Have you ever suffered from a panic or anxiety attack, or depressive incident? These are the states of Fight, Flight and Freeze.
Have you ever had a panic or anxiety attack? That crippling state leaves you helpless, trapped and convinced the world around you must stop in order to be ok. This is the high stress state of Fight, Flight or Freeze.
Parts of our brains are constantly scanning our surroundings trying to determine if we’re safe or not. When they sense we’re safe (whether physically or emotionally), they put us in the state of Rest & Digest. When they determine we’re not safe and need to protect ourselves against danger (whether physically or emotionally), they put us in the state of Fight, Flight or Freeze.
These 3 states keep us alive against satan’s evil in this world. They’re our survival modes.
While we call these panic or anxiety attacks, and shame them, they’re actually God’s perfect design. When we’re in survival, our brains and bodies are in the proper states to survive danger. It’s satan’s manipulation of these states that leave us drowning in panic or anxiety when we’re actually safe.
When our brains sense that we are not safe, and the best way to survive is to beat our opponent, we are in the state of Fight.
Physically, this is where our nervous systems jack us up with enough cortisol and adrenaline to fight and win against the danger. We have the desire to punch or kick things, and when taken to the extreme, can result in the death of the person causing the danger.
Emotionally, we’re filled with anger and rage. Jesus refers to this when He speaks of the root of murder, advising the disciples not to call their enemies ‘Raca’.
In this state we often pick fights with people around us verbally (or physically). We insult others, we blame them for our problems, or mistreat them. Our brains think we’re in danger and must fight to survive, so we do.
As women this is most often verbal and emotional fighting; with men it’s more often physical.
When our brains sense that we are not safe, and the best way to survive is to leave or run away, we are in the state of Flight.
Physically, this is where our nervous systems jack us up with enough cortisol and adrenaline to run and outrun danger. We have the desire to run or walk quickly, usually in a panicked sense.
Emotionally, we’re filled with fear, panic, anxiousness.
In this state we often avoid certain situations or people. We make excuses for why we can’t go to things or commit to responsibilities. Sometimes we create roadblocks for ourselves, in what we call self-sabotage, because our brain’s don’t find them safe. Frequently we hide from the things we’re scared of, maybe even the world around us.
When our brains sense that we are not safe, and it is not safe to Fight or Flee, we are in the state of Freeze.
Physically, this is where our nervous systems jack us up with enough cortisol and adrenaline to fight or run danger. But then they immediately determine they wouldn’t win in a fight against, or a chase with the danger. So, they freeze and put us in a physical and/or mental state of paralysis.
This leaves us with immobilization, meaning we can’t seem to do anything. We can’t get ourselves to get off the couch, text that person, sign-up for that event or leave our houses. We are stuck and incapable of doing the thing we need to do.
Emotionally, we’re shutdown, numb and detached. We don’t connect with the positive emotions we usually feel about these things in our lives. We may even be detached from the negative emotions as well, not feel anything at all.
This state can bring a few different outcomes to our behaviors. Sometimes we justify and rationalize not doing the things we need to, avoiding them out of numbness. Sometimes we comply with what others tell us to do, because we can’t think for ourselves in the moment.
We can become robotic, going through the motions without thinking or feeling anything. Sometimes we’re so detached from the world around us, we can’t even seem to be in it. This is where depression lives.
The first step to coming out of the state of Fight, Flight or Freeze is awareness. Become aware that you are in this high stress state that is causing anxiety, panic or depression.
Once we are aware that we’re in survival mode, we can begin to get ourselves the right help to come down out of them.
Here at Christian Stress Release, we’re offering resources to safely and gently guide you out of these states of survival, back into the present moment.
This is an amazing way to come back to the state of calm, where you feel safe and ok and can think clearly. From there, you can re-assess what caused the panic/anxiety attack (Fight or Flight response), or depressive incident (Freeze response). Then you can hire the right professional help to work through it so you no longer suffer from it.
*There are multiple causes of anxiety and depression. What we’re referring to here is the trigger that led to this specific Fight/Flight or Freeze response.
You can find Practitioner Directories for trained mental health professionals here. This is a great way to work through and release the root cause of these panic/anxiety attacks.
Here’s to coming back to the state of peace and rest, the peace of Jesus and the woman God designed you to be.
You deserve that ♥
– L aura
