Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson

Managing the Freeze Response: Dissociation, Emotional Shutdown, and Creating Safety

2024-04-01

What do dissociation, avoidance, and emotional shutdown all have in common? They’re connected to the “freeze” response to stress. In one of our favorite episodes to date, Dr. Rick and Forrest explore the freeze response in detail. They talk about what stress responses are, how they impact our behavior, and why different people tend to default to different coping strategies. Forrest explains what freezing looks like in practice, and why the freeze response can be particularly difficult to navigate. Dr. Rick then shares a number of helpful...

They talk about what stress responses are, how they impact our behavior, and why different people tend to default to different coping strategies. Forrest explains what freezing looks like in practice, and why the freeze response can be particularly difficult to navigate. Dr. Rick then shares a number of helpful strategies for working with the freeze response, including strengthening self-confidence, and the feeling of ourselves as someone who can create safety. Towards the end of the episode they discuss managing these tendencies in a relationship.

You can watch this episode on YouTube.

Key Topics:

0:00: Introduction

1:15: Understanding the stress response

9:05: Asking if your stress response serves your relationships

15:25: The difficulty of perceiving your freeze response

19:05: Dissociation, and what freezing looks like in practice

23:55: Steps of moving through dissociation

30:05: Self-awareness, ‘global’ conditioning, and unconditional positive regard

38:10: Exploring new ways of being with a hypothetical case study

53:45: Seeing yourself as a source of safety

1:02:55: Recap

Forrest is now writing on Substack, check out his work there.

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