Why You Freeze When Someone Yells, Even at Someone Else
About this video
Why do you freeze when someone yells, even if it's not directed at you? In this video, we explain the freeze response as a trauma reflex, showing how childhood exposure to loud voices wires your nervous system to perceive volume as a threat. Learn how this survival mechanism works and why it's actually your brain trying to protect you. Chapters: 00:00 The Freeze 00:14 Wired by the Past 00:30 The Scanner 00:46 Blink vs. Shutdown 00:58 Verbal abuse rewires 01:13 A Promise of Danger 01:29 The Freeze Is a Reflex 01:45 Ancient Survival Strategy 02:01 Changed Battlefield 02:17 Generalization 02:29 The Alarm Never Learned 02:45 Calibrated for the Past 02:59 Healing Through Understanding 03:13 12 Milliseconds 03:29 The Startle Reflex 03:45 The Dorsal Vagal 04:01 1 in 6 Adults 04:16 Recalibrate the Alarm 04:32 The Body Remembers 04:48 The Path to Healing Sources & further reading: ā¢ The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life ā Joseph LeDoux's seminal book on the amygdala and threat processing. ā¢ The Lifelong Effects of Early Childhood Adversity and Toxic Stress ā Shonkoff et al., 2012, Pediatrics ā key paper on ACEs and brain development. ā¢ CDC-Kaiser ACE Study ā https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/index.html ā¢ The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-regulation ā Stephen Porges, 2011 ā foundational text on the freeze response. ā¢ The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma ā Bessel van der Kolk, 2014 ā discusses how trauma is stored in the body. ā¢ The ACEs Aware Initiative ā https://www.acesaware.org/
From the video
More from The Cognition Desk
The Authority Illusion
The Ownership Illusion
Why You Can't Stop Overthinking
Endowment Effect: Why Touching Increases an Item's Value
Cognitive Dissonance Explained: Why We Justify Bad Decisions
Authority Bias and the Halo Effect: Why Smart People Fall for Scams
Smartphone Addiction: How Variable Rewards Hijack Your Brain's Dopamine System
