Fight or Flight Syndrome

I’ve decided that I think I’m Carrie. I look at what’s going on around me and suddenly have a revelation about the underlying psychology behind the behavior when really it’s just an obvious pattern we all realize.

This week’s theory:

People have one of two responses to extreme stress. One is to ignore the event entirely, and the other is to immediately confront it – i.e., the fight or flight syndrome we all have when our adrenaline is rushing. And if you have a group of people experiencing the same stress, then the group will split off into those two sets of people. Finally, there ends up being a concentric circle pattern where those who “fight” end up dealing with the stress and attempting to handle it, and thus considered having the right to be there to make the decisions, and those who “fly” end up being left out and not considered to be strong enough to do the same.

Is this an extension of Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” argument? What I’ve noticed is that those who deny the issue and try to handle it on their own instead of cooperating with the “whole” end up being closed out of the circle. This occurs even in small families in dealing with a relative’s recovery. It kind of makes sense, but it also underestimates the people who run off – just because they do not have the compulsion to be at the center of the situation doesn’t mean they don’t have the ability to handle the stress. It’s just a different mindset.

Alright, I just had to get that off my chest and I should study now.