The Freeze Response
Understanding and Overcoming the Freeze Response
We’ve all been there. Perhaps it was a public speaking engagement, a confrontation, or even just an unexpected loud noise. Suddenly, you feel paralysed. Your mind goes blank, your body feels heavy, and you might even feel disconnected from yourself and the world around you. This isn’t just anxiety – it’s the freeze response in action.
The freeze response is a natural, instinctive reaction to perceived danger or threat. When faced with something overwhelming, our bodies and minds can go into a state of shock. Think of it like a deer in the headlights – it’s not that they’re stubborn; they’re simply overwhelmed, and their bodies shut down as their minds enter survival mode.
The freeze response presents itself in a wide range of ways in clients
- A mental freeze can cause difficulty thinking clearly, feeling confused or overwhelmed.
- A physical freeze can cause feeling heavy, weak, or unable to move.
- An emotional freeze can cause a feeling of numbness, disconnectedness, or like you’re watching yourself from outside your body.
While the freeze response is a natural survival mechanism, when our lives are in danger, it can become problematic if it’s triggered too often or in situations where it’s not truly necessary. This can become problematic in our daily lives in and around Edinburgh.
The Long-Term Effects of Living with the Freeze Response
The occasional freeze response is normal. But when it becomes a frequent reaction, it can start to impact your life in some significant ways. Imagine your nervous system constantly hitting the pause button. Over time, this can lead to:
- Chronic Fatigue: That feeling of being constantly drained, even after rest. Your body is stuck in a state of low-level stress.
- Social Isolation: If you’re constantly freezing in social situations, you might start avoiding them altogether, leading to loneliness.
- Difficulty with Decision Making: That mental fog can make it hard to make even simple choices, creating a sense of being stuck in life. Procrastinating is very common with clients experiencing a freeze response.
- Increased Vulnerability to Mental Health Issues: The chronic stress of frequent freeze responses can make you more susceptible to anxiety or depression.
- Relationship Strain: When people interact with someone who is in a state of freeze, it can cause them to feel like they are not being heard, or that the person is not present.
It’s like your body is stuck in a loop, and it needs help breaking free.
Consider Solution Focused Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy can be a powerful tool for addressing the freeze response by helping you reprogram your subconscious mind. With its capacity to access the subconscious mind, hypnotherapy offers a powerful approach to addressing the challenges posed by the freeze response. Through guided suggestions and relaxation techniques, hypnotherapy can:
- Provide a safe and supportive space for clients to talk through what they would like to achieve and help them visualise what that future will look like.
- Guide and support clients to make the necessary changes that will allow them to overcome this state and move forward.
- Help to regulate the nervous system, reducing the intensity and frequency of the freeze response through trance work. Calming the freeze response so clients can make informed decisions.
- Equip individuals with effective coping mechanisms for managing stress and anxiety, lessening the impact of the freeze response.
When you feel that you would like to make some positive changes, please use the link below to book a free chat. This initial call allows me to gather more information about what you would like to achieve. More importantly, it allows you to ask any questions about hypnotherapy and how it can help you.
https://bookme.name/forresterhypnotherapy/lite/initial-consolation
I look forward to chatting soon.