Immobility Response
The duration of the immobility response in animals is normally time-limited; they go in and they come out. The immobility response in humans does not easily resolve itself because the supercharged energy locked in the nervous system is imprisoned by the emotions of fear and terror.
The result is a vicious cycle of fear and immobility preventing the response from completing naturally. When incomplete, these responses form the symptoms of trauma. Fear greatly enhances and extends immobility. It also makes the mobilization process a fearful event.
On the physiological level, each successive experience of freezing and re-freezing is identical to the first experience, but with one important difference. With each episode of freezing, the amount of energy summoned to deal with the situation increases due to the cumulative effects.
The added energy necessitates the formation of more symptoms. The immobility response not only becomes chronic, it intensifies. As the frozen energy accumulates, so do the symptoms that are trying desperately to contain it.
In addition to its survival function and painkilling effect, the immobility response is also a key part of the nervous system’s circuit breaker. Without it, a human might not survive the intense activation of a serious inescapable situation without risking energetic overload.
The volcanic energy of trauma is bound in the coupling of fear + immobility. The key to moving through trauma is in uncoupling the immobility from the fear associated with it.
When a frightened animal comes out of immobility, it does so with an intense readiness for counterattack or in a frantic, non directed attempt to escape.
