Series: Understanding Your Nervous System Part 2: Flight — When Your Nervous System Responds

By: Holly Earnest, M.Ed., APC, NCC

What is the Flight Response?

The flight response, often discussed in connection with the “fight or flight” reaction, is an automatic physiological response that readies the body to flee from an actual or perceived threat. This specific physiological response is referred to as a state of hyperarousal, which stems from activation of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). The sympathetic nervous system is a part of the autonomic nervous system that works to control the involuntary body processes, like digestion, temperature regulation, heart rate, and blood pressure. When the SNS is activated, it can lead to a state of survival, perpetuating the fight-or-flight response.

What Does the Flight Response Look Like?

 the fight response, the flight response activates the nervous system, creating dysregulation through physiological arousal. One may expect to experience the following:

·      Increased heart rate, breathing, and/or blood pressure

·      Tension, jittery legs, and/ or sweating

·      Emotional overwhelm and/or reactivity

·      Restlessness and/or shaking

·      Hypervigilance, feeling trapped, and/or “feeling on edge”

·      Racing and/ or obsessive thoughts

·      Feeling unsafe- walking or running away

·      Taking oneself out of the situation completely

What Happens in Your Body?

When the brain perceives a sense of danger or threat, the amygdala, a part of your brain responsible for emotional processing, will send signals to the hypothalamus, activating the SNS. Once the SNS is activated, it triggers the production of stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. Once these stress hormones are released, the fight-or-flight response activates, increasing physiological arousal as a way of survival.

Note. Adapted from How does the fight or flight response work? by K. DeJohn, 2022, Ro. https://ro.co/health-guide/fight-or-flight-response/

How to Recognize Your Flight Response

Recognizing your flight response may be challenging at first. If your nervous system is activated and you are in survival mode, it may be hard to distinguish between physiological activation, fight, or flight. However, through increased awareness, mindfulness, and mind-body connection, you may become more conscious of what you are experiencing when noticing signs of hyperarousal. You may notice the following in a flight response:

·      Increased heart rate and blood pressure

·      Shallow breathing

·      Stomach pain or aches

·      Muscle tension

·      Sudden urge to run and/or escape

·      Heightened anxiety or dysregulation

·      Scanning the room for exits or ways to get out of situation

·      Avoidance of what feels unsafe as an attempt to minimize distress

How Therapy Can Help

If these experiences resonate with you, trauma-informed therapy can help! Trauma-informed therapy can help individuals foster increased nervous system regulation, reducing the severity of the hyperarousal state and, therefore, the susceptibility to the flight response. Therapy can cultivate a shift from states of chronic survival to regulation. Therapy can aid in insight, awareness, development and implementation of healthy and adaptive coping skills, and increasing one's window of tolerance. Therapy can support the safe and conducive space needed to engage in openness, willingness, and safety in releasing the survival state.

Resource

DeJohn, K. (2022, March 31). Fight or flight response: What it is, and how does it work?                         [Photograph]. Ro. https://ro.co/health-guide/fight-or-flight-response/