Your Brain On Rage--Lesson 27

THE BRAIN AND REGRESSION
The amygdala might be called the “little memory that keeps us safe” portion of the brain. In other words this almond shaped portion of the brain remembers that thirty years ago someone in a black coat screamed at you and scared you to death. Thirty years later you see a man in a black coat coming towards you and you feel two inches tall and want to run and hide even though you don’t know the person and they haven’t said a word.

When we lose it we leave the neo-cortex and head straight for the oldest part of the brain—the reptilian brain. This portion of the brain is only capable of notifying us when to eat, excrete, procreate, fight, flight or freeze—no logic, no reason, no choice—just the basic survival abilities. The reptilian brain can’t choose to express anger appropriately, it can only rage.

Here’s the key: when we regress we go into fight mode—not with clubs like our ancestors, but with hard words and even harsher silence. Or we run away, fly away, drive away and get the hell out of there. If we can’t fly or fight we freeze like the gazelle that can’t outrun or overcome the faster cheetah. We freeze in dead marriages for thirty or forty years or dead-end jobs until retirement. We wait until the danger has passed, the divorce is final or the predator finds something else to chase. All of these are regressive reactions and all are forms of rage.

Question: Have you or someone you know gone into "fight, flight or freeze" mode recently?

In Lesson 28 we will go into further detail about regression and rage.


For more information go to johnleebooks.com and read The Anger Solution: The Proven Method for Attaining Calm and Developing Healthy, Long-Lasting Relationships, Facing the Fire: Experiencing and Expressing Anger Appropriately, The Missing Peace--all available on Amazon.com.