Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson Understanding the “Flight” Response: Anxiety, Avoidance, and Feeling Safe
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May 20, 2024 Exploring the flight response to stress, they delve into anxiety, avoidant behavior, and how to feel safe. They discuss the purpose of flight, building self-belief, managing anxiety, and overcoming self-sabotage. Practical tools like graduated exposure therapy are shared to navigate anxiety effectively.
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Flight Response and Fear
- The flight response is closely tied to fear and helps avoid dangerous situations.
- It evolved for acute threats but can be overactivated by modern persistent stress.
Common Avoidance Behaviors
- Identify common forms of avoidance like social withdrawal, procrastination, and denial.
- Recognize these as coping mechanisms, not personal failings, to better address anxiety.
Safety vs Comfort Preservation
- Flight response behaviors serve to preserve safety or comfort, which are distinct.
- Many fears actually protect comfort rather than true safety, requiring discernment.