Imagine you are hiking in the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee. As you round the corner on the path, you see an adorable black-bear cub scamper across into the bushes 10 yards ahead of you. Then, from behind, you hear the unmistakable grumble and rustle that can only belong to one creature: mama bear. Here you are enjoying your hike, and you have found yourself suddenly in-between a mama bear and her little cub. How do you feel, and what will you do?
Most of us, when faced with this sort of present danger (or potential danger), will have an immediately elevated heart rate, clammy skin, escalated breathing, and might start to sweat. Then, our brain will cause us to react in one of three ways: Fight, Flight, or Freeze.
- Fight: Fists clenched and jaw tight, some of our brains prepare us to fight back as hard as we can against the threat.
- Flight: Primed and ready to run, some of our brains prepare us to flee as fast as we can from the threat.
- Freeze: Trapped and hopeless, some of our brains prepare us to endure the harm of the threat through absolute stillness and non-reaction.
Whichever response you experience, your brain is automatically doing its best to protect you from painful experiences by releasing cortisol and adrenaline into your bloodstream, which prepares your body to do what it needs to do to survive. This is an incredible, native gift that is hard-wired into our psyche. However, when overstimulated, it can cause us problems.
Consider our hiking scenario again, only let’s say we make it home alive. But, when we get home, the mama bear has beat us there and is ready to strike. The stress hits us again. Then, when we get inside our house, the mama bear has some how gotten in there before we did and is ready to strike again. More stress and more pain. Then, everyday when we get home from work or school, the mama bear is there to hurt us again, and again, and again. Do you see the metaphor?
This bear example represents a chronically abusive situation. Each time the abuse is inflicted upon a person, their brain will trigger the fight-flight-freeze response and release the survival hormones, whether or not the person being abused is actually able to escape the situation. This chronic stress is remembered by the body and brain as “trauma.”
Perhaps a less serious, but still painful situation that the bear represents would be chronic stress at work. Everyday when you get to the office, you have to face that difficult colleague or intimidating project. Even this chronic stress is remembered as trauma. The more trauma we experience, the more toxic this fight-flight-freeze hormone response becomes to our health, often times leading to higher rates of mental illness, heart disease, cancer, and other health problems later in life.
So, how do we avoid toxic stress? The two most research-supported ways are to avoid or heal your triggers, and to develop healthy coping skills. This means getting out of the abusive situation, or away from the abusive person, with help. This could mean finding a less stressful job. Or, depending on the situation’s context, it means learning how to channel your stress into healthy skills like exercise, creative outlets, and connecting with trusted loved ones or a counselor. If you or a loved one is in a chronically stressful situation right now, The Willow Center would love to help.
Written by Chase Cotten, Community Director
