Is it called something when you freeze up?

Post Reply New Topic

I recently had an arguement with a family member. I got so stressed out, I froze. I was sitting on the couch and suddenly found myself unable to move, unable to speak, unable to make eye contact. I was just stuck. The other person just kept yakking at me and it's like I could barely hear them. I was just thinking, "God, go away and stop torturing me!" I was really scared about being stuck. Eventually she left and I was slowly able to return to normal. It took a few hours before I felt fully functional.

Overstimulation seems like what caused it but its not stage fright. I don't know if it has a name. Sometimes people get overstimulated and the body has to shut down. For me that happens sometimes other times a 20 hrs+ coma. I'm asleep and can't be woken up.

That might qualify as a meltdown. I don't even know if I get meltdowns. It sounds like a form of sensory overload.

like going catatonic?

That sounds like my really bad meltdowns.

I felt like that several times b4... but it had nothing to do with people arguing or wanting to tell anyone to get lost or that...

it was like I was just lying in bed and want to get up but can't and suddenly I feel... like... wierd and like in a dream state and I hear like... hundreds of voices and stuff... and when I get put into that "dreaming" state I try all my efforts to break out of it but... I can never do it...

u remember the episode of Stargate SG1: The Gamekeeper?
it is like that but... in the episode they went to a world which was like a garden and they found these machines and went into some sort of dream state or something... and so they tried to come out but couldn't because a character known as The Gamekeeper (played by Dwight Schultz (not sure of spelling)) had trapped them coz he needed "new entertainment" for the other people who were trapped...
he claimed it was not safe outside and that there was no way to sustain life on the planet surface and that there was no way out but... they eventually got out by looking for a specific door...

but in my "dreaming" state I tried the exact same thing by remembering what happened in that episode then I tried putting that into action by looking for a "doorway" of some kind and... I managed to find my way back to my true self...

so... I'm not sure if this would be of any help...
=D

I had a terrible experience once. In a tense and rundown state i had visited out of the blue someone i wanted to talk to about an important matter. The stress of saying my piece and then listening to them talk and trying to maintain eye contact caused my neck muscles to spasm and my head jerked a bit to the side. Then as i struggled in my embarrassment to regulate my panicking breathing not being sure if she had noticed oh and also my mouth expression as i was not sure what it was doing whether i was grimacing or not..so my eyes i realized had started staring into her eyes and so then i had to reel them to the side to avoid threatening eye contact and as i did this i heard a loud scraping noise, slow and drawn out over 3 seconds and at that point i was looking up and to the side staring at the ceiling and out of the periphery noticed her leap of her chair and peer over the table to find my hands had gone from my side to being clasped in front of me and kind of twisted at an angle and my fingers were white with lack of blood cos i had my fingers interwovern and my hands twisted. I instinctively looked at her looking at my hands and looked at them myself and realised that (id been stripping walls and my hands were rough) thats what caused the noise, i had defensively drawn them accross my stomach and over my jumper.

Anyway, at this point i managed a slight surprised embaressed smile and she sat back again and there we were her thinking and me stunned and mute and so god awfull embarresed i didnt know what the hell to say and my mind was blank there was just this feeling of terror and waiting for an ominous response, i could do nothing but sit and wait it out and finaly after what seemed ages she started to speak, she was very good as she continued talking about the subject prior to my "attack" and however im sure i picked up on a slight hardening off her voice and at that point i just felt a slow deep sigh inside me like an inaudible sob, in any language a sign of great distress, i was at this point not a human but a distressed animal , it was in fact a sigh as i exhaled but although not much more audible than breath shee seemed to hear or sense it and her voice became very gentle and soft as she realised i was not playing a joke. I am greatfull for that and i drifted off for a minute or two as she talked and i was drifting my eyed over the shelves and looking at dust in the air in the sunlight not making out what she was saying, i was 80% out of it when i started to hear something anoying, it was her voice it sounded like a mosquito and she was thinking i was there for a lesser reason than i was really there for so i seemed to snap back with a start and coiled my eyes on her she jumped to see me suddenly come to and ill bet that my eyes were very clear and intense at this point, i realised she was a good woman and managed to smile and then i was exhausted and my eyes lowered to the ground for a couple of minutes before she wrapped up.

all i can remember of the whole conversation was the bit i looked at her and the last bit "and thats the way it goes". I had to agree. i said "yes" weakly admitedly but i was rather proud of my managing a proper response, how cool was that then?

I used to have the odd childhood dream where
i froze

in front of many a big dinosaurs haha..

dont analyse my dream now..

maybe it was a dreamy meltdown haha..

I've only had that happen for a very short period of time. This may have more to do with my family's tradition of getting more formal as we get angrier, and leave the room if we start to really lose it, then my own innate ability.

I sort of think of it like a computer freezing. You ask a computer to do too many things at once, and it locks up.

it sounds like autistic shut down,more than meltdown-
have a look at the pdf here:
http://www.shutdownsandstressinautism.com/

I think that can happen under intense anxiety or duress. It is a fear type reaction.. Was this person really angry at you? Did you fear for your safety at some level? I think it is similar to what happens to a bunny rabbit for instance, when it is frightened.. It suddenly freezes and it's eyes get big and the adrenaline is soaring through it's bloodstream.. It is getting ready to bolt if necessary in whatever direction it should so immediately need to take when the anticipated attack occurs.. It's part of the body's fight-flight reaction... it's caught in between the 2, waiting for the next offense to determine which way to run or for it to have to fight...

Some people have "anxiety attacks" for no apparent reason, that can be from pass stresses.. Again, it's the bodies physical reaction to stress that instinctively is preparing the body for flight or fight... with adrenaline, etc.. Adrenaline is thought of as a "stress chemical"

This person must be really stressful to you... I would try and avoid them if possible...

I don't think it was a fear response. I was pretty angry and frustrated that this person was not listening to me. She kept calling me depressed and I am not. She is quite overbearing. The situation just became too much for me to deal with.