Fight, Flight, Freeze: Analysis of Healthcare Professional Responses

This report examines the fight, flight, and freeze responses in three distinct healthcare scenarios. The first scenario involves a nurse in a behavioral hospital facing an aggressive patient, prompting a 'fight' response characterized by a commanding presence and heightened physiological reactions. The second scenario describes a hiking experience where a large lizard triggers a 'flight' response, highlighting fear and the instinct to escape. The third scenario presents a 'freeze' response during a blood sample collection, detailing the physical and emotional impact of a sudden event. Each scenario is analyzed in terms of stimulus, bioreactions, physical sensations, feelings, and the appropriateness of the reactions, supported by relevant references to understand the psychological and physiological responses to stress within healthcare contexts.

Healthcare

Table of Contents
Environment..........................................................................................................................................2
Stimulus.................................................................................................................................................2
Bio-reactions.........................................................................................................................................3
Physical sensations................................................................................................................................3
Feelings.................................................................................................................................................4
Reacting to the situation........................................................................................................................4
References.............................................................................................................................................5
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Environment
Fight: I was working as a nurse in a behavioral hospital. On that particular day, I was doing
the night shift. Around 3 a.m. in the morning, one of the patients was approaching towards
the nursing station with an angry face and clenching his fists. I was alone and the other lady
nurse was asleep. I was scared and have to act first. I cannot call anyone to help me out.
Flight: I was hiking in the woods along with my husband and son a suddenly noticed an
unusually big lizard in our area. We took some good pictures of the lizard, as the lizard was
sitting still at its place. My son was scared and was warning me not to go close to the lizard
but I teased him saying I am brave and the lizard would not cause any harm (Held &
Sadowski, 2016). As I was moving close to the lizard, suddenly, the lizard started running
towards me.
Freeze: I was in a homebound young man's house to test his PT/INR level. He was a new
patient and I have to collect his blood samples. I punctured his finger but as no blood was
coming out, I squeezed his finger and suddenly a small fountain of blood pooled in my eye.
Stimulus
Fight: My heart was beating very heavily and I was breathing first. I was feeling warm in my
chest and felt nauseated.
Flight: I got scared and panic struck. I started screaming. I started running first for my
family. I was terrified.
Freeze: I was freeze and could not move from my place. I felt that my stomach has turned
upside down. My heart was pounding hard inside. I started breathing heavily and shaking.
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Bio-reactions
Fight: I was becoming overly competitive while being anxious. I was adjusting my body
language to appear strong and stable in front of that patient. I was giving a glaring look to the
patient and had tightened my jaws.
Flight: I was adjusting my body language to protect and hide my body. I was preparing
myself to flee from that place to a safer place. I was feeling numbness in legs. I was anxious
and experiencing shallow breathing (Hoggard, 2017).
Freeze: My mind was blanking out. I was fainting and had shut down physically. I was
unable to say or speak anything. I was feeling cold, frozen and had pale skin. I was having a
sense of heaviness. I was holding my breath and my heart was pounding heavily inside.
Physical sensations
Fight: I had dry mouth and my skin looked pale. My pupils have dilated to improve my
vision. My blood pressure was shooting high. My palms were sweating. My muscles tensed
up.
Flight: I was precipitating heavily, as I was feeling stressed and wished to run away from
that place. I was experiencing dryness in the mouth. I was feeling numbness in the legs and
an urge to run away from the place. I was feeling restless, trapped and tensed (Morchain,
2017).
Freeze: I was feeling frozen, numb and had a feeling of heaviness and stiffness. My muscles
tensed up and I began to tremble. My pupils were dilated. I was breathing heavily and
shaking. I was unable to see anything clearly as that blood has blurred my vision.
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Feelings
Fight: I was feeling angry. I was having a sense of stillness and presence of no-self. I was
scary and terrified deep inside as I was alone and there is no one to help me out of the
situation.
Flight: I was trying to run away from the place as fast as possible as the lizard was running
towards us. I got really terrified by the act of the lizard. I was experiencing dry mouth
because of fear.
Freeze: I was unable to move from that particular place and was feeling stiff. I was feeling
dulling of senses. My hands shake tremendously.
Reacting to the situation
Fight: In the first situation I strongly commanded the patient to return back to his room and
he followed my command. I think I have acted appropriately in this situation as at that
particular time I had no one to help me out and could not flee away from the situation as my
shift was running. The only option left for me was to fight back to resist him (Young Diggers,
2019).
Flight: In the second situation I ran away as I was afraid of that large lizard. I had acted
appropriately as the lizard was large and we were in the woods.
Freeze: In the second situation I washed my eyes carefully and checked whether he has any
communicable disease. As he did not have one I felt relieved. Here also I have acted
appropriately if he would have any, I would have taken necessary measures.
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References
Held, C., & Sadowski, G. (2016). Thermodynamics of Bioreactions. Annual Review Of
Chemical And Biomolecular Engineering, 7(1), 395-414. doi: 10.1146/annurev-
chembioeng-080615-034704
Hoggard, E. (2017). Recognise Your Fight or Flight (or Freeze) Responses. Retrieved from
https://happiful.com/recognise-your-fight-or-flight-or-freeze-responses/
Morchain, J. (2017). Bioreactor Modeling (4th Ed.). [S.L.]: Elsevier.
Young Diggers. (2019). The fight or flight response: Our body's response to stress - Young
Diggers. Retrieved from http://www.youngdiggers.com.au/fight-or-flight
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