Are You Stuck in Freeze Mode? How to Turn off the Freeze Response (2023)

Introduction

The freeze response is a survival instinct stored deep in your brain. It’s an automatic response to overwhelming danger - or at least perceived danger. When fighting your way out or running away seems impossible, the brain turns on the freeze response as the last resort.

This is not something conscious. It’s not something you plan or choose; it’s something that your deep limbic brain triggers much faster than thinking. And it can be hard to break out of the freeze response. So in this video, we’re going to talk about one of the things I do in session with my clients to help them work through it.

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Content

Hi every one Emma McAdam here.

Today we are going to talk about a question.

I got from one of my viewers and they asked, "How do turn off the freeze, response?" So, that's what we're gonna talk about! Today.

Well,! Basically, the freeze response is a survival instinct stored deep in you, brain.

It's, an automatic response to overwhelming danger, or at least the perception of danger.

So.

When fighting your way, out, or running away seem impossible.

The brain turns on the freeze response as a last resort.

So.

This isn't something conscious.

This isn't something you plan, or choose.

It's, something that your deep limbic brain triggers a lot faster than thinking.

And.

It can be really hard to break out of the freeze, response.

So in this video we're gonna talk about one of the things I do in session with my clients to help them work through it.

Ok.

So the freeze response is the third option in the flight flight freeze reaction to danger.

Fight works when the threat seems beatable, like some thing, smaller or less powerful than you.

Flight works when you're faster or you have an advantage to escape.

And.

Freeze kicks in automatically when your brain decides that the threat is too large or too overwhelming, or too strong, or fast or powerful to fight off or escape.

And honestly.

The freeze response can be really effective.

You may have seen some of these videos on youtube or in wild life documentaries, where an animal survives, because they froze, they hid, or they played dead.

Now.

If you've frozen up in the past, don't beat yourself.

Up.

You can just thank your brain for keeping you safe, and we can also talk about some new skills to move forward.

Now.

If you look at how the freeze response shows up, it can turn on in this like really big way like freezing up in the middle of battle, or it can also turn on in really small ways.

So like if your stressed about a test, you might feel a sense of dread or a sense of of overwhelm, and then you just try to avoid your homework, or hide from trying to think about your studying.

Our anciently, evolved brain doesn't do a very good job with these modern threats that we have.

That are really quite different than fighting off a tiger.

So, things like social media comments that bother you, or studying for a test, can really turn on that freeze response, because our ancient brain doesn't necessarily know how to respond to that in an effective way., Our anciently, evolved brain might turn on the freeze response in the case of a life threatening event, or just something like public speaking.

So here are some of the symptoms of a freeze, response.

Your, muscles, lock, up, in all or in part of your body.

This is called tonic immobility, and this isn't something that you can control your muscles literally lose the ability to move.

You might feel feelings of numbness, detachment, or dissociation.

And.

This means that you feel like separate from your thoughts.

Now.

This is actually a pretty function, response, because, if you're in the face of impending death or pain that you can't escape, then your brain has this ability to kind of separate you from those sensations or from the intensity of that.

But.

If you're taking a test- and you start dissociating or if you're talking about trauma- and you can't even connect with the room, you're in,- that can actually mess up your life, because it's disconnecting you from the things that you care, about., So, people that feel numb or disconnected or kind of unable to attach or feel joy with certain things in their life.

That might be a locked in freeze, response.

Some of the other types of symptoms of a freeze response are feeling overwhelmed, or having fawning behaviors.

So, trying to appease someone who seems threatening, or trying to make them feel good.

or trying to give in to what they're, asking or demanding of you.

Those can all be symptoms of a freeze, response.

A, few more symptoms of the freeze response are a sense of stiffness or heaviness.

Holding your breath, shrinking, or trying to disappear.

People often feel ashamed that they froze up in a situation, but they really shouldn't, and that's for two reasons.

Number one.

It wasn't in their control to do something different in the moment.

And number two, freezing up might have saved your life.

So, for more on that check out my video, the freeze response in sexual assault.

Anyways, the freeze response can feel paralyzing because it seems to return when we remember traumatic, events.

I've had clients sitting in my office and they're telling me about their trauma, and this is what they look like when they say, they're sitting there like, "I'm, so angry, I'm, so mad.

This guy should be in jail." And they're sitting in my office, frozen stiff.

They're, not moving, they're, saying I'm, so angry.

They're, saying I'm so angry, but what they're body is saying is I'm still powerless, I'm still in danger.

And.

Our memories are stored as much in our bodies as they are in our minds.

So when we think about danger, or we think about trauma, or we watch the news about corona virus.

Our brain can't tell the difference between actual dangers, and these imaginary or perceived dangers.

Things danger that we're thinking about or remembering.

So.

It turns on that exact, same response that freeze response in our nervous system.: Whether we're actually in danger or we're just thinking about danger.

Our brain turns on that fight flight freeze, response.

But.

When we're in the fight flight freeze, mode, we can't process through information.

So, our brain, just the thinking part of our brain basically turns off.

And, so people get stuck in these cycles of reliving their trauma.

Ok, I thought this was going to be a short video now I'm like talking an talking, but here I go.

So.

In order to work through these responses that leave us trapped, we can train ourselves to break out of the freeze response in a couple of ways.

So.

The first thing, I always do with my clients, is I, help them reengage the body.

Because.

We have this cycle right.

Your brain sends messages to your body and your body sends messages to your brain.

So.

We reengage the body and it sends messages to the brain that you are actually safe and when the brain is reminded that you are actually safe, then it has the ability to process through some more information.

And.

We plan action in a way that increases your overall sense of power., So you're belief in your ability to take action in a helpful way.

