Fright: Types of Fright and What It Looks Like

Fright is a reflex reaction to possible danger. The reaction usually includes flinching, dilated pupils, freezing of the body, and, less often, urination, defecation and a sensation of cold. According to S. Freud, fright emphasizes the effect of danger when there was no readiness for fear .

FRIGHT, physiologically, is a syndrome of immediate reflexes of the nervous system in response to impressions that signal one or another danger. This syndrome shows itself most clearly in reactions to events that directly threaten the life of the individual. In terms of the mechanisms of voluntary movement, the reaction of fright is most often expressed as a drive to flee; a rarer form is "emotional stupor," freezing in place, sometimes accompanied by the development of prolonged "hysterical" paralysis. Fright produces very rich symptoms in the area of the reflexes of the autonomic nervous system, causing the heart to skip a beat, tachycardia and bradycardia, spasm of the blood vessels (pallor of the face, fainting, cooling of the extremities), rapid and uneven breathing, dry mouth (or salivation), nausea and vomiting, increased intestinal peristalsis accompanied by an urge to defecate, urges to urinate (or urinary retention), excessive sweating, and so on. Characteristic is the fact that all these phenomena, together with the very experience of fear, often develop not at the first moment of the threatening danger but with some delay, sometimes even after the danger has passed. With an excessive force of shock, or in psychopathic individuals, fright may also cause brief clouding of consciousness accompanied by automatic purposeless movements or by various kinds of impulsive acts, and sometimes may also lead to the development of more or less prolonged "reactive" psychoses.

Severe fright (shock neurosis) is a sudden, instantaneous fear caused by a serious stimulus

What does fright look like, and what are its outward signs?

a driver's fright

fright in a child

Fright and the feeling of fear

Fright is often confused with the feeling of fear. But fright is neither an emotion nor a feeling; it may be accompanied by a feeling of fear, but this is not mandatory. Besides fear, fright can also cause other emotions: panic, composure, aggression. This depends on acquired habit.

The strength of fright

Several factors influence the strength of fright:

1. the unexpectedness of what happened (the more unexpected the impact, the stronger the fright);
2. previous negative experience (if an unpleasant memory is associated with the action that causes the fright, the fright will be stronger);
3. the current emotional background (if a person is experiencing tension or agitation, the fright will be stronger);
4. repetition of the action, with the chance to see that the fright does not lead to dangerous consequences (when a harmless sudden situation is repeated many times, habituation occurs and the strength of fright decreases).

The evolution of fright

Fright is one of the most ancient reactions of animals. In the wild it is needed in order to protect oneself from danger. The more species evolved, the more complex the fright reaction became.

In mammals, 4 stages are distinguished

1. Run away.
2. Fight (if running away is not possible).
3. Freeze (if the opponent is clearly stronger).
4. Lose consciousness (if freezing did not help).

Consequences of fright

It has been proven that prolonged negative emotions (fear, stress, agitation) trigger processes in brain tissue that do not stop even after the negative influence of external factors ends. During this time, changes occur in the cells of the hippocampus that can lead to the degeneration and death of neurons.

If stuttering appears or speech is lost after a sudden fright (severe stress), it is best to consult a neurologist and a speech therapist.

But after a couple of months a person may begin to notice that:

• they start to react more sharply even to minor stimuli (worrying over trifles, being frightened by insignificant noise, etc.);
• depression may begin that seems causeless;
• they become more irritable (often snapping and quarreling with loved ones, and accordingly problems arise with colleagues, family and friends);
• memory and attention worsen, and work capacity declines;
• insomnia and loss of appetite may be troublesome;
• a feeling of constant overexertion appears;
• health deteriorates: immunity declines, the heart starts to ache, migraines torment
• increased excitability;
• sleep disturbance;
• anxiety-phobic disorders;
• loss of strength;
• exhaustion of the body;
• the emergence of chronic diseases.

• suddenly becomes restless and capricious;
• refuses to eat;
• cries;
• constantly asks to be picked up;
• sleeps anxiously;
• suffers from urinary incontinence (enuresis);
• starts to stutter.