Tonic Immobility: Fight, flight, or . . . freeze? Yes. Freeze.

This is a re-post of an article on tonic immobility and sexual assault by Dr. Rebecca Campbell from the University of Michigan.  This was found on http://www.joyfulheartfoundation.org/

Many people have heard of "fight or flight," which is a way our bodies respond to very threatening, stressful situations. It's a biological response in mammals, including humans, that involves gearing up the body to either fight back against the threat or flee from the threatening situation. When the mind recognizes a situation as very threatening to the physical well-being, emotional well-being or even the very survival of the organism, the brain triggers the body to release adrenal hormones, sometimes referred to as "stress hormones." These hormones are what give the body the energy and wherewithal to fight back or get away to safety.

But sometimes, the sudden release of high levels of stress hormones triggers an entirely different reaction: freeze. When this happens, the body can't move and won't move, arms and legs don't fight back and they don't carry the body away to safety.

Why? Why would the body freeze in a threatening situation?

Good question.

Research studies with animals have documented that sometimes the best way to protect the body is to freeze, to play dead, fighting back or fleeing would only prolong the threat and endanger the body even worse (maybe even risk death). In other words, sometimes the safest solution isn't fight-or-flight. The safest option is to freeze and so the brain and body work together?to hold the organism still until the threat has passed.

So, which one? When will the body fight? Flight? Freeze?

Researchers have not yet determined why animals or humans respond with which strategy—in which situation. What is clear is that all three are normal, biological responses to threatening encounters. Researchers have determined that these responses are autonomic, which means they happen automatically without conscious thought or decision making. In other words, we don't get to pause and think about these three different options; the brain picks one quickly and goes with it. It's not something we get to decide. It's not something we get to choose. Thinking it over?weighing the pros and cons might take too long?and that could endanger the survival of the organism, so the brain is hard-wired to make a decision and go with it.

The technical term for the "freeze response" is tonic immobility (TI).

During an episode of tonic immobility, a person enters into a temporary state of paralysis. Typically, this means that the individual can't move his/her arms, legs, hands, feet, etc. The person is frozen and may appear to be dead. Tonic immobility may last for only few moments, or for several minutes, or for much longer periods of time. During the episode, the person may be aware of what's happening to them and may also understand that he/she cannot move.

Recently, researchers discovered that some rape and sexual assault victims experience tonic immobility during the attack. Tonic Immobility can happen whether the assailant is a stranger to the victim, or whether it is someone she/he knows. Victims who experience tonic immobility during the assault freeze. They can't move, they can't fight back, they can't flee. And after the trauma, a person can have difficulty remembering specific details of the event, especially when they freeze while it's happening.

It's important to remember that tonic immobility is an autonomic response, victims don't decide to do this; it's an automatic response of the brain and body, working together to try to protect the survival of the organism.

Tonic immobility can be extremely frightening and confusing to rape and sexual assault victims. Why did I freeze? Why couldn't I move? Why couldn't I scream? Why didn't I fight back? Why was I just stuck there? It's not uncommon for victims to blame themselves for this response, often because they don't understand why they did what they did. And often, not remembering the details of how things happened can bring up feelings of shame, especially when questioned by others. Most people don't know about the "freeze response." Most people don't know that research now tells us that "fight or flight" is actually "fight, flight or freeze." The freeze response, also called called tonic immobility, has been documented in many research studies with sexual assault victims. It is very real, it is very normal, it is completely biological and it is not something victims can control. Nor is their fault.

In my career as a research psychologist, I have had an opportunity to interview many rape survivors who experienced tonic immobility during the assault. None of them ever knew why they froze and because of that, they carried within them tremendous guilt and confusion. When I've told them that what they experienced sounds like tonic immobility, and when I've described to them what tonic immobility is, they are astounded. Some survivors cry in relief, some have jumped up and hugged me, some have sat there in disbelief, asking me to explain it over and over again, just to be sure. To know that this is something normal—something that happens to many survivors and it's not their fault—is incredibly freeing and healing. It can help make one part of a terrible—traumatic crime a bit more understandable.

I have also had the opportunity to talk with police officers, detectives, nurses, doctors, and rape victim advocates about these issues. Many of these professionals are not aware of "fight-flight-or-freeze" or if they are, they don't know that research now shows that some rape and sexual assault victims experience the "freeze response" during the attack. Unfortunately, there are still too many instances where our helping professionals blame victims for tonic immobility and add to victims'shame, guilt, and self-blame. However, as legal and medical system personnel learn about Tonic Immobility, they are able to help victims understand what has happened to them and help them along their journey of healing.

