I have an overactive freeze response and ocd. There's a lot of trauma in my past, and although I recovered, when my son was born we ended up in a mother baby psychiatric unit.
In the past I had an overactive freeze response but now it's appalling and j literally freeze before crossing a road, or if something turns towards me at.a junction, or if a car is coming towards me. I had it years ago and overcame it but I didn't have a small vulnerable baby then.
I'm having a lot of psychological help, and they want me to keep exposing myself to roads (ok) with my baby (no!) They don't seem to grasp how dangerous this is. My partner wants me to recover, with exposure and a walking stick as I freeze so hard that I fall over, but not with our baby. I agree, yet the psychologist is encouraging me to take this risk.
The freeze response is very pshycal and impossible to break when it happens.