#fear responses

[celsius451]

Here's my big post I've been working on

[PT: Here's my big post I've been working on]

People really need to talk about the "ugly" traits anxiety more, because anxiety (yes, just anxiety on its own, nothing else involved) can have genuinely destructive manifestations and it doesn't get taked about. much in the same ways as people sanitize depression, adhd, autism, etc to erase the "gross" and unpalatable aspects

For tldr, just read the bullet points

[PT: For tldr, just read the bullet points]

"Ugly" traits of anxiety that I think need more attention:

Rigidity

and I don't mean the cutesie perfectionism type or the uwu quirky autism type either. I mean in a way that is truly compulsive. Grasping onto things (an idea, an object, a plan, a person, an action) and losing the ability to chill if it's not the way you think it needs to be. Rigidity that very much shifts into overbearing behavior. "If this isn't x then y will fall apart" pattern of thinking.

Hostility

Guess what? Humans notoriously respond to fear and threat with aggression. We have a whole neurological response dedicated to it. Anxiety can lead you to react defensively. Anxiety can make you feel rage towards people who you think are acting in a way that threatens you. Anxiety can piss you off and cause you to freak and snap for a lot of reasons. I hate that we're pretending that isn't very much a part of this aaaaa!!

Nagging and controlling tendencies

I think many people have this idea in their heads about what anxiety is "supposed to" look like. Sometimes anxiety is timid and shy, but it also commonly appears as being pushy and frantic. Sometimes anxiety is silence when you should speak up, but in many cases it's definitely also pestering those around you in order to keep the situation under control.

Argumentiveness

This is how it gets perceived by others. What it really is for the person experiencing it is doubt. We often aren't aiming to intentionally challenge what a person said, but that's still what it ends up being. People with anxiety will often challenge a person to assess reliability, to gain reassurance, to ensure every line in the thinking web has been safely examined, or as a way of trying to stress the importance of something that may be labeled as unimportant by others. If a person's anxiety gets overlooked or dismissed, it can lead to a genuine argument as they begin bargaining for (real or perceived) safety.

Dependant behavior, avoidance, learned helplessness, lack of responsibility, etc.

Anxiety can make you feel unassured and easily intimidated by everyday occurrences. This can lead to feeling as though you are not the one in control of or in charge of your life and that your actions and decisions are less effective than the actions and decisions of other people. When a person thinks this way, they may tend to over rely on those around them to act or help them act, assuming they will fail on their own. They may defer overwhelming decisions to someone else or delegate tasks in areas they feel incapable in. It's good to ask for help when you need it, but for people who struggle to heed other's boundaries and limits or refuse to try on their own anymore, they begin to hold themselves back while shifting too much onto the people around them. They also may end up discarding their own sense of responsibility in the process, which is a slippery slope towards a habit of denying wrongdoings.

End of list

[PT: End of list]

If you have any more to add, feel free.

I really wish these things were talked about more in the context of anxiety. So many people are unaware of what they're experiencing because it isn't in line with the quiet image of anxiety that's most often portrayed.

Anxiety can fuck your shit and cause you to fuck other people's shit to make your shit less fucked.

Thank you for coming to my Sped Speak (it's trademark free and totally original I swear)

[orvdiscrepancies]

Discrepancy #17

AKA the start of the morality saga

Guys. Guys we’ve done it. We got to the reason I started this damn blog.

I started this blog because I was fascinated with the way Dokja’s morals are portrayed in the novel versus the webtoon because we get a more in depth look at his psyche.

In the webtoon, Dokja thinks about stopping all of the passengers.

[ORV Webtoon, Episode 2]

Interestingly enough, Dokja doesn’t say why he has to stop them. He just acknowledges that this is the same as the novel. He doesn’t say what he’s stopping them from or why. But what I want to point out is that he says “I have to stop them.”

In the novel, Dokja decides that he can’t do anything to stop any of the passengers. The only person he can stop is Sangah.

[ORV Novel, Chapter 3]

There is no mention of even wanting to save the others. He’s just thinking about how he doesn’t want to be mixed up in this.

