Before Porges’ (2011) polyvagal theory became widely known, it was commonly thought that the autonomous nervous system has only two branches: the sympathetic system which manages in times of stress, ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Most of us know about the “fight or flight” response, the body’s built-in survival instinct. But that framework leaves out two ...

Key Takeaways Functional freeze is when someone goes into autopilot as a response to chronic stress and trauma. Unlike other trauma responses, someone in functional freeze can appear completely normal ...

Fight or flight are not the only common responses to a traumatic event. I addressed this a bit in a column published on November 22, 2022 explaining that some authors describe “4 F’s”: fight, flight, ...

Americans are dealing with a palpable sense of uncertainty about the economy. Most react to money fears in three ways: fight, flight, or freeze. Which are you? Identifying your reaction can help ...

Survivors of complex developmental trauma, or complex trauma, can have a compromised resiliency regarding coping with ambiguity associated with the unknown. The trauma can result from various forms of ...

PHILADELPHIA - "Take a deep breath" is the mantra of every anxiety-reducing advice list ever written. And for good reason. There's increasing physiological evidence connecting breathing patterns with ...