So.

The brain that caused this reaction is not the thinking part of your brain and I'm pointing up here, because this, where your prefrontal cortex is and your cortex and that's where the thinking part of your brain works, and you can't think your way out of a freeze.

Response.

You, have to go in kinda through the back door.

It's, your deep survival oriented brain, that's down here in the brain stem that decided to put you into freeze.

So the best way to access that part of the brain is through the body.

So for that reason, I, almost always start with a body up approach to treating trauma and anxiety.

So.

Here's what I do with my clients in session.

So.

We start by creating movement right.

They were sitting here and they were frozen and they were telling me I'm, so angry., So, I, say ok.

Do this with me.

I say pat your legs and I have them start moving their arms and then I, say stomp.

Your feet.

And they'll sit in their on the couch or whatever and they'll start stomping their feet.

And I get them physically moving.

So when their body's, not in freeze it, can send that message to their brain, that I'm, safe, and then I usually have them start doing.

Crazier things.

I have them start shaking their arms out, stomping, we do some dancing, we get a little crazy, and I actually had a therapist come in from the office.

Next to me, who wasn't with my practice,? She comes right into my session in the middle of a session and she's like, "Is there a therapist in here.

What are you guys, doing?" Because? She had no idea that, like body work is an essential part of trauma.

Treatment.

Which is unfortunate because she was in the EMDR trained therapist, so I, don't know why she didn't know.

That.

But anyway, I have them wave their arms I.

Have them move around and I have them break their body out of freeze and when I see them calm down and break out of freeze, then we can go back start to process that trauma again.

Both in their body and in their mind.

So.

When we've convinced our brain through our body that we are actually safe, then we can do other things like talking about the traumatic experience while staying out of freeze.

Or.

We can practice combating that feeling of overwhelm or we can plan some practical steps to manage certain behaviors that week.

So.

These are all some things that we can do, but we can't do them when we're stuck in the freeze, response.

So for anyone who's stuck in the freeze, response, I encourage you to start moving your body.

But, not in a fear based way, in a slow and intentional way.

Right.

So the other thing you can do to break out of the freeze response is you can do some training.

Because? If you have a good protocol, then you can override those natural freeze, habits.

And I talk about this in my other video on the freeze response and sexual assault, but this includes self defense training, and did you know that one of the most effective things people teach like if they're teaching young girls how to avoid sexual assault, one of the most important things they teach is just how to shout no.

How to say that really loud.

And once you've practiced that and practiced that and practiced that, then, in the moment of danger, you're able to draw upon that training and instead of freezing up, scream no at someone and that deters an attacker, a lot of the time.

A few other things that are helpful for breaking out of freeze, are identifying triggers and identifying your signs and symptoms.

So.

You get good at noticing.

Sorry I just hit my mic, so you get good at noticing.

What's going on in your body when you're freezing.

And, when you notice what your body does when you freeze, then you can also take proactive steps to ground yourself here in the present moment, and speaking of grounding.

I have a whole series of videos on my grounding play list on how to do grounding exercises and all of those can help with the freeze, response.

Another thing that you can do that's helpful with the freeze response is to exercise.

So, just any kind of physical exercise, and what exercise does is it takes your body through this natural cycle of getting excited, getting sympathetic? Arousal.

Which is basically your brain is turning on that excitement, the adrenaline and the flooding, which is really a very similar response to that fight.

Flight freeze, response.

So it takes you through that cycle of alert activation, and then, when you're done exercising you go back down through the cycle of calming down and the rest and digest response.

So, it's really healthy.

A healthy nervous system is able to get both activated and relaxed, and exercise can help you go through those natural cycles., Another thing you can do to help with the freeze response is practice how you would like to respond.

So.

If you freeze up in a meeting, instead of speaking up for yourself, you do role plays in front of the mirror of what you want to say.

And.

You practice saying it with your therapist or your friend, and you practice saying it with people who are safe, and the more you practice, it, eventually that muscle memory and that habit is gonna.

Come back to you and you're gonna get you're gonna, develop the ability to say what you wanna say to your boss or whoever it is.

There's.

Another thing you can do to help combat the freeze, response, and that's to develop the ability to envision safety.

So if our brain can bring to mind danger, and it has that fight flight freeze response in reaction to imagined or perceived danger.

We can also turn on that calming response and break out of freeze by bringing to mind the visualization of safety.

So.

You bring to mind things going well, you remember times things worked out well and you develop mental resources like an internal safe place and when you're feeling a little nervous, you bring that safe place to mind, and that can turn on that.

Relaxing calming reaction.

So I've made a couple.

Videos on this, one of them is called drawing safety and the other one is guided imagery.

It's called I think it's called a safe place.

And, as you do all this, you're, basically developing emotional muscles.

So.

You practice safe ways to experience, anxiety and work your way through it.

So.

These are things like rock climbing or using the book, Do One Thing Every Day That, Scares You, and basically this is just changing your rules around anxieties.

If.

You have a rule that says it's not ok, to feel anxious.

Then, when you start to feel anxious, you're gonna be more likely to lock up.

So.

If, instead you're rules are I can feel anxious and still be ok, then you'll be more flexible with you're decision making and you're not gonna make your anxiety, worse.

Now, with any trauma, work or anxiety.

Work, you're, really best off working with an experienced therapist., Someone trained in trauma, work or in somatic experiencing or EMDR, may have the skills to help.

You.

I really believe that real growth and healing is possible, and I hope you can give yourself a little credit today for taking the time to improve yourself by watching this video.

Thank you, and also please share this video, because statistically one in five of your friends has experienced trauma and this might help them.

So.

Thank you.

So much, take care and we'll see you next week.