#fight or flight or freeze

[rapeculturerealities]

Art by Sarah Burgess

[ahyperactivehero]

i know that i added this to a post before, but i can't find it now so i'm just going to post it here again!

i love the way we see how hell influenced edwin, particularly when it comes to danger. any time there is even a hint of danger, he freezes. we joke that it's because charles is there, that charles will step up and protect him, which is true. of course charles will protect him, that's what he lives his after life for! yet it also makes sense for him to freeze.

in hell if he ran that baby-doll-spider-demon thing chased him. and ripped him apart. if he screamed or yelled or anything like that it would find him and do it all again. until charles came along with his bombs, it seems highly unlikely that fighting back would have worked out well for him either. which only leaves the freeze option.

every time danger is present he reverts back to hell. the night nurse, esther, the cat king, even the misery wraiths in the devlin house, the skeletons in the sprite clearing, and the angry ghost in the first episode draw a similar reaction from him. he freezes, unless prompted by someone else to run. he keeps quiet. he even tries to keep crystal quiet around the wraiths just like he did charles in hell.

and i think that is so interesting and would love to see how season two handles his reaction to danger.

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

ADHD & Intense Emotions

Future ADHD

Fixed typo

[fox-guardian]

today i am thinking about tim's freeze response.

in ep 104, in his statement about danny, he beats himself up over the fact that he couldn't bring himself to move when he saw "danny" up on the stage in the covent garden theatre

[ID: A transcript screenshot reading "I always tell myself there was some force there. Something that held me in place and meant that all I could do was watch. But sometimes when I think back, I remember how my legs shook, and maybe I could move. Maybe I’m just a coward." end ID] ~~~~

and then in ep 39 sasha had to Tackle Him to get him out of prentiss' way after his whole joe spooky bit because he just Didn't Move apparently

[ID: A transcript screenshot reading:

SASHA: Behind you! Run! TIM: Oh… PRENTISS: [Slowly intoning over worm sound] Do you hear their song? SASHA: TIM! [IMPACT, WORMS AND SCUFFLING]

end ID] ~~~~

worm sounds and a full sentence after going "oh" and sasha STILL needed to tackle him.

i don't really have anywhere i'm going with this i'm just thinking about it really hard

[neuroticboyfriend]

i dont think people realize how painful it is to constantly live in survival mode. like fight/flight/freeze/etc. is reserved for when you're close to fucking dying. people weren't made to live entire lives in that state. can you imagine the damage that does?

[safe-haven-safe-place]

@jenpeters_soulguide_healer

[little-pondhead]

Bruce was being watched. Again.

He didn’t know where it was coming from, and that was a problem at the moment. He was hosting another gala, intent on putting on the “Bruice Wayne” mask for the public. None of his children were attending, unfortunately, but everything was going okay so far.

Then he kept feeling a cool breeze on the back of his neck. His hairs stood on end, and he shivered randomly. Someone mentioned that he looked cold. But Bruce wasn’t cold. He was Batman! Batman is never bothered by something stupid like the temperature. It just felt like there were multiple pairs of eyes staring at him from all directions.

Bruce tried to catch whoever it was, but when he looked, there was no one there. He even made extra laps around the room, easily slipping between socialites and chatting his way through the crowd. He scanned the tables, checked the stairs, peeked outside, and even snuck at glance at the chandeliers for fuck’s sake! There was nothing. No cameras, no lingering eyes, nothing.

Bruce could feel his heartbeat quicken. There was something in the room. Something dangerous.

Eventually, the source of his anxiety came to him. The gala was small, being in the middle of the off-season for social events. It was a relatively quiet gathering. Still, Bruce flinched when someone tapped his shoulder from behind when he was making another waltz around the room. He turned, and was faced with a boy no older than 16, but no younger than 14. It was hard to tell his age. He wore an ill-fitted navy suit and scuffed dress shoes. His tie was no where to be seen, and the boy had a platter of finger foods balanced in one hand. He hadn’t heard anyone approach at all.

What made Bruce freeze, however, was the fact that the boy looked exactly like the portraits of the young Thomas Wayne that were hanging innocently in the Wayne family home. His crystal blue eyes seemed to glow in the overhead lights as they bore into Bruce. It felt like the boy could see his soul. The air was more chilled than it had been all night, and everything in Bruce’s mind was screaming DANGER!

