Page 11 - MS Year in Review 2020

THE CHOICE OF FIGHT, FLIGHT OR FREEZE: A

SITUATIONAL DECISION

Many predators can only be overcome by an active defense of fighting back. For
example, when the great cats such as lions, tigers, and leopards attack a human,

their objective is food; and the human is typically engaged in a life or death battle.
Flight is not appropriate because the big cat will then see the human as prey and is
programmed to attack. The classic advice given by rangers in African game park

reserves is when you encounter a big cat is simply “Don’t Run!”

However, if a Bear attacks, it might seek to kill the human but it might also be a
defensive attack, for example, to protect young cubs. In the latter, case flight or

freeze might be an appropriate strategy.

Finally, if a deadly snake is the threat such as a Black Mamba all three of these
classic strategies might or might not work, depending upon a variety of factors such

as proximity to the snake, the availability of a weapon, or other conditions.

The bottom line is that the choice of one of classic strategies to threat depend upon
the nature of the threat and other factors. The decision typically must be made in
seconds.

THE RESPONSE TO THE COVID-19 VIRUS

The Covid 19 virus is a very different kind of predator or threat than those that
were the stimulus for the classic three defense strategies build up by humans over
the millennia. In evolutionary terms, the classic predators were either animals or

other humans. The Covid 19 virus is an invisible predator. Potentially, it lurks
everywhere, and as such is even more threatening than the classic predators.

Accordingly, the classic “defense strategies” of “Fight, Flight or Freeze” are

anachronistic and simply not appropriate in their pure form as defenses against the
Covid 19 virus. Instead, we need a different, more sophisticated type of response.

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