I don't experience panic attacks all that often compared to a lot of other sufferers, and they're usually caused by triggers that I'm consciously aware of (which makes my anxiety feel cheaper somehow, idk). But I've never responded to anxiety with the typical "fight" or "flight" stuff, and only until way recently did I discover that "freeze" (tonic immobility?) was a legit thing.

I've noticed that I seem to physically freeze up in response to a lot of stressful situations, but the attacks I've had previously did involve feeling almost paralyzed, unable to talk or make noise, and feeling that I could stay perfectly still and perfectly quiet practically forever or until the bad thoughts/situation was over. I never feel like I'm going to die, though, except for the one time it was so bad that I wanted to die. Generally tho I just feel an overwhelming sense of "badness". And this is on top of all the other stuff, too: cold sweats, heart palpitations, migraines. When I come out of it I ache everywhere and feel dissociated.

I freeze up in a lot of situations that are stressful but not enough to trigger a panic episode. My whole body tenses up, I have a harder time speaking, I avoid eye contact. For some reason, maybe it's because of my history of abuse, I'm capable of experiencing distress like this without really... responding to it? Like I'm too good at ignoring it? I get cold sweats and heart palpitations almost daily, though...

Does anyone else experience "freeze" instead of the other two? What do the other two feel like? I honestly can't imagine what it could possibly be like to have the energy and mind to get away from a bad situation, or make it stop, rather than being forced to "wait it out" like how TI makes me respond to panic.