What do Fight, Flight, Freeze Responses Look Like in the Modern World?
Fight, flight, or freeze responses are the body’s natural survival strategies. We owe these reactions to some of the oldest structures in the brain, evolutionarily speaking. Designed to protect us from danger, these nervous system responses help keep us safe in threatening situations. Yet the brain that evolved to make survival more likely in early human societies are now being used for ever more complex tasks. As a result, in modern life the fight flight freeze response is often triggered by everyday stressors: work pressure, relationship conflict, or emotional overwhelm, rather than true physical danger.
Today, a fight response rarely looks like physical aggression. Instead, it may show up as excessive problem-solving, controlling behaviour, or disproportionate emotional reactions. People often describe spending hours “solving” the same problem over and over, snapping, becoming easily irritated, or “blowing up” and later feeling regret.
The flight response is commonly linked to avoidance, whether relationships, responsibilities or challenging emotions. This can include ghosting others when emotions feel overwhelming or things get too complicated. Procrastinating on difficult or boring tasks can also be a modern manifestation of the F/F/F response, as well as using substances, social media, or doomscrolling to escape uncomfortable thoughts and feelings.
With a freeze response, the nervous system shuts things down. People may feel stuck, numb, or disconnected, especially during emotionally charged conversations. Freeze responses often involve emotional withdrawal or feeling distant from others.
These stress responses are not weaknesses, they are adaptive trauma responses that once helped create safety. In some situations, such as trusting your intuition when someone feels unsafe, fight, flight, or freeze responses can still of course be useful and protective!
In therapy, a key focus is identifying when these patterns show up in your life, understanding what triggers them, and learning nervous system regulation strategies that support emotional health, relationships, and overall wellbeing.
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