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The fear system can reset following fear collapse in two different ways.

We can recover through a powerful fear-arousal response.

We can recover in a safe place through deep breathing and tremoring.

Both are relevant to our work in therapy.

I want to share two nature videos that vividly demonstrate the fear system in action. They illustrate the fear responses humans share with other animals, particularly the biological mechanisms that reset the fear system after a major threat.

I am using the term ‘fear system’ to cover three responses to danger or threat. The first (not illustrated in the videos) is fear alert, which is our response to danger sensed at a distance. We go very still, hold our breath, and try to locate the threat; meanwhile, our startle response is readied.

The second, once the danger is clearly perceived, is fear arousal; the sympathetic nervous system triggers a powerful, sudden physical mobilisation to escape the danger. The third response, when the danger is too close to escape, is fear collapse; the parasympathetic nervous system triggers this shutdown. It also switches a predator’s attack and opens the possibility of a last-ditch escape—and a less fearful, painful death.

Switching from Fear Collapse to Fight-or-Flight

In the first example (click here, but I recommend turning off the sound [1]), we see an antelope in fear arousal (fight-or-flight),........

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