The fight-flight-freeze stress response is the biological foundation of many emotional labor presentations. Understanding it demystifies emotional labor and points toward effective interventions.
The Three Stress Responses in Emotional Labor
Fight: Anger, aggression, irritability — emotional labor channeled outward
Flight: Avoidance, escape, withdrawal — the most common emotional labor behavioral pattern
Freeze: Paralysis, numbness, shutdown — depression and dissociation-type emotional labor
How Chronic Activation Drives Emotional Labor
When the stress response activates repeatedly or doesn't turn off, it creates the chronic physiological state underlying emotional labor: elevated cortisol, dysregulated neurotransmitters, disrupted sleep.
Working With Your Stress Response in Emotional Labor
- Name it: 'My nervous system is in fight/flight/freeze right now'
- Move: Physical movement discharges the mobilization energy of fight/flight
- Breathe: Activates the off-switch for the stress response
- Connect: Safe social engagement signals to the nervous system that the threat has passed