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The Freezing Response
- J. P. Richardson
- Nov 15, 2015
- 1 min read
At the moment of contact (or just before),
the young impala falls to the ground,
surrendering to its impending death.
Yet,
it may be uninjured.
The stone-still animal is not pretending to be dead.
It has instinctively entered an altered state of awareness shared by all mammals when death appears imminent.
I used to own rabbits that lived in a large cage outside.
At first,
when I would try to catch one of my rabbits,
it would run and dart away as fast as it could.
When I finally cornered it and there seemed to be no escape for the rabbit,
it froze,
surrendering to me.
Many indigenous peoples view this phenomenon as a surrender of the spirit of the prey to the predator,
which,
in a manner of speaking,
it is.
Physiologists call this state the ‘immobility’ or ‘freezing’ response.
As in the Greek myth of Medusa,
the human confusion that may ensue when we stare death in the face can turn us to stone.
We may literally freeze in fear,
which will result in the creation of traumatic symptoms.
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