Dr. Janet Hranicky's Pleasure Freeze Theory featured in Alternative Medicine, The Definitive Guide

The following excerpt has been reprinted with permission from Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide (Second Edition) by Burton Goldberg.

Fight-or-flight and "Pleasure-Freeze" Responses to Stress

Virtually everyone has experienced the "fight-or-flight" response to some degree. This response is the body's natural, unconscious reaction to threats, either real or imagined. It is often characterized by an adrenaline rush, dilated pupils, and a racing heart, all conditions that equip the body to deal with whatever danger is perceived, be it from an animal, another person, a vehicle, or an imaginary threat, such as a bad dream. The body's physiological processes adapt to the emotional reaction to danger. According to Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., "It's what allows a small woman whose child has been run over to lift a two-ton truck off of that child."

Originally it was thought that the immune system played no part in the fight-or-flight mechanism, but new evidence has pointed to a different conclusion. In one study done immediately after the 1987 Los Angeles earthquake, blood was taken from 19 people 2-4 hours after the event, and then again several times over the next year. What the study found was an increase in immune cells (such as antibodies) in the bloodstream just after the earthquake. The distress the individuals were experiencing, coupled with the fear that the "big one" might be coming next, correlated directly with the increase in immune cells. While the alarm response mobilizes the body's ability to fight or get away from a threat, the immune system activation may be seen as the body preparing itself to deal with the results of such a response, such as cuts and bruises sustained while fleeing or injuries from a hostile encounter.

This response is healthy and normal in situations of extreme stress or danger. However, when it manifests too often as a reaction to everyday stresses, the cumulative result can strain the various systems of the body, including the immune system. The body can become conditioned to react in this way, sometimes with little or no impetus, particularly among people who tend to internalize their emotions. This suggests a link between the body's emotional state and its overall health. Relaxation and the "venting" of pent-up motions, negative or otherwise, have shown positive results counteracting this overactive fight-or-flight response.

While the fight-or-flight response is well-known to most medical practitioners, another type of response to stress is often ignored, according to Janet Hranicky, Ph.D., Founder and President of the American Health Institute, in Los Angeles, California. "Not only can one fight or flee in response to stress, one can also detach as a way of neutralizing danger," she says. Such detachment involves repressing or freezing of emotion, according to Dr. Hranicky, and in the long-term can result in what she terms the "pleasure-freeze" response.

"We naturally move towards pleasure (comfort) emotionally and physically unless we have learned to 'hold back' because of previous pain," Dr. Hranicky explains. "Detachment is a defense response to neutralize emotional pain, anger, and fear so as not to feel discomfort. When we use detachment on a regular basis, we get good at numbing ourselves and, emotionally, we lose our normal feedback mechanisms that would ordinarily signal us to make some changes behaviorally. Long-term freezing of, or holding back from, emotions prohibits them from being fluid. When any of our emotions become frozen, the energy they contain is not discharged from the body, which can lead to serious health consequences."