Dr. Rebecca Campbell is a professor of community psychology and program evaluation at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on violence against women—specifically sexual assault and how the legal, medical, and mental systems respond to the needs of rape survivors. She is the author of Emotionally Involved: The Impact of Researching Rape (2002, Routledge), which won the 2002 Distinguished Publication Award from the Association for Women in Psychology. Dr. Campbell has been active in the anti-violence social movement since 1989 and has spent 10 years working as a volunteer rape victim advocate in hospital emergency departments.

- See more at: http://www.joyfulheartfoundation.org/blog/talking-about-tonic-immobility-tonights-svu#sthash.b3bDYmBM.dpuf

A Few Resources on Vicarious Trauma

I was going to write a new post about vicarious trauma but there is a lot of good stuff out there already so I thought I would just provide the links:

Compassion Fatigue Solutions

National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in the United Kingdom has a lot of good information on vicarious trauma in addition to information on child abuse.

And the Australian National Sexual Assault folks have a some great info on their website.

And if you want to read a good book click on the links below to reviews that have been done on this blog:

Trauma Stewardship by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky

Fried: Why You Burn Out and How to Revive by Joan Borysenko Ph. D.

If you are into social networking here is a  of Facebook group you may be interested in:

Self Care for Advocates

Remember to use your supports and to find activities to nurture you in mind, body and spirit.  I suggest finding a reason to dance!

Addiction to Trauma and the Piranha Theory

Victims who return to their abuser or who do not leave a dangerous situation are often referred to as being “addicted to their abuser” or “addicted to trauma.”  The concern with using this statement is that given the stigma connected with addiction to substances this description of a survivor of abuse can appear to be victim blaming.  The victim is seen as seeking out the abuse as a means of feeding some sort of need rather than placing the blame on the perpetrator or perpetrators who have significantly impacted the brain chemistry of the victim in a way that resembles the addiction process.

According to Bessel van der Kolk quoted in Sandra Bloom’s article Trauma Theory Abbreviated, ”one hypothesis is that people can become ‘addicted”’ to their own internal endorphins and as a result only feel calm when they are under stress while feeling fearful, irritable and hyperaroused when the stress is relieved, much like someone who is withdrawing from heroin.  This has been called ‘addiction to trauma.’”

The important distinction to make is that this “addiction” is a physiological response caused by the actions of another individual as a means of power and control.  The victim does not seek out the pain.  Instead the victim is seeking relief from the tension that builds when an atmosphere is calm.  In fact, it may be important to recognize that calm and safe surroundings can feel threatening to a trauma survivor and this creates a greater risk of returning to the abuser.

Although the addiction hypothesis explains the physiological origins of the behavior, it may also be helpful to look at what is happening emotionally and psychologically.  Admittedly, this is becoming harder to differentiate as we learn more about the brain, but it can be helpful to our understanding of victim/survivors.

The Piranha Theory - When a person grows up in an environment that is dangerous physically and/or emotionally, it results in the physiological responses noted above.  In addition, skills are learned in order to cope with the environment.  These may include the physiological response of dissociation and other responses such as lying, manipulation, running away, withdrawal and isolation, or over achieving and enhanced competence.  In other words, when a person grows up in fish bowl of piranhas a great number of responses are developed in order to stay safe in that environment.

Now imagine that a person with the skills to manage piranhas is moved to safety.  Rather than feeling safe, the person is going to be looking for the hidden piranhas.  She/he does not believe that there are no piranhas so she may feel ambivalent about giving up the behaviors that controlled the environment in the past.  The survivor may be looking for danger at every corner because that is what she is used to.  This is causing and is caused by a physiological response that is a reaction to perceived danger, real and imagined, and experienced previously. 

Being trauma responsive in our work with survivors includes providing safety and stabilization in addition to refraining from actions that could re-victimize the person.   Physiological stability cannot be achieved as long as the person is on an emotional roller coaster of stimulus and response (Bloom, 1999).   Once a person feels stable physiologically, she can then start the work of changing behaviors that correspond to the new environment.  This takes work and giving up old behaviors when there is constant fear and worry that the perpetrator is still around the corner.  Our acknowledgment of this struggle and assistance with stabilization is infinitely more productive than labeling a person with an “addiction to trauma.”