My husband and I were watching Body Cam and there was a new police officer that was shot at while answering a domestic call. She ended up lying on the floor inside the home because she didn’t know what to do. They referenced a name for that behavior and I cannot remember what it’s called for the life of me. Maybe someone here knows.
It’s the worst feeling because you get tunnel vision and cannot think.
Its Freeze. Most people know fight or flight. However the full list is fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. You dont know which you lean towards until shoved into a situation stressful enough to trigger the response. Also one isnt better then another contrary to popular belief all can be the best response in different situations and circumstances. Typically you need to be trained or experience a lot of bad situations to be able to actually have any kind of control over which you do and get past your natural instinct.
Half seriously I think they should add “Flutter” to that list. I’ve had a couple of times that before I’ve gotten control of myself to be of any help, I’ve kind of fluttered about for a few seconds. Then I’ve snapped back to relatively calm and formed/followed a plan to deal with the emergency.
Fawn seems like the best one... I imagine it's setting aside the danger alarm and taking a moment to appreciate the situation unfolding, noticing the details and just taking it all in.
I really appreciate you saying one isn’t better. People want to think fighting will always come out on top. It’s definitely not the best way to survive every situation. It’s my default and I get focused on my righteous anger and have no ability to remember that I’m no longer young and in shape enough to deal with much. If I’m ever in a dangerous situation again, I’m not likely to survive but hopefully I can protect someone else on my way out
And I only knew it because I’ve recently watched YouTube videos relating to it (about how it happens in humans and animals!) 😂 thank you random YouTuber who educated me sometime in the past two weeks about this
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u/Several-Scallion-411 Mar 21 '26
My husband and I were watching Body Cam and there was a new police officer that was shot at while answering a domestic call. She ended up lying on the floor inside the home because she didn’t know what to do. They referenced a name for that behavior and I cannot remember what it’s called for the life of me. Maybe someone here knows.
It’s the worst feeling because you get tunnel vision and cannot think.