{"id":22671,"date":"2024-06-14T14:54:51","date_gmt":"2024-06-14T18:54:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencebeta.com\/?p=22671"},"modified":"2024-06-14T14:54:51","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T18:54:51","slug":"freeze-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciencebeta.com\/freeze-response\/","title":{"rendered":"The Freeze Response – Beyond Fight or Flight"},"content":{"rendered":"
The freeze response, also known as freezing behavior, or tonic immobility, is a survival mechanism triggered by the brain in response to perceived threat, involving a sophisticated interplay between psychological and physiological factors.<\/p>\n
It stands alongside the well-documented fight or flight responses<\/a> as a fundamental mode of stress reaction, although the phenomenon, while well-researched in animals, has still not been studied much as a human response.<\/p>\n The term describes a state of immobility that an organism may enter when faced with a threat. In this state, individuals may find themselves unable to move or act against the danger. Historically, this response was advantageous for survival, as predators are less likely to notice prey that remains still. In modern humans, the freeze response can occur during intense stress or fear, manifesting as a temporary inability to react.<\/p>\n The freeze response is a distinct component of the larger\u00a0fight, flight, or freeze response, which is the human body’s primitive, automatic, inborn\u00a0stress response that prepares the body to “fight” or “flee” from perceived attack, harm, or threat to our survival. Whereas flight represents escape, fight denotes confrontation.<\/p>\n Trigger events are specific incidents that evoke intense emotional reactions, such as trauma. They can range from sudden and unexpected occurrences to specific reminders of past traumatic experiences.<\/p>\n For instance, individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD<\/a>) may experience a freeze response when exposed to emotional information that resembles their traumatic past. This reaction can be both a psychological and physiological state of paralysis as the body’s natural defence mechanism takes hold.<\/p>\n Threat-induced freezing reflexes in people have typically been studied with a focus on inducing fear bradycardia (slow heart rate) through aversive picture viewing and the threat of mild electric shock. Among the intriguing findings in these studies is that freezing is connected to altered perceptual sensitivity and action preparation.<\/p>\n Anxiety disorders frequently involve the freeze response as a core feature of the symptomatology. For those with anxiety disorders<\/a>, perceived threats \u2014 whether real or imagined \u2014 can trigger this overwhelming sense of immobility. In the context of anxiety, the\u00a0freeze response\u00a0is not simply a physical state but also an acute psychological experience, often linked with a heightened state of fear.<\/p>\n Initially, heart rate may spike as part of the acute stress response, but during a freeze, it can slow down markedly. This counterintuitive shift is part of the body’s effort to conserve energy and avoid detection by a perceived threat.<\/p>\n As the sympathetic nervous system activates the body’s ‘fight or flight’ mechanism, individuals might experience a redirection of blood flow to essential areas, leaving the skin feeling cold or clammy.<\/p>\n The redirection of blood flow can also lead to notable paleness or a sensation of numbness in the skin, which are observable indicators of the freeze response.<\/p>\n There might be a dilation of pupils as the eyes prepare to take in as much visual information as possible. The ears might also become attuned to specific sounds, heightening auditory perception<\/a> to detect potential dangers.<\/p>\n The freeze response can leave lasting effects on one\u2019s mental health. During the freeze response, individuals may experience a temporary immobilization, but the aftermath can manifest in various forms of psychological distress. Prolonged stress reactions may evolve into anxiety disorders, affecting an individual’s daily functioning and overall quality of life.<\/p>\n Researchers have observed that individuals who experience freeze responses frequently may display heightened sensitivity to stress and face difficulty returning to pre-stressor mental states. The link between chronic exposure to the stress response and anxiety disorders is well-established, often rooted in persistent fear and worry.<\/p>\n In the context of traumatic stress, the freeze response can be an indicative precursor to PTSD if the individual finds themselves repeatedly reliving the traumatic event and exhibiting avoidance behaviors, hyperarousal, and negative alterations in cognition and mood.<\/p>\n Research indicates that some brain regions are known to either induce or prevent (in the case of lesions) freezing behavior in humans. The hippocampus and basolateral amygdala are two of these areas.<\/p>\n In 2002, Ann E. Power and colleagues carried out a study to look at the consequences of basolateral amygdala<\/a> lesions. Cat hair was put in a chamber with rats. Rats in two groups \u2014 rats with basolateral amygdala lesions and rats in the control group \u2014 were evaluated.<\/p>\n At first touch, every rat froze for a little while before retreating away from the stimulus. The results revealed that, in comparison to the rats in the control group, the rats with lesions froze to the cat fur far less. These results imply that freezing behavior and the basolateral amygdala are related. It was also found that\u00a0muscarinic\u00a0cholinergic activation plays a role in the behavior.<\/p>\n Hashimoto et al. investigated the effects of conditioned fear on\u00a0serotonin<\/a>\u00a0and freezing behavior in rats.\u00a0Through\u00a0in vivo\u00a0microdialysis, certain concentrations of extracellular serotonin in the rat brain were able to be measured.<\/p>\n It was found that conditioned fear stress increased the levels of the serotonin in the medial prefrontal cortex. This increase was correlated with an increased freezing behavior that was observed.<\/p>\n The rats were then given an inhibitor for the extracellular serotonin, which resulted in a reduced freezing behavior. It can be suggested from these results that inhibition of serotonin can decrease freezing behavior and, also, anxiety.<\/p>\n The freeze response, also known as freezing behavior, or tonic immobility, is a survival mechanism triggered by the brain in response to perceived threat, involving a sophisticated interplay between psychological and physiological factors. It stands alongside the well-documented fight or flight responses as a fundamental mode of stress reaction, although the phenomenon, while well-researched in… Continue reading The Freeze Response – Beyond Fight or Flight<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22672,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"no","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[33],"modified_by":"D.C.Demetre","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciencebeta.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22671"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciencebeta.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciencebeta.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciencebeta.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciencebeta.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22671"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sciencebeta.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22677,"href":"https:\/\/sciencebeta.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22671\/revisions\/22677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciencebeta.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciencebeta.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciencebeta.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciencebeta.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Triggers and Responses<\/h2>\n
Signs of a Freeze Response<\/h2>\n
Behavioral Indicators<\/h3>\n
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Mental Health Issues<\/h2>\n
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\nBiological Basis<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nReferences:<\/h5>\n
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