Child Abuse: Can Child Abuse Cause Someone To Live in Freeze Mode As An Adult?

As an adult, one will most likely have the ability to take action by moving their body and to speak by using their voice. Therefore, they will have the ability to just be and to do nothing, and they will have the ability to do and to express themselves.

However, while this could be the case, there is also the chance that one won’t be able to relate to this. There could be moments when they are able to take action and to speak out, but in general, this could be something that rarely takes place.

At Statue

One is then going to have a lot of moments in their life when they don’t move or speak out, even though they have the need to do so. During moments like these, it may seem as though someone or something is in control of their being.

They won’t be in a straight jacket or have anything around their body or throat, yet it will be as though they do. When this happens, one will feel trapped and anything but empowered.

The Emotional Experience

By experiencing life in this way, there are likely to be a number of feelings that one is used to experiencing. When they are unable to move or to speak out, their mind could go blank and their body could tighten up or they could experience a lot of fear and their body could tighten up.

After this phase has passed, there will be another phase where they may feel angry and frustrated. The next phase could be a time when they feel powerless, hopeless and helpless.

A Half-Life

One way of looking at this would be to say that one will be like a car that only moves at certain times. As a result of this, the car will spend most of its existence being stationary.

So as one won’t be able to express themselves on a consistent basis, their life is unlikely to be very fulfilling. Their inability to take action or to speak their mind on a consistent basis is going to hold them back.

Out of Balance

They are not going to be someone who is able to take life by the horns, so to speak; if anything, they could come across someone who is passive and lacks a backbone. What is clear is that one is not going to have a strong connection with their masculine element.

This is the part of them that will give them the power and the energy to take action and to speak out. If anything, it will be as if this part of their being appears and then disappears whenever it wants to.

The Norm

If one was able to take a step back to look back on their life, they may find that they have been this way for as long as they can remember. Taking action and speaking out is going to be something that has typically been difficult for them.

But, regardless of how long their life has been this way for, it is unlikely that they were simply born this way. Most likely, something will have taken place that caused them to experience life in this way.
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Back In Time

If they were to reflect on what took place when they were younger, they might not be able to remember anything. Then again, they might remember that this was a time in their life that was very hard for them to handle.

When they were younger, they would have been abused and/or neglected by their caregiver/s. Instead of receiving the love, care and protection that they needed, they would have been treated very badly.

A Few Options

The time in their life when they were extremely vulnerable and needed looking after would have been a time when they were traumatised on a regular basis and left to fend for themselves. And, as they were unable to fight back or to run away, they would have only been able to do a few things.

Either they could leave their body and dissociate or they could freeze and play dead. When they froze and played dead, the idea would have been that they were no longer visible or seen as a threat and would be left alone.

The Connection

Both of these survival mechanisms would have been utilised without one needing to do anything, which is a good thing considering how overwhelmed they would have been. Many years would have passed since this stage of their life, but whenever they feel overwhelmed their whole being will end up seizing up (or they could dissociate, of course)

Now that they are an adult, responding in this way wherever they experience a lot of arousal is not going to serve them. At one point in time, this response would have kept them alive but now it will just be causing them problems.

Awareness

If one can relate to this, and they are ready to change their life, they will probably need to reach out for external support. This is something that can be provided by the assistance of a therapist or a healer.

There can be the work that they need to do on their mind, the work that they need to do on their emotional body, and the work that they need to do on their animal body. This will take time, but it will be worth it in the long-run.

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Oliver JR Cooper
http://www.oliverjrcooper.co.uk