How do you react to fear?

[SithLord]

Or in an emergency, or when panicing, etc. Do you scream? Freeze? I've heard some people will react violently. 

 

This was encouraged by this thread: 

since I was curious about people's reactions. And I mean initial reactions, like the instant something scary happens, what do you do? 

 

I go quiet and freeze up. I will literally stand somewhere stone still while my brain tries to calculate what the danger is and how to respond. During the couple panic attacks I've had, I've just hyperventalated and that was it so nothing extreme or anything. I'm definitely the deer-in-headlights person. 

[ColeHW34]

I have a psychogenic fever, sweat, freeze up, instantly go silent, and oddly enough drool.

If your wondering what a psychogenic fever is, it's when your body rises your temperature out of stress, anxiety, or fear.

[SithLord]

7 minutes ago, ColeHW34 said:

I have a psychogenic fever, sweat, freeze up, instantly go silent, and oddly enough drool.

If your wondering what a psychogenic fever is, it's when your body rises your temperature out of stress, anxiety, or fear.

That's really interesting. I wonder how common that is. Also what would be the reason for your body to react in such a way? What benefit would it give you to react that way? Or is it a result of something else that is caused by the fear? 

Not really expecting you to answer, just curious. 

[ColeHW34]

14 hours ago, SithEmpress said:

That's really interesting. I wonder how common that is. Also what would be the reason for your body to react in such a way? What benefit would it give you to react that way? Or is it a result of something else that is caused by the fear? 

Not really expecting you to answer, just curious. 

It's not too common from what I heard.

Basically no one is quite sure of how it happens in either fight or flight mode or anxiety.

Then when I start "crashing" once the fever stops I get cold and can have mottled skin ( a lace like pattern from constriction or blockage of capillaries from cold, inflammation, or blood clots)

 

Some variant of sensitivity to hormone changes or a vasomotor instability one could call it.

[Guest]

I have PTSD, i go quiet and freeze up when I sense danger.

[Guest]

I basically answered everything yes because of situation wise. If I am stuck in a small space I panic, If Im on something high I freeze. If I am in an unsafe area I stay cool and calm and plan multiple ways I can get attention or get out of there.

If I think someone is in the garden I go quiet, If there is a spider on me I jump and scream. 

 

I react differently to things but I mainly try and stay quiet.

[RoseGoesToYale]

I rarely scream, I've learned to suppress that pretty good. I usually just inhale sharply, stop moving for a second and then calm down.

 

But that's for sudden scares. If something frightening is going to happen and I know about it, that's when I go "Ok, let's fight this son of a biscuit!"

[weird elf]

I'm usually the one who keeps their head on. The belated reaction usually hits me from behind just as everyone else is getting over it, sometimes a couple days after the fact.

[Grumpy Alien]

I freeze and go silent. I don’t know if I’m calm or rational because the only times I can think of being scared were related to PTSD so that’s probably very different. I’m not easily scared.

[LeChat]

...Kinda concerned that all these discussions about how others react in frightening situations might just cause some to feel ashamed or lonely, comparing their own reactions and responses to others'; it's partly why some people who've been abused, particularly those who grew up abused as children, choose not to disclose what they went through with others, for fear of others' judgement/criticism.

 

Some in society already have this view of "expressing emotions is bad, a weak, feminine thing; it's not manly to do" and try to pressure others to not express their own feelings, their hurt.

 

There's a big difference in situations, between someone, say, for example, as an adult, opening a door and being surprised and shocked by seeing someone or a spider right in front of them versus, say, a small child who's being beaten up by bigger adults, being subjected to a lot of physical pain, where fighting back doesn't work because it just causes their abuser to become even more angry and to hurt them even more.

[Strange-quark]

Sudden things: I wouldn't say I scream, but I do kinda yell, or splurt out nonsense words. Also jump, I'm very jumpy 😅.

Slower fear: My thoughts get all messed up, I start to shake and observe my surroundings very intently.

[daveb]

It depends on the cause of the fear.

[Abigail Rose]

1 hour ago, LeChat said:

...Kinda concerned that all these discussions about how others react in frightening situations might just cause some to feel ashamed or lonely, comparing their own reactions and responses to others'; it's partly why some people who've been abused, particularly those who grew up abused as children, choose not to disclose what they went through with others, for fear of others' judgement/criticism.

 

Some in society already have this view of "expressing emotions is bad, a weak, feminine thing; it's not manly to do" and try to pressure others to not express their own feelings, their hurt.

 

There's a big difference in situations, between someone, say, for example, as an adult, opening a door and being surprised and shocked by seeing someone or a spider right in front of them versus, say, a small child who's being beaten up by bigger adults, being subjected to a lot of physical pain, where fighting back doesn't work because it just causes their abuser to become even more angry and to hurt them even more.

Your right to have this concern. I am caught in a place of fear and purposely isolate. I'm only just recently attempting to reach out and feel everyone will judge my life or avoid me. Its so hard to have the knowledge on how to deal with this safely. I hope most of all to have peace. I can say I have only chosen people that seemed able to handle that but I'm pretty sure I've been wrong about most. Not because they are incapable but due to my inability to go slowly. I hold no grudges myself. When people tell me I am toxic I just stop trying. 

