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Originally Posted by UpDownAround
It may be semantics, but if you don't get flushing I would say it isn't really fight or flight; it's anxiety that isn't as intense. After FoF, I am shaking no matter which I did. I usually chose flight. I have only had it a few times in my life when there was a threat of physical violence. The hardest one was choosing option 3 - freeze - when I had a gun in my face.
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Sorry but I disagree. Lots of my patients go into a fight or flight response without flushing. You can also get pallor.
And you're right - the response isn't just "fight or flight." It's more correct to think of it as "fight, flight, or freeze." Fight or flight is a limbic system response and freeze (think "playing dead" in some animals) is a vagus response. Freeze tends to be the most traumatic, as the brain is essentially saying "I'm as good as dead, the only hope I have is to play dead and hope I don't get eaten."