Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. author of Chained to the Desk in a Hybrid World: A Guide to Balance. Chances are, you’re familiar with fight, flight and freeze.

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, ...

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, ...

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 ...

When you're stuck in survival mode but your actions aren't Functional freeze is when someone goes into autopilot as a response to chronic stress and trauma. Unlike other trauma responses, someone in ...