The psychology of fight, flight and freeze

The Psychology of Fight, Flight and Freeze: How our Weakness Can Be Transformed Into Strength

A Non-Fiction Essay By Moon Metcalf

We have all heard of the survival mechanisms that the human species has; Fight or Flight. Some of us also know that there is a third inherent response, Freeze. These three survival mechanisms provide a simple triangular diagram representing three main categories of underlying psychological condition, that result from the use of these “survival tactics”. There are strengths and tools that also are sourced from within the indwelling design of these survival and coping responses, that will enable those of us that suffer with psychological illness, to come back into balance and to achieve health.

The fundamental actions that we respond to crises with, can be attributed to three fundamental areas of human study. Forming a triangle, each action/coping mechanism, and the study associated with it, can help draw out, or support the neighboring mechanism or skill of this triangular diagram. The three subjects associated with fight, flight and freeze, are science, art, and faith/religion. Because they create a triangle, fight (science) needs the “skills” or “strengths” of flight (art), flight (art) needs the strengths of freeze (faith), and freeze (faith) can be strengthened and supplemented by drawing on fight (science) etc. etc. The flow goes both directions, and whatever study is adjacent, either left or right, supports the study of focus.

The first response, fight, resources the coping mechanisms of anger and control, which when out of balance, result in the symptoms of compulsivity and obsession. One of the fundamental psychological conditions associated with the fight response, is obsessive compulsive disorder. Strengths, skills, and talents that can result from this response are rational-mind, logic, and observation. Tools and therapies that can be used to bring symptoms back into balance, are philosophy and creativity, order in moderation, and finding abstract systems. Also, establishing within oneself a sense of faith or belief, can help pull out the inherent skills of observation and rationality. The hard-skill or area of human study attributed to the fight response is science.

The second response, flight, resources and uses the coping mechanisms of disassociation, leaving the body, and “the splitting of the psyche”, or what we refer to as schizoid tendencies (et al psychosis or delusion). The concrete psychological conditions that result are post traumatic stress, schizophrenia, along with any disorder where one disassociates. Skills that are associated with this response, are intuition, emotional-mind, and the imagination. Therapies needed to bring these minds back into balance, or to optimal health, are that of realism and logic, fostering spirituality and faith, and also creativity that encourages self expression and self reflection, thus helping create a sense of self or ground the person into a bodily sense of self, develop an ability to listen to one’s gut instinct, and thus strengthen identity. The hard skill or general area of human study attributed to the response of flight is art.

The third response, freeze, resources the coping mechanism of repression. The psychological conditions that can result are addiction where one self medicates disturbed emotional feelings while “bottling them up” so to speak, and bipolar disorder where one has a mood disruption from freezing or repressing their emotions. The skills associated here are spirituality, instinct, and faith. Therapies helpful for regaining balance and mental health, are practicing using the imagination in creative endeavors, while getting in touch with both the rational-mind and the emotional-mind, and practicing self observation. Focusing on one’s own deficit also will help while working on issues of trust and forgiveness. The area of study sourced from this human response would be that of faith and religion.

It is important to realize that we all have anger/compulsivity, the tendency to disassociate, and varying degrees of repression in our lives. It is just that when one survival response is set in motion a pattern begins. During circumstances related to fear or trauma, the anger/compulsivity (fight), disassociation/psychosis (flight), and repression/addictive behavior (freeze), then become hidden and chronic. Chemicals become out of balance, and the brain relies heavily on these nerve pathways while developing chemical deficiency. It is only through shining light upon these “phantoms”, and in finding the skills and therapies that can draw the patterns to the surface or bring balance, that we can restore our impressional human psyches and bodies, as well as return to optimal psychological health. Medications are also very important in finding equilibrium, equanimity, and in the “re-wiring” of the brain.

The beauty or nature that resides in the essence of our trauma, within our chemical imbalance, and within these survival responses and coping mechanisms that seem to cause havoc and illness in our lives, is that no one person belongs to just one reaction or one coping mechanism, though the diagnoses that we receive do aid in treatment via medication. The biology of our humanness says that we are inherently capable of all three points of this ‘triangular’ cycle: (fight, flight and freeze)… thus we can draw strength from the various parts of our natural human nature, in order to heal the other parts of our beings that are cracked, broken, or out of balance. Art, Creativity, Imagination and Emotion feed Science and Logic, Science and Logic feed Faith and Instinct, and Faith and Instinct feed our Imaginative, Creative, Intuitive and Emotional selves. Of course, Science/ Logic helps ground Imagination/ Creativity, Imagination/ Creativity keeps our Faith/ Instinct active and healthy, and Faith/ Instinct helps push our Science/ Logic to the next level needed to advance as a collective species. Also, aligning oneself with one’s own area of study in a balanced, integrated way will help the patient turn their deficit into inner capability and strength. An addict may use spirituality to grow, an compulsive person may use logic and science to find meaning and purpose, and someone who disassociates may use art to ground themselves. It seems what constitutes our greatest weaknesses as human beings, is the exact same stuff that we also value as achievement.

The creation of this ideology through the artistic expression of my writing is me searching for an abstract system in order to heal and bring back into balance my sense of logic or my obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Having faith in my abilities, and following my gut instinct, helps nurture my intuition, emotional mind and imagination, thus resulting in the balancing of my schizoid tendencies. And logically assessing my ideas within my writing, is helping me practice faith, and listen to my gut instinct, while also combatting my addictive behaviors. All of these practices help and support eachother, interacting adjacently within the triangular system. Also, within my greatest weaknesses lie strengths simply waiting to be nurtured. Gravitating towards practicing a skill, whether it is aligned with your area of strength/weakness, or supporting it adjacently, helps us bring our wounds back into balance. This is something that the human spirit seems to intuitively and actively pursue.