“Y’know…” Bruce’s breath caught in his throat as the boy spoke. His midwestern accent was heavy, and the boy took a slow moment to polish off a baked feta bite before continuing. “You look like the kinda guy to have a secret basement. The bloody kind. Nice party, though!” With that, the boy disappeared back into the crowd, taking the cold air with him.

Bruce never got out a word.

———

Danny sees all the wandering souls and shades attached to Bruce Wayne, and comes to the obvious conclusion that the billionaire is a serial killer.

[aleksandra-czudzak]

fight ∙ flight ∙ FREEZE - Watercolor on paper

[ennard-is-near]

Michael Afton has such a terrible response to imminent danger. I know this is just part of the games but he will NOT move his ass is not fighting or flighting. He always freezes. And I think that’s really interesting and has a lot of potential for a character trait for him.

My friend pointed out how he doesn’t move when the power goes out in FNaF 1, which reminded me of The Scooper from 5 and how he infamously could have dodged it very easily. And in every game he just stays in the office (which I know is part of gameplay, let me have this) and doesn’t move an inch unless it’s to do very small preventative measures to stop him from being killed immediately. But he never does more. And while I’m sure everyone can come up with their own lore reasons for this, instead of running or fighting, Michael Afton always freezes.

[pomeness]

Thinking about how Kaiser's "freeze" reactions are actually the product of him learning how to manually suppress his "fight" reactions.

[skunkes]

not so easy

[breadandblankets]

batfam prank wars are pretty infamous but there are generally guide rules to be followed like don't trigger someone's ptsd etc etc

however, one of the rules added when Duke started staying at the manor was Do Not Startle Him

the first time Damian jumped out of the shadows at him Duke startled so bad he became a one man solar flare and half the kids had to be benched until the spots faded

[furiousgoldfish]

being around abusers:

high alert: you never know when the abuse is coming

hyper-focusing on the abuser's mood, you're only allowed to feel relief if the abuser seems to be in a good mood, distracted, or focused on somebody else

constant vigilance because they might decide to focus on you any second and you need to be ready

unable to focus on your tasks because you're tense and waiting to see if they'll want something from you, want to do something to you, or start to verbally abuse, provoke, insult, taunt, criticize or humiliate you

always aware of the physical distance between you and how much it would take them to cross it; reaction of panic if they turn your direction or show intent of approaching

quickly forced to think of an escape plan or a fight plan if they do keep approaching you because it is already an intimidation and likely to escalate in violence

anxiety if you're prompted to speak; you are not allowed to say anything positive about yourself or it will be challenged and mocked, you are usually asked to volounteer information and you will be attacked if you refuse. But if you do give info, it will be used against you.

constant effort needs to be put in controlling the amount of rage, or alternatively, helplessness you feel in their presence. You are not allowed to show any symptoms of it, or symptoms of panic

desperate use of logic and rationality in the face of senseless and cruelty of the abuse; you're trying to explain why the abuser should not say and do horrid and cruel things to you, and why you don't deserve it, only for them to do it worse and insist that they're 'saying the truth' or 'listing the imaginary reasons you do deserve it (you are not a person to them)'

attempts to defend yourself from the abuse or exploding and attacking back, only to immediately be accused of abuse and cruelty and 'lack of self control' while the abuser is not even affected by your attempts

the abuser getting anyone in the vicinity to side with them and to participate/enable the abuse, making you feel like your entire environment is hostile and dangerous, and like you are not a person to anyone

All of these can feel normal when you're used to living like that, or if you've grown up in this environment. Having to constantly defend and prove yourself and to have be hyper-focused on those around you and anxiously anticipate their every move, can feel like a normal experience if you haven't experienced any other home environment. This is not normal. If this is how you live, you are living in abuse. None of this should be inflicted at you.

[mx-nix-winks]

Fight Flight Freeze comic part 3

First Part

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Next [link comic soon]

[gallusrostromegalus]

13 for the specific artist asks?

13: artist who I admire but whose work is not my thing?

Pretty much every horror movie creative team ever. I love watching how horror is made- the practical effects , the staging and narrative choices, THE MONSTER DESIGN, how tension is built, when and how it's cut and so on. The craft in horror movies is really magnificent and I learn a lot from it- both from a written and visual art standpoint.

But I am also way, way too reactive and paranoid to watch the final product lol.

[miggsboson]

In this kitchen we~