Anxiety Response Symptoms

Fear Response

Living with anxiety is exhausting. Understanding what anxiety is and how it works in the body empowers us to take back control. At its core anxiety is our body’s response to threats through Fight, Flight, or Freeze… and also Fawn. These are all automatic responses that we feel we can’t control and come with consequences we don’t want.

Anxiety’s Fight Response

“Fight” can feel like the urge to hit something or someone, but it can also be physical sensations such as increased heartrate, fast breathing, and tense muscles. It can be that antsy feeling you get when you have a dentist appointment or you know the doctor’s office is going to draw blood. It can be tightness in your face, neck, and shoulders, or that “flip-flop” of the stomach. This is the “fight” reflex in action.

Anxiety’s Flight Response

“Flight” can sometimes come in the literal form of running away. I was in a large, crowded room filled with strangers, looking for a place to sit when someone asked me to take my seat because the presentation was about to start. Even with all the coping skills at my disposal, in that moment I felt the eyes of the ushers on me and the isolation of not knowing anyone- and I walked out. The “flight” reflex can also look like calling the doctor’s office and canceling your appointment or simply deciding at the last minute that you aren’t going. It can look like bailing on plans with friends. It can look like not making plans with friends at all. Often, the decision to avoid something comes with a physical feeling of “sickness” such as headache or stomach pain.

Anxiety’s Freeze Response

“Freeze” is possibly the easiest to recognize. Sometimes a person physically freezes and can’t move, like a deer in the headlights. Other times, the “freeze” response is more mental, like that time you forgot the words to the play, speech, or song when you got in front of the crowd, or the time you couldn’t remember any answers on the test even though you studied. Often, it is emotional, like that numb feeling after a great loss.

Anxiety’s Fawn Response

Newer to the list is “Fawn.” This is when a person does whatever they’re asked out of fear (often fear of rejection) even when it causes harm to themselves… When you’re already slammed at work and a supervisor asks you to do yet another task and you agree even though you’ll probably be up all night working on it. I often think of our dachshund rolling over to expose his belly as a sign of submissiveness to the bigger German Shepherd because “fawn” is a submissive response to fear.  

Now that you know…

While these symptoms may feel uncontrolable, therapy can teach you to identify the symptoms when they’re happening and use coping skills to decrease anxiety and return to a state of calm. Contact me to schedule a therapy appointment.