When Fight Or Flight Goes Wrong - A Look At Fight Or Flight Response And Anxiety Disorders
When Our Body Stress (Fight or Flight) Response Goes Horribly Wrong. The fight or flight response or reaction is something is every one of us have. Scientifically, the fight or flight response is the built in automatic reaction (or stress response) of our body that prepares us to fight or flee when facing a perceived imminent attack or threat to our survival.
The fight or flight response was first discovered and described by a great Harvard physiologist called Walter Cannon. His theory claims that this response is one that is hard wired into our brains; a genetic system created to provide a safeguard for us from any bodily harm. The portion of our brain called the hypothalamus is responsible for initiating the electric signals and chemicals release into our body that stimulates this response.
During Fight or Flight response activation, our body undergoes the following physiological changes:
- Our heart starts to pump faster. The arteries will constrict and this serves to increase the pressure in the a blood system while the veins will open to allow for easy return of blood back to the heart.
- The pupils of our eyes will dilate to allow us to see things more clearly, especially in the dark, to see any signs of danger more clearly.
- Our other senses also perk and sharpen. Our hairs stand on end; while this response does not seem like much on humans since the body hair is short, in the animals it makes them seem larger in hope of intimidating the enemy. We are more keen and sensitive to sign, sound and touch.
- Our air passage reacts, opening up the nostrils, throat, lungs to allow faster breathing so that our blood may be infused with fresh oxygen faster. Muscles need oxygen to convert fuel reserves in our body into energy in fight or flight.
- Blood flow is closed off to our digestive system and directed into our muscles, arms and legs to provide for extra energy for running and fighting.
- Endorphins, the natural pain killers in our body are released so that we get a false sensation of being impervious to pain. Fat and glucose from liver are instantly metabolised to create energy.
- Our rational mind is temporarily weakened and our more primitive instincts and senses kick in. We tend to perceive anything in our environment to be a source of threat. We are in our survival mode.
In prehistoric ages, our fight or flight survival mode is what protects our ancestors from the dangerous predators that lurk in the darkness of the jungle and threaten their survival. When the fight or flight response is triggered, adrenaline and various hormones course through their bodies giving them enhanced strength, speed, aggressiveness, courage required to defend themselves and those they cherish.
Of course, under normal circumstances, we do no need to fend ourselves against dangerous predators from the jungle, rather, the stress we face originate from every day things such as peak hour traffic, arguments with our partners, family members and friends, our misbehaving child or missing an important flight. Our body has been designed to activate the fight or flight under stresses from these sources instead.
In prehistoric times, the fight or flight reaction was a necessity for survival. In modern days however, having the fight or flight response may be necessarily be a good thing. This is because in our civilized world, aggressive response is viewed as a negative one. For example, just because you got into an argument with the boss, you are not going to punch him in the face. Instead the more likely reaction would be to go back to your cubicle and sulk; you just have to control your instinctive reactions because we live in a civilised world. Yet our body still activates the physiological changes and this takes a toll on our mind and body.
Some very common negative results of suppressing these primal instincts are evident in some mental disorders we see today. For one, sexual response and digestive systems are disrupted. Some common symptoms include diarrhoea, constipation and difficulty in sustaining erection. Also, immune system may be compromised if prolonged periods of stress responses occur leaving the victims easy targets for infection by viruses and bacteria.
The cyclic stress responses that the modern people undergo can also cause one of the more famous categories of mental disorders; these are panic or anxiety attacks. These are sudden attacks of intense anxiety with trademark symptoms like sweat, trembling, racing heart and chest tightness. Living with panic attacks is a very traumatising experience for the patients as they impact adversely their quality of life. For starters, their work and social life would be greatly disrupted by the random, sudden anxiety attacks. The randomness of such attacks makes the victims very emotionally distressed and worrisome due to the fact that they never know when to expect the next attack. It could happen under the most inconvenient or even sometimes embarrassing circumstances. Self esteem may be lowered.
It is alarming to know that at least 5% of US citizens will have suffered panic disorders of some form before the end of their lives. However a great consolation to those suffering from anxiety attacks is that panic attacks can be overcome and cured. There are many good people and experts out there researching and working hard in this field of study and coming up with scientific methods and techniques to cure panic attacks.
In summary, nature’s built-in survival tool for us, our fight and flight response, originally intended to help us defend ourselves in times of danger has now, in the modern day become a danger itself. Fight and flight related disorders can cause great disruption to normal daily life causing its victims and their loved ones great distress. However, it is important to know that most disorders resulting from prolonged fight and flight responses or repetitive stress responses can be cured or even prevented.
Paul has great interest in anxiety and related fields and was a victim of panic attacks.
To know who and what gave him a cure and ultimately his life back, you need to CLICK HERE
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