I know the medical term shock isn’t accurate, but like the scene at end of captain phillips where he finally goes into “shock” or panic attack, what is happening exactly and why. It’s poor circulation but where is the blood? Is it all at vital organs only or something, or is heart just not pumping strong enough? If so, why? Isn’t it more detrimental to go into shock right now?
In: Biology
Mental shock is essentially a freeze response.
When threatened, your body wants to fight, flee, or freeze. Your pupils dilate to let in more light so you get a little nearsighted and harder to focus your vision. Your heart beats faster, digestion stops (sometimes with explosive results) you make less urine. Blood gets shunted to your large muscle groups and away from the stuff you don’t need right now, like your digestion. You breathe faster and deeper to blow off co2 in preparation for higher production, which can make you feel numb or tingly in the fingers and toes. Higher order thought, like reason and judgement, become much more difficult.
The thing is- you can’t always run away and you can’t always fight/it’s very clear you will lose. So there’s a third option- the freeze response. Your body is still doing all the things to prep for fighting but you’re just… not going anywhere.
For some folks freeze is the first impulse and for some the last but we all have the capacity to freeze. Training for crisis situations is all about how to avoid, or break, the freeze and there are several techniques taught to folks who are regularly exposed to crisis situations to help prevent this phenomenon (how people learn to be good in a pinch)
Hope that helps
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