F — Fight, Flight and Freeze: A Nervous System Perspective | The A–Z of Stress & Anxiety

F – Fight, Flight and Freeze

Introduction

This entry sits under F in The A–Z of Stress & Anxiety, a project that frames stress and anxiety not as problems to eliminate, but as indicators of internal system state. Each letter names a familiar experience that often brings people to therapy, coaching, or quiet concern, and offers a way of understanding what might be happening beneath the surface.

Fight, flight and freeze are among the most commonly referenced ideas in conversations about stress. They are widely discussed, frequently simplified, and often misunderstood. Because these responses are so well known, they can sometimes be dismissed as obvious or overdone. Yet in clinical work, they remain one of the most useful entry points for understanding why people feel overwhelmed, reactive, shut down, or stuck in patterns they cannot easily explain.

This letter is not about fixing these responses. It is about recognising them as signals, orienting to what they are protecting, and understanding how they fit into the wider picture of nervous system regulation.

What Fight, Flight and Freeze Often Look Like in Real Life

Most people recognise fight and flight in their more dramatic forms. Fight may show up as irritability, anger, defensiveness, or a sense of being constantly on edge. Flight often appears as restlessness, urgency, overthinking, or a strong pull to stay busy, distracted, or in motion.

In everyday life, these states are usually subtler. Fight can look like snapping at loved ones, feeling easily criticised, or becoming rigid in one’s thinking. Flight may present as difficulty sitting still, compulsive planning, scrolling, working late, or feeling uneasy when there is nothing demanding immediate attention.

Freeze is less well understood and often more confusing. It may feel like mental fog, emotional numbness, heaviness in the body, or an inability to initiate even simple tasks. People often describe it as knowing what they want or need to do, but being unable to access the energy to begin. In some cases, freeze is experienced as panic, sudden collapse, or a sense of being trapped inside one’s own system.

These responses do not occur only in extreme situations. They may appear during conversations, in workplaces, in relationships, or during periods of sustained pressure. Importantly, they are not conscious choices. They are automatic responses that emerge when the system detects threat, overload, or loss of safety.

What Is Often Misunderstood About This

A common misunderstanding is that fight and flight are purely mental reactions, driven by thoughts or attitudes. Another is that freeze represents weakness, avoidance, or giving up. These interpretations tend to increase self-judgement and frustration.

Fight, flight and freeze are not decisions made by the rational mind. They are survival responses that arise before conscious reasoning has time to intervene. Trying to reason oneself out of them often fails, not because the person is resistant, but because the part of the system responsible for reasoning is temporarily offline or overloaded.

Another misconception is that freeze is rare or extreme. In practice, freeze is common, especially following prolonged periods of mobilisation. When fight or flight cannot resolve the perceived threat, the system may shift into immobilisation as a form of protection. This is not collapse in a psychological sense, but a physiological response to overwhelm.

Understanding this helps explain why effort, motivation, or positive thinking alone often do not restore balance. The issue is not a lack of will. It is a system operating under conditions it perceives as unsafe or unsustainable.

What Is Happening Underneath

Fight, flight and freeze are often described as being controlled by the amygdala, a brain structure involved in threat detection. While this is broadly accurate, it can be misleading if taken too literally. These responses are not confined to the brain. They involve the entire nervous system and extend throughout the body.

When threat is detected, the nervous system shifts state. Heart rate changes, breathing patterns alter, digestion is affected, muscles prepare for action or stillness, and attention narrows. The vagus nerve plays a central role here, connecting the brain to major internal systems including the heart, lungs, and gut. This means that stress is not simply something we think about. It is something we feel, carry, and express physically.

If mobilisation through fight or flight is sufficient, the system may return to baseline once the situation resolves. When mobilisation is prolonged, blocked, or repeatedly triggered without resolution, the system may move toward freeze. Freeze is not the opposite of fight or flight. It is a different protective strategy, characterised by reduced movement, reduced emotional range, and conservation of energy.

This progression helps explain why panic attacks, emotional shutdown, or compulsive behaviours can follow periods of sustained stress. Each is an attempt by the system to manage overwhelming internal load.

Modern research into nervous system regulation, including polyvagal theory, has helped clarify how these states relate to safety, connection, and recovery. While the theory itself is complex, its central contribution is the recognition that regulation is dynamic, body-based, and deeply influenced by perceived safety rather than conscious intention.

How This Fits Within the Mind Works Framework

Within the Mind Works approach, fight, flight and freeze are understood as protective responses rather than problems. They sit naturally within the Psychological Processes of Distress, particularly those involving protection, avoidance, and overused coping strategies.

In terms of the Tower Block, these states often correspond to movement down the levels. As stress increases and capacity narrows, access to higher-order thinking reduces. This is why people may feel less like themselves, more reactive, or disconnected from their values during these periods.

From a Parts of Self perspective, these responses are often driven by the Protective Self, whose role is to prevent harm when the system feels threatened. The Protective Self does not evaluate long-term goals or social nuance. It prioritises immediate safety.

The Process of Change emphasises the importance of recognising the current state before attempting movement. Fight, flight and freeze are signals about where the system is operating from. Attempting to push change without acknowledging this often increases resistance or collapse.

Orientation Rather Than Solutions

When people recognise themselves in descriptions of fight, flight or freeze, the natural impulse is to look for techniques to calm down, push through, or override the response. While tools have their place, orientation comes first.

Orientation involves understanding what state the system is in, what it has been responding to, and what it may need in order to stabilise. This is not about analysing every trigger or revisiting every past event. It is about developing an accurate sense of current capacity.

Stabilisation is often a prerequisite for meaningful change. Without it, even well-designed strategies can feel inaccessible or exhausting. Orientation allows the system to feel seen and understood rather than corrected.

Closing Reflection

Fight, flight and freeze are not signs that something has gone wrong. They are indicators that the nervous system is doing its best to manage perceived threat, load, or uncertainty.

For some people, learning to recognise these states brings immediate relief. It offers a language for experiences that previously felt confusing or personal. For others, it opens the door to support that focuses less on fixing behaviour and more on restoring balance at a system level.

In the context of the wider A–Z of Stress & Anxiety, this letter often serves as a turning point. It helps people understand that their reactions make sense, even if they are uncomfortable. From there, support that prioritises nervous system stabilisation can become a meaningful next step.