How Does Fight Flight Freeze – Anxiety Explained For Teens Work?

Your brain has a superpower called fight flight freeze that helps you when something scary happens, like being stuck on a slide and not knowing how to get down.

Imagine your brain is like a robot with three buttons: Fight, Flight, and Freeze. When something surprises or worries you, the robot hits one of those buttons.

• Fight means you go head-on with the problem, like jumping off the slide when you’re ready.
• Flight means you run away, like hiding behind a tree if the slide is too scary.
• Freeze means you just stand there, like a statue, you might not even blink!

This robot is extra busy when you have anxiety, which feels like your brain is saying, “Oh no! Something bad might happen!” It’s like having a lot of little worries in your head that make the robot press buttons randomly.

Sometimes it's fun to see what happens when you hit each button, maybe you’ll even laugh at yourself after freezing like a statue.