What would be your threat response....fight, flight or freeze?

[FuckKnowsMate]

Just curious about what other people think their body's response to threat would be?
I recall experiencing something when I was on medication and struggling to sleep and think I may have had an episode of 'exploding head syndrome'. I remember very vividly hearing loud knocking on my windows (I was downstairs at the time) and thought the house was about to get burgled and my immediate response was to completely freeze, rooted to the sofa without daring to breathe but could feel my heart through my chest! After calming down, I realised I was actually just experiencing something in the transition state between sleep and awake, however in that moment it felt SO real and I genuinely thought I was in danger......anyway, its now made me think I would be an absolute shitbag in any real danger situation and my response would be to freeze which is pretty useless :(

If you was in danger, do you think you would fight or flight or freeze like me :D

Oh is that the proper name for ''fawn''. I can see that a woman I know does ''fight'' and ''appease'' at the same time in a group. Obviously it's not a response to any kind of real danger but she can be icing me while love bombing all of the others at the same time. So it's some kind of stress response. The stress of not being the most popular in the group????? I didn't feel I was any threat to her.

From an evolutionary perspective men fight or flight as they were hunters, best way to survive.
Women tend and befriend because the threats to them were mostly from men or stress due to child rearing danger so it's better to appease or befriend to survive.
I however as a woman def freeze or fight!

There have been a few occasions where it has been fight. Man approaching me in a dark park and I grabbed some sticks, so I assume I was going to fight but would I actually? Also a man once approached me at a ATM and told me to get him a tenner out, my response was to say FUCK OFF in a very loud and stern voice. He did! I also once got robbed and I chased the guy. Didn’t catch him though. Other times though I have froze.

I'm so sorry this happened to you.

For what it's worth, I think you did exactly what your body needed you. Freezing is a valid response and can be a protective mechanism to not escalate a situation and antagonise someone further.

Fortunately, I haven't had to test it out but I think freeze/appease would be my natural response too.

Freeze / appease probably. I travelled through a dangerous part of the world, to the point I was given anti kidnap training (I had armed guards so “do what they say” basically) and travelled in armoured vehicles. I’m not sure I’m valuable enough to ransom so I’d probably be killed though.

I always thought I was a freeze person. However when faced with a horrendous situation, I was absolutely fight. I had one of my Children with me at the time, so possibly the reason I managed to react in that way.

a group of us were held up at gunpoint in Durban years ago. My reaction was flight.

Instantly

It depends. When it has been tested, if it involves a threat to my children it's full on tiger mode. One sexual harassment and one sexual assault - froze both times and despite my intensely rational being, I am still mortified with my reaction. I hate that I was so paralysed.

In earthquakes, mine is flight - everyone joked about me being the first out the lecture theatre during a particularly egregious aftershock!

Unfortunately I fight, will likely be the undoing of me

When I was once face to face with a threat (it didnt turn out to be, but that was my worry) I froze. It was an eye opener. BUT, whenever I hear a noise in the house that worries me I'm active. I was alone with the threat in the first instance, for the latter I think of my house hold, so this is what I've learned about myself.

I was on a course where we covered 7 Fs - fight, flight, freeze, fawn/appease, fart, fuck. I don't remember the 7th - it might have been flop, as in a post above; some animals play dead, which I think is different from freeze, as freezing tends to be a very tense state.

Farting is probably more useful if you're a skunk or squid, though I have known some men with toxic farts...

Experience suggests I'm most likely to freeze.

I fight/ run towards danger.

I witnessed a car drive head first into a HGV (driver had a stroke) and my instincts took over straight away seat belt was off and ready to jump out before my driver had even finished braking - completely stupid as a car behind went into the back of us and I'm incredibly lucky not to have gone through the windscreen. Everything around me went into slo-mo and reacting to the rest of the incident / first aid was the quickest and clearest I've ever thought and reacted.

I would have preferred to not have been put in that situation but knowing I'm a fighter (in that scenario at least) is good to know.

Interesting. I am like this, great in a crisis. But quickly I turn to fight if I am backed into a corner, I can be most aggressive and unpleasant if I feel threatened!

Yeah we need to know what happened next!

I fight.

Wont go into the specific details but a crazy woman started on me aggressively at a theme park (over a seat on a bench). Can you believe it? Sounds ridiculous. I was immediately threatened and she pushed me hard so I stumbled.

And…. the end of the story is not pretty. I punched her repeatedly, pulled her hair, got her to the ground and then security arrived 🤦‍♀️.

My husband couldn’t believe it as I was waiting for him to finish a ride. I am a civilised person who actually felt embarrassed and ashamed about what happened afterwards but that was my threat response.

I pondered the same question as the OP, and when I was a child I had a very violent, threatening father and wondered if there was a link. I had a witness who said I didn’t start the altercation, and to be honest I look non threatening and a bit of an easy target.

I freeze.

In my dreams I freeze. In reality it may be that I fought.

I'm calm and clear thinking and a bit over-confident in a crisis/ threat situation, I get a burst of adrenaline and feel like I can handle anything and my whole brain knows what to do to solve the immediate problem. I get upset and anxious afterwards.

DD had an accident that luckily wasn’t serious but had the potential to be very bad. We heard her fall and DH sprinted to the other room and I was completely frozen to the spot. I do wonder if I’d have reacted differently if I was the only adult there.

We were in a holiday home in Spain and late one night I hear someone trying to get it (it turned out to be the owner who had forgotten we were there!). They were trying to get in to the kitchen which was between me and the room where my children were sleeping. I shouted for my husband and then ran to the kitchen picked up a knife and arrows at the door that led to their bedroom. I really was ready to do someone harm if they tried to get past me.

Fortunately the owner had enough English and we had enough Spanish that we worked it out pretty quickly

Not arrows just a knife don't know where arrows came from

It depends on the situation; when I'm threatened I freeze but when my child is threatened I fight. If I think I can talk my way out of it I'll do that, which may look like appeasement to an outsider.

I don't know, it's always depended on the situation. Two very serious situations - one I fought and one I ran. I can only imagine the difference was my intuition for both situations although I can't remember thinking at the time.

I freeze.

I am generally a calm person so there are lots of situations that dont trigger that response and i just pragmatically get on with it.

But in proper situations i mainly freeze. I sometimes get a flight response. I dont reckon ive ever gone for fight.

I experienced violence as a young child and the freeze kept me safe a few times.