There are a number of reasons we may feel like falling down when highly emotional; here are three:
- The Mammalian Freeze Response
- Enraged Helplessness (depression)
- Physical reasons.
The Mammalian Freeze Response
Human beings have mammalian bodies – these are the bodies of prey animals. We do not come equipped with fangs and claws. Our brains, however, are the brains of super-predators because they can design predatory tools that far outweigh the power of those missing fangs and claws.
This omnivorous mixture sometimes creates a confused and conflicted human animal.
When we become intensely emotional our prey-animal mammalian bodies react like those of other prey mammals while our super-predatory brains fight this unwanted intrusion. This in-fighting delays the body in going through this natural process (it can actually delay it for a lifetime).
Most people have heard of the fight-or-flight response, but there is a third response mammals have – the Mammalian Freeze Response. Also called the Disassociation Response. When a mammal is being captured by its natural predator it has the ability to ‘play dead’. This is not a consciously controlled decision – it is an automatic function of mammalian biology.
It simply lays down and becomes still.
It is also called the Disassociation Response because the brain of the mammal temporarily disconnects from the body in order to reduce pain when being eaten.
If the mammal is not eaten there and then, and the predator wanders off, a short period of time passes before the mammal gets up; shakes itself off and leaves the scene.
When people experience intense emotional responses, particularly if they are anxious, their mammalian bodies sometimes react as if being ‘eaten alive’ and go through the play dead process.
At best they may want to lie down to allow the emotional response to pass through them. At ‘worst’ they may feel as if six pairs of hands are dragging them to the floor against their will – their body feels heavier and heavier and the muscles become harder and harder to move.
Another common symptom is when they look at their hands they appear to be disconnected from their body (hence the ‘disassociation’ part).
This is not a dangerous state to be in unless it happens regularly – but it is alarming when it happens for the first time. I suggest you speak to a doctor just to make sure that is what it is. Their reassurance alone is sometimes enough to help this state pass.
Enraged Helplessness
Sometimes people experience environments they have no immediate control over and feel suppressed and ‘crushed’ in them but for some personal reason are compelled to remain in those environments. Or they lose an environment (eg a loving relationship) they felt they needed in order to be happy and the environment is taken away from them.
They become sensitised to the situation and extremely emotional and enraged at life. There may be a specific target or cause, but basically it is ‘at life’. They feel a desperate urge to get back something lost (rage) alongside a state of not being able to get the lost thing back (helplessness).
When children do this we call it a tantrum; when adults do this we call it dangerous, unacceptable and attention seeking ‘drama queen/king’ behaviour. This response is very strong – so strong people sometimes attempt suicide to demonstrate how strong it is for them.
The person feels they are repeatedly hitting a brick wall in an important area of their life and may demonstrate this publicly by throwing themselves at the floor – they may do this publicly because they feel others hold the solution to their problem.
If you feel ‘enraged helplessness’ you may act in this desperate way. You could eventually have to accept that in the particular situation concerned you are in fact both helpless and enraged.
You may now need to take steps to get the emotional reaction out in a safe, non-public way while at the same time negotiating a different route towards getting the things you value so much (but it may have to be a different goal if the initial goal is unobtainable).
Again, this is perfectly normal behaviour – but if you do not want to listen to the opinions of others you need to take the inner turmoil to a professional counsellor trained in helping with this kind of thing.
It is a painful condition to deal with and heal but it can be done and the process can be accepted and cleared.
Physical Reasons
Physical illness can be masked by emotional issues.
Feeling faint can be caused by things like low blood pressure or having the flu or a lack of sleep. Quite often with anxiety problems we get palpitations in our chest and panic as a result can lead to a feeling of light-headedness.
You may feel like doubling up and laying down with stomach cramps (prolonged anxiety can cause a change in stomach acid balance and lead to digestive problems).
Intense emotional states can make us feel like we are a bit of a hypochondriac and this fear of being labelled as such can cause us not to seek medical advice. Do not do this – there may be a genuine physical problem developing.
Get it checked out and you will stop worrying about it.
Overall Solutions
When we feel intensely emotional we need to acknowledge the urge to fall down as a normal human condition – undesirable to our ego, but normal.
We should not ignore these signals – something is going on with us. We need to get help to find out what the cause is. A physical illness, such as a thyroid problem, can be masked when we just label it ‘emotional’.
Do not be too concerned about the opinions of others when going through this kind of thing unless their opinion is supportive. I have found those who are negatively critical of others going through this experience tend to follow a similar path when they go through similar situations. It is a case of ‘there but for the grace of God go I’.
Humans are built in a certain way and there is no way of getting round this. The urge to fall down every now and again comes with the package.
Regards - Carl
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