[iff]

I'd either scream, go quiet, or freeze up

[Gloomy]

It depends. I scream when spiders come out of nowhere and I screamed when I spun out across the highway. In other circumstances I’ll go quiet and/or freeze. In a fight or flight situation I’d like to think I’ll choose fight if flight isn’t an option. If I’m just scared or having anxiety but I’m not in any real danger (for example if I’m getting anxiety while I’m driving or if I’m in the dark and feeling a little spooked) then I try to stay calm and rational.

[ColeHW34]

@SithEmpress Did that answer your question?

[Morgenrot]

I mostly just start to hyperventilate (dogs/heights/claustrophobia). Sometimes shock sets in afterwards (after falling down from somewhere high) or I'll get a panic attack (claustrophobia), but in general I'm able to just carry on, whilst feeling as if my heart will jump outta my chest.

 

Might just be because everyone's always depending on me to stay calm, tho *shrugs*

[Anthracite_Impreza]

6 hours ago, LeChat said:

...Kinda concerned that all these discussions about how others react in frightening situations might just cause some to feel ashamed or lonely, comparing their own reactions and responses to others'; it's partly why some people who've been abused, particularly those who grew up abused as children, choose not to disclose what they went through with others, for fear of others' judgement/criticism.

I was abused and I don't see why anyone here would judge anyone for their fear reaction? I probably freeze because I was abused by adults and couldn't fight back; I'm not ashamed of that and no one else needs to be either. I can also lash out in some situations, though not as much as when I was younger, also cos of abuse. If I hit someone back they were less likely to do it again, which meant one less source of pain.

 

Nowadays I only really lash out if someone physically touches me and I'm not expecting it, it hurts or they keep doing it. Most of the time I freeze for both physical threats and social/societal/non-physical threats (which makes it worse, cos I never get owt done).

[Karst]

I tend to go into full adrenaline-rush mode.  This isn't always helpful for a given situation, though.

[Zebrafinch]

Run/ retreat is definitely a missing option. Probably my most common reaction.

Spoiler

Accident. Don't know to get rid of it

How I react depends on the situation: knocked over by a wave on a boxing Day swim and paralysed by the cold, flail around and call for help. 

Chased by an annoyed/ boisterous ram, run and put a fence between us or wrestle him to the ground.

[SithLord]

2 hours ago, ColeHW34 said:

@SithEmpress Did that answer your question?

Yes, yes it did. Thank you.

[Tree snake]

 

Depends on the situation.

Extreme fear, shit's going down now; I'm rational and reactive, I run towards it to help the injured and those who have frozen. I'm the kind of person who'd run into a burning building. I know first aid and CPR.

 

Prolonged fear, a threatening situation, this is bad, someone might hurt me if I stay here, something bad is about to happen; I'm calm, quiet and composed. I take charge and my objective is to get myself and those I care about safely away. If I deem it reasonably possible I can attempt to defuse the situation.   

 

All in all, I’m pretty good to have on hand when shit goes down.

[SithLord]

1 hour ago, Zebrafinch said:

Run/ retreat is definitely a missing option. Probably my most common reaction.

I left it out because I didn't think of it as an immediate reaction. I've never come across someone who's initial reaction would be to run/retreat. Except for the normal reaction of something suddenly appearing in front of your face and you of course back up to get away from it, I saw running/retreat as a considered reaction rather than an initial one. It goes to show how limited my experiences have been that I didn't consider it. 

[Skycaptain]

Sometimes freeze, sometimes lash out, maybe run away 

[Janus the Fox]

No reaction and keep calm these days, though before fear would bring in uncomfortable physical panic symptoms.

[everywhere and nowhere]

On 2/17/2020 at 11:59 PM, Zebrafinch said:

Run/ retreat is definitely a missing option. Probably my most common reaction.

Fortunately, I have been able to avoid truly difficult situations. But I simply can't run. I'm extremely slow and after just about 200 meters my lungs just hurt... Not everyone is healthy and fit. I have always been fit enough to not qualify as a person with disability and to be able to live alone full-time - but also have always been unfit enough to be visibly much less fit than the vast majority of people of the same age. I first noticed it when I was three years old: I couldn't run, couldn't climb a tree, couldn't do somersets, couldn't even bend to touch the ground with knees remaining straight...

Despite this, I'm not a person to react quietly to fear. But running away could be pretty hopeless given my level of health.

[TheCatBehind]

I don't scream. I go quiet. I usually don't freeze up. I don't become aggressive, but will stand my ground physically if needed. I wouldn't say I stay calm and rational as much as in the moment and thinking of any actions I can take and any options I have.

 

Don't get to test my reactions very often, fortunately, but what I know for sure are literally these 5, plus audio cues get kind of lost on me for a couple of moments during intense situations/panic.

[WanderingKate]

Depending on the type of fear (is it fun scary like a roller coaster? Or actually terrifying) ...it really does depend on the situation for me. In some situations I'll scream, but I'd say the majority of the time I just freeze up and go silent. I very rarely fight back, I'm more of a run-and-hider than a fighter :D 

 

[Firefly8]

Normally I'm very rational and quiet, but one time I was in a situation were I was socially nervous going to a haunted house. Instead of screaming or acting scared I just laughed at everything. I did feel a bit awkward/nervous (in a "I really hope no one touches me" way), but I guess the haunted house was funny in a ridiculous kind of way. One of the actors even said to me "you aren't supposed to laugh!", to which I laughed. 🤣🤷‍♀️

[SithAzathoth WinterDragon]

I don't get fearful or frightened easily, someone can try threatening me with a weapon and I'll remain calm. 

I just get more vigilant in the situation and prepare for whatever may happen next.