Mindfulness-Based SEL in Action
March 2020
Note from the Editors
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Liane & Kate
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Window Of Tolerance by Roseann Bayne
Window of tolerance, first named by Dan Siegal, represents the different states of arousal and function related to stimuli and triggers. [1] Our individualized fear conditioning make the window of tolerance different for all of us. When we are in our optimal zone, we are functioning with full use of our emotional and intellectual capabilities. However, when we are hyper or hypo activated, we are out of our optimal zone and our reactions can be out of proportion to the stimulus.
Frequently when a student is experiencing a stress or threat response related to a social or emotional trigger, it is chalked up to, “fight, flight or freeze.” However, if we want to best understand and connect with students, we should not group these three responses together. While the fight and flight response cause somewhat similar biological reactions, the freeze response is in a totally different biological category.
If a student is experiencing a fight of flight response, their actions are normally very overt. It is hard not to notice when a student runs from the room, becomes aggressive or begins yelling. When this is happening, the student’s brain has assessed the threat as something that they can defeat or flee from. The result is hormone assisted strength or hormone and anxiety driven speed. Hence, these are hyperactive responses leading to fight or flight.
However, when a student is experiencing the freeze response, their reaction is not overt. In fact, the reaction is one that most educators would not necessarily pay close attention to since the student might be very quiet and compliant.
It is important to note that when a student experiences the freeze response, their brain has assessed the threat as something they cannot defeat or flee from. The brain takes a protective route that is biologically opposite from fight and flight.
Biologically, the freeze response is akin to hypoactivation, resulting in a sense of detachment, defeat, and numbness, including tonic immobility in some people. Tonic immobility is a temporary state of paralysis, often associated with extreme fear. Although not always the case, this response is extremely common in sexual assault victims.
I am not qualified to provide counseling, yet over the years many students have confided in me. Some of the conversations that are seared in my memory are those with students who blamed themselves for not fighting harder or running when they had been sexually assaulted or experienced chronic physical or emotional abuse.
It is important that we reassure all students that not fighting or running away from dramatically impactful events does not make them a coward or make them compliant in the act. Rather, students should be taught that this reaction is biologically very normal. The protective response is an “expected response by a brain that is dominated a circuitry of fear.” [2]
Although not overt, we should all look for students who may be exhibiting the freeze response. These students are much more likely to experience depression, PTSD and have feelings towards self-harm and will need us to guide them through troubling times.
(Click below to download the article with citations)
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