Dr. Louis Tinnin and Linda Gantt wrote extensively in the 1990’s about the various ways the brain responds to perceived danger. Their work is called (ITR) The Instinctual Trauma Response model.
the Instinctual Trauma Response--- Seven Stages
ITR teaches us that there is a consistent pattern of response to threatening events. The pattern is common in both children and adults and consists of seven stages. Here is a brief look at each stage.
1. Startle: A quick, intense response which puts the body on high alert.
2. Thwarted intention: After the initial startle, the body releases a surge of hormones to prepare for fight or flight. When fight or flight aren’t possible, the thwarted intention response kicks in.
3. Freeze: The body enters a frozen state of numbness and immobility, at least for a moment or two, when intentions are thwarted and there is no hope of escape.
4. Altered state of consciousness: If the freeze state lasts for more than a few moments, many people enter an altered state of consciousness. Adults often describe this state as watching a movie of themselves or that they feel themselves shrink deep inside their bodies and their bodies seem to become shells.
5. Body sensations: A variety of sensations, such as pain, can experienced during different stages in the ITR model. All of the sensations are stored as non-verbal memories (in both children and adults) and are stored in the right brain. They remain there as non-verbal memories—bodily sensations that can’t be put it into words.
6.Automatic obedience: This instinctual response causes a threatened person to automatically obey a perpetrator’s demands in order to survive the immediate threat.
7. Self-repair: After the threat passes, a person tends to the emotional and physical wounds of trauma. Sleeping, eating, rocking, going to a quiet place, and washing are all forms of self-repair.