And you might be like, but “OP, it’s probably a translation error” or “OP, he does want to say the others but he just doesn’t say that”

To that I say, translation errors are plausible. He does say “but there was no way,” which could be interpreted as “there was no way to stop them.” But this is a blog focusing only on the English translations of both the novel and the webtoon. Any discrepancies I see are treated as if that’s the actual text that was written, not as a translation error.

As for him not saying that he wants to save the others… he explicitly says in the webtoon that he has to save them. Not just Sangah. There’s no evidence he knows anyone else on the subway. He doesn’t even know Myungoh is there yet. So he has to be talking about the rest of the passengers.

In the novel, he doesn’t even entertain the thought of trying. He immediately gives up and says there’s nothing he can do.

W!Dokja has a feeling of responsibility. He knows what is going to happen so he has a responsibility to at least try to save them. He knows there will be a massacre. He knows that only two people will survive. Already, he’s showing evidence of wanting to change the story.

N!Dokja isn’t concerned with the safety of the others. He knows what will happen. It’s inevitable to him. He’s treating this like a reader being thrown into their favorite novel because that’s exactly what is happening.

Take your favorite novel where there is an action element. I’m going to pick Batman (because I have an obsession). If I was suddenly dropped into Gotham and told to survive, I wouldn’t be thinking about becoming a vigilante and saving everyone I can. I wouldn’t think about saving Bruce’s parents or saving Jason. I would be thinking about how to get the fuck out of there.

The majority of people, when actually put in that situation, will preserve their own life over others. There are very few people that would willingly try and save others at the risk of their own life and it’s those people that are the true heroes. But the majority of the average readers? We’re going to be more like N!Dokja than W!Dokja. We are going to want to get the fuck out of there.

You can argue all you want. But it’s just a plain fact. When thrown into a life or death situation like Dokja knows this is, the majority of people will focus on keeping themselves and the people they care about alive, just like Dokja does with Sangah.

Neither of their actions are wrong. It’s just a difference in how they react.

There are three (four technically) fear responses according to psychology: Fight, flight, freeze, and technically fawn.

W!Dokja is leaning more towards a fight response. He wants to save these people. He’s willing to fight. N! Dokja is leaning more towards a flight response. He wants to get out of there.

(This is oversimplifying the fear responses. They are much more complicated than this but these are the basics.)

It’s too early to say what this means for their character, but I’m excited to see how it goes moving forward. The screenshot I have for my blog header image is actually a moment in the novel where Dokja’s personal philosophy is shown. I can’t remember exactly what chapter it happens though.

[rabbittongues]

[milliethelesbianlady]

I feel like there are 4 responses to fear

Flight, fight, freeze and actively avoid

Thanks for coming to my tedtalk

[bear-in-a-foxhole]

Some quick thoughts on heart medications and their surprising effects on emotions and anxiety.

Some of you may know I’ve had heart troubles for a decade or so now, and after my heart attack last year I was put on a bunch of medications for a variety of symptoms and issues. Two of these are Perindopril and Noten, which regulate blood pressure and attenuate the range of speeds your heart can beat. To put it another way, it’s a tough thing to suddenly discover your heart doesn’t speed up when you need to climb a hill or a bunch of stairs. Your legs for example just ‘power down’ as they don’t get blood through them at the right rate so you just end up waiting mid flight to regain the power to climb those stairs.

Today at the dentists, I discovered the same can be said of stress responses to fear and anxiety too. I’d noticed that since I’d walked in and sat down in the waiting room, my hands were trembling. Hmm, that’s odd I thought; sure, I’m here for a tooth extraction, which is scary, but I feel calm. Why are they shaking? Maybe my blood sugars were low or something, because I simply didn't have any other symptoms to cross check it with and make an educated guess as to what it was all about. 

It wasn't until I’d sat in the dentist’s chair getting stabbed with anesthesia that it suddenly struck me - it must be basic terror, but my mind isn't processing it because my heart rate hasn't changed, nor has my breathing pattern. Maybe the medication was preventing my vascular system reacting in the normal way to adrenaline? I don’t know. It’s made me wonder about all the other times when my body hasn't reacted as I expected to similar stimuli.