what was occuring I did not see all of the horrific details. My brain stopped processing the information to protect me, my thoughts froze.
Therefore, freeze can be a positive response when we are faced with an immediate high-risk situation where we need to stay safe until we can make a clearer determination. An emergency response process that many organisations promote is the STAR technique - Stop, Think, Act, and Review. It uses our freeze mode as the first response.
Stop what you are doing, Think about your action, Act on the action, then Review your action once the danger is over. In our practice, we use the same technique in a modified form. Stop and Think are conducted simultaneously by taking a deep breath to clear our thoughts, then Act by either 'staying' (fight) or 'going' (flight).
There is ever-increasing physiological evidence connecting our breathing patterns with the brain regions that control our mood and emotion therefore our response to danger. We can overcome, or certainly reduce, our automatic fight-or-flight response through controlled breathing to engage our parasympathetic system and thus utilise our freeze mode.
Furthermore, research conducted at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that our olfactory system neurons, our sense of smell, appears to play a greater role in the connection between rhythmic breathing and our emotional regulation. This is confirmation that all breathing should be undertaken through the nose rather than through the mouth for swifter control of our automatic response.
Freeze is an option that we might want to consider as we start to emerge from our lockdown resulting from COVID-19. Our brain has been under constant strain over the last few weeks processing loads of information and will be tense and tired. As we go into a new level of freedom, close to one that we once knew, our brain will begin to unwind and rest.
Yet, as we learn to adapt, we will again begin to process loads of information meaning our brain will become tense once again as our mind tries to figure out how to keep us safe. As we move to our next level, we can expect emotions to be heightened, in ourselves and in others.
Therefore, when uncertain, when worried, when anxious, or when feeling overwhelmed, engage your parasympathetic system by taking a long, slow, deep diaphragmatic breath in through your nose and out through your mouth.
Breathing, such a simple tool yet one that is so powerful.
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