![]() ![]() COVID-19 research and media reports have revealed a rise in fears related to contracting the virus. Similarly, patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may mistake the increased physiological arousal as an indicator that there is a genuine threat present: understanding more about the fight or flight response can help them to feel safer, and to implement relaxation and grounding strategies.COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to being a global health emergency, has multiple socioeconomic and psychological ramifications. For example, patients with panic attacks or panic disorder often misinterpret the bodily signs associated with fight or flight as signs of impending catastrophe and understanding the fight or flight response is therefore a helpful ‘decatastrophizing’ technique. Practically, many patients who suffer from anxiety will benefit from a deeper understanding of the fight or flight response. However, many patients suffering from anxiety disorders or other conditions may have threat systems which have become over-active, or which are insufficiently counterbalanced by activity in the parasympathetic nervous system. The physiological responses associated with fight or flight can play a critical role in surviving truly threatening situations. Why the fight or flight response is important They describe a series of stages which individuals exposed to threat or trauma may go through, including: freeze, flight, fight, fright, flag, and faint. Their more elaborated model of physiological / psychological / behavioral responses to threat is termed the ‘defense cascade’. ![]() ![]() He noted that they happened automatically and they served the function of helping the animal to survive threatening situations by readying the body for fighting or running.Ī more modern understanding of the fight or flight response is reflected in the work of Schauer & Elbert (2010). Canon’s interpretation of this data was that there were emergency functions of these changes. ![]() The consequences of these changes are increases in the flow of oxygen and energy to the muscles. He noted that when animals were threatened, by exposure to a predator for example, their bodies released the hormone adrenaline / epinephrine which would lead to a series of bodily changes including increased heart rate and respiration. The fight or flight response was originally described by American physiologist Walter Bradford Cannon in the book Bodily changes in pain, hunger, fear and rage (1915). For example, patients with panic disorder often misinterpret fight or flight responses as signs of impending catastrophe ( “I’m having a heart attack”, “If this carries on I’ll go mad”). Secondary psychological responses can include appraisals about the meaning of the body reactions. Automatic reactions include a quickening of thought and an attentional focus on salient targets such as the source of the threat and potential avenues for escape. In addition to physiological reactions there is also a psychological component to fight or flight response.
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