Fight, Flight or Lunch

Evidence rolls in on a daily basis that humans and other animals have many similarities.  The fight or flight response is well documented with research on a physical and emotional level.  One of the things I thought about is that in nature, in the world of predator and prey, there is fight or flight or the prey becomes lunch to the predator.  Research into humans shows that there are actually four responses: Fight, Flight, Freeze and Appease.*  All 4 responses are useful at a given time.  However, when an inappropriate response occurs negative fallout follows.  Fighting with your boss at work can lead to being fired.  Freezing when a car is driving straight at you can result in injury or death.  Appeasing an abuser may protect in the short run but can result in countinued abuse and/or slavery.  Running away can become a habit that may take you from harms way temporarily but also keeps a person from feeling connected.  To complicate everything the human body can become so flooded with emotion that it is like a shutdown switch making any response almost impossible.  Some researchers believe that animals do not get PTSD.  I own a rescue cat.  I watch her cringe away from people and certain situations that remind me of myself.  I suspect they don't believe animals can get PTSD because they haven't watched rescued animals.  Part of the purpose of counseling is learning to choose a response more appropriate for the situation.  I experienced all these reactions.  I also experienced flooding.  Unlike hyper-arousal this state your hearing decreases, sight dims, the mind shuts down all functions, and sleep can follow that I call "a nap from hell." The human mind is an amazing and complex terrain.  Abuse scrambles the coded information and the resulting inappropriate behavior produces the reasons why a person seeks counseling.  I vividly remember the day that a student joking grabbed my wrist from behind.  I stood their shaking frozen in time trying to stop from beating this poor unsuspecting student.  Neither of us realized this hidden trigger that left unattended, unprocessed would cause a joke to turn into something far more dangerous.  Working with KavinCoach I worked at desensitizing myself to this particular trigger.  I integrated so that I would have greater control over my emotional reactions including allowing myself to have them in the first place. 


* http://www.mvbcn.org/shop/images/the_human_stress_response.pdf

My Kitty