Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

WHAT IS FIGHT OR FLIGHT?

Fight or flight physiology is the body’s natural alarm system that indicates that there may be a danger present. Unfortunately, evolution dictates, because is it better to respond to something that isn’t threatening than to not respond to something that is threatening, our brain is unable to differentiate between actual and perceived threats.

When we go into the fight or flight state a chemical is released in the brain that shuts down communication with the frontal lobes, the ‘thinking’ part, because if it is a life or death situation we just want to be able to react, not stop and think about it (this is what can cause PTSD but I’ll explain that another time). In order for our bodies to react we need to get the energy to the extremities so our heart rate increases to pump the blood out to the arms and legs in preparation to run or fight. We don’t need to waste energy digesting food, so our bodies evacuate anything in the duodenum or oesophagus, feelings of needing the toilet or a sensation that you might vomit. The oesophagus tightens which causes pressure on the windpipe and affects breathing, so we start to hyperventilate to get enough oxygen into our body. This creates an imbalance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood, which can make you feel light headed (when people panic they think they might faint, but you only faint when your blood pressure is low, which it isn’t when panicking!).

When in a life threatening situation we don’t notice this physiology as we are focussed on the threat. When the anxiety physiology is triggered by something we perceive to be threatening, such as a negative thought like ‘everyone hates me’ we notice the anxiety physiology which makes us believe that the thought must be true so do something to either escape or avoid the discomfort. However, the avoidance and escape keep the anxiety going as we never discover what we were thinking isn’t true, because we avoided situations that might risk us finding out it is true. To get rid of the anxiety in these situations we have to expose ourselves to the situations that cause the anxiety, which is how Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) can help to overcome these difficulties.