Freeze, flight, fight, fright, faint: adaptationist perspectives on the acute stress response spectrum

CNS Spectrums
H Stefan Bracha

Abstract

This article reviews the existing evolutionary perspectives on the acute stress response habitual faintness and blood-injection-injury type-specific phobia (BIITS phobia). In this article, an alternative evolutionary perspective, based on recent advances in evolutionary psychology, is proposed. Specifically, that fear-induced faintness (eg, fainting following the sight of a syringe, blood, or following a trivial skin injury) is a distinct Homo sapiens-specific extreme-stress survival response to an inescapable threat. The article suggests that faintness evolved in response to middle paleolithic intra-group and inter-group violence (of con-specifics) rather than as a pan-mammalian defense response, as is presently assumed. Based on recent literature, freeze, flight, fight, fright, faint provides a more complete description of the human acute stress response sequence than current descriptions. Faintness, one of three primary physiological reactions involved in BIITS phobia, is extremely rare in other phobias. Since heritability estimates are higher for faintness than for fears or phobias, the author suggests that trait-faintness may be a useful complement to trait-anxiety as an endophenotype in research on the human fear circuitr...Continue Reading

References

Sep 1, 1978·Annals of Internal Medicine·G L Engel
Jan 1, 1987·Behaviour Research and Therapy·R A Kleinknecht
Jan 1, 1985·Journal of Psychosomatic Research·D G KaloupekV Khatami
Mar 1, 1969·Comprehensive Psychiatry·S AgrasD Oliveau
Jan 1, 1995·Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews·S W Porges
Dec 15, 1994·American Journal of Medical Genetics·M C NealeK S Kendler
Jan 1, 1994·Psychophysiology·G G BerntsonV T Fabro
Aug 29, 1998·Behavioural Brain Research·G G BerntsonJ T Cacioppo
Oct 30, 1998·Psychological Medicine·O J Bienvenu, W W Eaton
Nov 7, 1998·Nature Genetics·M T SeielstadL L Cavalli-Sforza
Feb 23, 1999·Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology : an International Journal of Arrhythmias and Pacing·B P Grubb, B J Karas
Apr 17, 2001·The Behavioral and Brain Sciences·A Campbell
Oct 6, 2001·International Journal of Psychophysiology : Official Journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology·S W Porges
Feb 2, 2002·Biological Psychiatry·Roger K PitmanScott P Orr
Apr 13, 2002·Biological Psychiatry·Arieh Y Shalev
May 3, 2003·Biological Psychiatry·Richard A Bryant
Jun 20, 2003·European Psychiatry : the Journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists·Louis JehelJulien Daniel Guelfi
Aug 5, 2003·Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. Revue Canadienne De Psychiatrie·Guillaume VaivaMichel Goudemand
Sep 16, 2003·Behaviour Research and Therapy·Reginald D V Nixon, Richard A Bryant
Jun 1, 1961·Circulation·D T GRAHAM
Oct 24, 2003·Biological Psychiatry·Guillaume VaivaCharles R Marmar
Dec 25, 2003·International Journal of Psychophysiology : Official Journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology·H Stefan Bracha
Jan 14, 2004·The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease·Matthew J FriedmanMarie Ashcraft
Sep 4, 2004·Psychosomatics·H Stefan BrachaAdam S Bracha

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Dec 7, 2007·Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology·Marja F I A DeplaRon de Graaf
Sep 5, 2009·Annals of Behavioral Medicine : a Publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine·Blaine DittoCrystal Holly
Sep 13, 2012·Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry·Kasia KozlowskaBlanche Savage
Dec 18, 2013·Psychosomatic Medicine·Niloofar AfariJessica Gundy Cuneo
Jun 11, 2015·Harvard Review of Psychiatry·Kasia KozlowskaPascal Carrive
Jun 22, 2017·PloS One·Margarita Mulero-PázmányZulima Tablado
Aug 18, 2017·Learning & Memory·René Garcia
Feb 24, 2018·F1000Research·Jens FreeseHelmut Lötzerich
Feb 6, 2020·Brain Sciences·Ivan VargasMichael L Perlis
Sep 26, 2020·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Aida Carballo-Fazanes The International Expert Group To Study Drowning Behaviour
Nov 8, 2008·The Spanish Journal of Psychology·Arturo BadosEugeni García-Grau
Jul 14, 2011·Journal of Behavioral Medicine·Blaine DittoCrystal D Holly
Nov 27, 2014·Tidsskrift for den Norske lægeforening : tidsskrift for praktisk medicin, ny række·Aksel TveråmoEivind Meland
Feb 11, 2015·Europace : European Pacing, Arrhythmias, and Cardiac Electrophysiology : Journal of the Working Groups on Cardiac Pacing, Arrhythmias, and Cardiac Cellular Electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology·Jean-Jacques BlancDavid G Benditt
Jan 11, 2014·Journal of Neuropsychology·Kasia KozlowskaLeanne M Williams
Mar 13, 2015·Frontiers in Psychiatry·Aidan MoranTadhg Eoghan MacIntyre
Sep 29, 2017·Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry·Kasia KozlowskaDeepak Gill
Aug 23, 2018·PloS One·Lubomír Cingl
Jul 20, 2019·Frontiers in Zoology·Luigi BaciadonnaAlan G McElligott
Mar 7, 2020·Scientific Reports·Patrick D McClanahanChristopher Fang-Yen
Jun 10, 2005·Clinical Autonomic Research : Official Journal of the Clinical Autonomic Research Society·H Stefan BrachaJennifer M Matsukawa
Apr 9, 2010·Psychophysiology·Isabel RamírezJaime Vila
Dec 18, 2013·Development and Psychopathology·Patrick T Davies, Meredith J Martin
Nov 15, 2014·Journal of Interpersonal Violence·Rachel M Venema
Oct 16, 2015·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·Zulima Tablado, Lukas Jenni
Jul 10, 2018·Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews. Cognitive Science·Samuel B Hunley, Stella F Lourenco
Sep 3, 2019·Disasters·David A Savage
Jun 30, 2019·Journal of Neuroscience Research·Braeden A TerpouRuth A Lanius
Jun 19, 2010·Nature Reviews. Neuroscience·Okihide Hikosaka
Oct 7, 2015·Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience·Caio MaximinoAnderson Manoel Herculano
Oct 16, 2016·Current Psychiatry Reports·James M ShultzAndreas Rechkemmer
Jul 25, 2019·Frontiers in Psychology·Johan BertilssonMarcus Nyström
Jun 11, 2019·Psychological Research·Marret K NoordewierLeon P Hilbert

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Anxiety Disorders

Discover the latest research on anxiety disorders including agoraphobia, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder here.