Welcome back to our stress responses series; what they are and how they manifest in different contexts. So far, we’ve explored the different stages of the freeze response: Freeze in a survival scenario and Freeze during social threats, and in our last blog, you survived the ultimate cage fight with Michael Myers (you’ll have to go back and read that one if you are wondering how you survived). As you are starting to see, stress responses have a lot of overlap and often manifest as a cascade of physiological manifestations with the sole purpose of survival. In this blog post we will look at some relational aspects of the fight response in our daily lives. 

The fight or fight responses ebb and flow throughout our daily interactions with others and are dependent on a host of different experiences that prime our brains to react in one way or another. Remember we learned what neurological priming is in the freeze response article. These are natural human reactions to our environments and who we surround ourselves with. Knowing how to recognize them and then developing the skills to re-regulate your body will help you interact with your others in more effective and healthy ways. 

For today’s adventure, let’s put ourselves through a common situation that will help you recognize that your fight response has been triggered. It’s a beautiful morning. You have the car windows down, music turned up, and the sun is shining down. There’s not a cloud in sight—you might even have your hair combed back and your sunglasses on. On the road today you see a deadhead sticker on that Cadillac (If you caught it, go ahead and finish out the lyrics, I know it’s tempting), as you take it all in with a smile in your heart.

As you cruise along the highway suddenly you are cut off by a big black pick-up truck with some unsavory bumper stickers. I am sure that in this situation none of my readers would ever start cussing the driver out, calling them every name in the book, waving their fists, nor would you produce one very specific bird; but we all know that person who would (wink, wink).

The reaction just described is caused by a cascade of physiological responses starting with messages from the hypothalamus which sends signals down the spinal cord and out into your body.  These messages tell the adrenal glands to release large quantities of norepinephrine which results in increased alertness, arousal, and attention. It constricts blood vessels which prepares your body to respond by fighting or fleeing. During this acute stress response adrenaline and cortisol are also released into the blood stream, and this all happens about 100 times faster than it took you to read this sentence. The combination of these three powerful chemicals coursing through your veins creates a strong physical response that prepares your body for survival. Your nervous system is simply responding to a perceived threat. At the same time this is taking place, you are simultaneously losing meaningful connection to the rational part of the brain that controls impulse, ahhh, so maybe some of you do respond in this way. Pro tip: Now that you know the signs of this fight response you can take active steps to work through it! 

Step 1: Recognize the changes occurring in your body.

Step 2: Breathe into it. Deep long breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth.

Step 3: Notice the shift that takes place in your body and then breathe into that.

Step 4: Ask yourself, “What might be some reasons that this person just cut me off, other than them just being a jerk?” “Maybe they just received a phone call that their child is being rushed to the hospital.” “Maybe they are having a medical emergency.” “Maybe they just lost a loved one.” And yes, maybe they are just terrible drivers and jerks, but WE DO NOT AND CANNOT ACTUALLY KNOW THEIR SITUATION IF WE HAVENT TALKED WITH THEM. So, let’s try to avoid that fundamental attribution error.

If any of this sounds familiar it’s because it is a natural human reaction. It happens when driving and in other social situations like relationships, and you can learn healthy ways to recognize and cope with it. It takes practice and you often start by recognizing what happened after all is said and done. That’s okay. It takes time to learn how to respond to your body and no one will ever do it perfectly all of the time! 

If you’re interested to learn more about why humans are more likely to go into fight mode while behind the wheel of a car check out “What Causes Road Rage,” by Wendy L. Patrick, J.D., Ph.D.

Written by Autumn Walsh, MSW. Autumn is accepting patients at our Pittsburgh location as well as online. Contact us at 412-322-2129 to schedule an appointment.