upworthy

feelings

Health

8 signs you're experiencing  'Functional Freeze,' the hidden trauma response affecting productivity

You're not lazy, just stuck.

Photo credit: Canva

You're not alone in this.

Have you ever found yourself at your desk, ticking off tasks like a robot, feeling as if you're observing your life from the outside? Or perhaps you've spent late nights binge-watching episodes of Big Brother while fully aware that you should be sleeping, yet unable to stop?

That might not be laziness or lack of motivation. You could be experiencing something called a “functional freeze,” a state that’s more common than you might realize. You're not alone in this.


woman, sad, stuck, emotional, overwhelmed Woman looks down, dejected. Photo credit: Canva

People describe the experience of a functional freeze as “running on autopilot while simultaneously drowning.” It’s a sophisticated psychological state where individuals maintain outward functionality while experiencing profound internal emotional disconnection. On the outside, you’re getting things done—showing up to work on time, paying bills, hitting the gym—but on the inside, it’s a complete physiological and emotional shutdown, leaving you disconnected from everything. Effectively, you are functional yet frozen.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re just going through the motions of life without actually living it, keep reading. This article might change how you view what’s going on in your brain and body.

What is a functional freeze, anyway?

This phenomenon occurs when the nervous system becomes overwhelmed by chronic stress, trauma, or persistent demands, such as a demanding job, caretaking responsibilities, or financial pressures, which triggers the dorsal vagal complex: a primitive survival mechanism that induces emotional and psychological shutdown.

Think of it like your phone when it’s at 2% battery. Yes, everything technically works, but it’s sluggish, apps keep crashing, and you’re just trying to make it through until you can reach a charger. That’s your brain on functional freeze.


via GIPHY

The science behind it is fascinating and slightly terrifying. When you’re constantly stressed or overwhelmed, your sympathetic nervous system—the part of your nervous system that controls your body's 'fight-or-flight' responses—gets stuck in the “on” position.

It’s like your nervous system is playing dead, which worked great for our ancestors avoiding sabertoothed tigers, but isn’t so helpful when you’re trying to navigate modern life.

Being in this state is more than just feeling “blah” or being in a cranky mood. Functional freeze is a legitimate neurobiological response to chronic stress, and it can last for weeks, months, or even years if left unchecked.

The tricky part is that because you’re still functioning—still showing up, still getting things done—it often goes unrecognized by both you and the people around you.

8 key signs of functional freeze

You feel emotionally numb

The hallmark sign of functional freeze involves severely diminished emotional responses… all the time. You know how some people describe depression as feeling sad constantly? (Crying, can’t get out of bed, etc.) Functional freeze is more like feeling nothing at all.


woman, sad, stuck, emotional, overwhelmed Functional freeze divorces you from emotion. Photo credit: Canva

Your best friend gets engaged, and you’re genuinely happy for her, but the emotion feels like it was auto-generated, instead of something you feel in your body. You get a parking ticket (which would normally outrage you, but this time, it’s just a shrug of the shoulders. Good things happen, bad things happen, and your emotional response is nowhere to be seen.

Feeling like this isn’t stoicism or being emotionally mature. Your feelings are locked away, stashed in a safe where you can’t access them.

Your body feels like it belongs to someone else

In a functional freeze, you become disconnected from your physical self. You might ignore hunger cues, forget to drink water, or not notice that your shoulders have been practically touching your ears from stress.

People describe it as sensations of “floating outside themselves” or feeling like they’re “watching their life happen from a distance”. It’s not quite dissociation, but you don’t feel present in your skin.

Autopilot mode

When you're a functional freeze, even simple decisions feel overwhelming. You might find yourself doing the same things over and over—same lunch, same songs to listen to, same Netflix show on repeat—not because you love these things, but because choosing feels impossible. Your struggle with decision-making is real and valid.


woman, sad, stuck, emotional, overwhelmed Are your days starting to blur together?Photo credit: Canva

Your days start to blur together because you’re not present for any of them. You’re going through the motions, but there’s no real intentionality behind your actions.

Persistent procrastination and decision paralysis

Here’s where functional freeze gets cruel: you can handle the basics (mostly), but anything beyond survival seems insurmountable. That creative project you’ve been so excited about? The closet that needs organizing? Your friend’s birthday is inching closer and closer, and you've yet to buy a gift. They all feel like climbing Mount Everest in flip-flops.

Your brain doesn’t have the bandwidth for non-essential tasks because it’s using all its energy to keep you upright and moving.

People are exhausting, even the ones you love

Social interactions start to feel performative, like you’re playing yourself in a movie about your life. Your brain reminds you that you love your friends, but hanging out with them feels like an unavoidable obligation. You find yourself canceling plans—not because you’re busy, but because the thought of having to be “on” already exhausts you.


masks, sad, stuck, emotional, overwhelmed People experiencing a functional freeze might feel like they're wearing a mask in social interactions. Photo credit: Canva

Functional freeze often drives individuals toward increasing social isolation, not from depression or anxiety, but from a fundamental disconnection from interpersonal experiences. Being alone starts to feel genuinely easier than trying to connect with others.

Your brain is moving through molasses

You know that feeling when you first wake up and your thoughts are all foggy? In a functional freeze, that’s pretty much your entire day. Everyday tasks take longer, information needs repetition, and mental sharpness feels sluggish and dull.


via GIPHY

Mental fog of this magnitude can be especially frustrating if you’re used to being on top of your game. You’re still competent, but everything requires more effort than it should.

You’re tired in your bones

This isn’t a “Oops, I stayed up watching Can Me If You Can too late last night,” tired. It’s a “I could sleep for 12 hours and still wake up exhausted” tired. Rest alone won’t alleviate this level of fatigue because your system is stuck in survival mode.

It’s a profound, persistent energy depletion that rest doesn’t resolve, often accompanied by a sense of being “wired but tired,” like your body is buzzing with anxious energy while simultaneously feeling like you could collapse at any moment.

Numbing behaviors feel like salvation

When everything feels too much, it’s natural to reach for things that help you check out. You might be mindlessly scrolling social media for hours, binging shows you’re not even interested in, or pouring that third glass of wine to feel something (or block out the nothingness).

These aren’t necessarily unhealthy behaviors in moderation, but in functional freeze, they become compulsive ways to avoid dealing with the disconnection you’re feeling.


woman, sad, stuck, emotional, overwhelmed Woman feeling checked out. Photo credit: Canva

The good news: You can get unstuck

Let’s be clear: if you recognized yourself in the descriptions above, you are not broken, lazy, or weak. Functional freeze is your nervous system trying to protect you. It’s just doing a lousy job of it at this point.

Recovery isn’t about powering through or forcing yourself to feel better. It’s about gently coaxing your nervous system back online. Here’s how to start:

  1. Start with the breath. Your breath is the fastest way to communicate with your nervous system, and it’s one of the few things you can control when everything else feels chaotic. Try the 4-7-8 technique: breathe in for four counts, hold for seven, exhale for eight.
  2. Get back in your body. When you’re stuck in functional freeze, gentle movement can help reconnect you with your physical self. Try stretching, gentle yoga, or even just shaking your body like you’re a dog getting out of water (shaking helps discharge stored stress energy. Animals do it naturally after escaping predators.)
  3. Make tiny decisions. Since decision-making feels overwhelming in a functional freeze, start embarrassingly small. Choose between two of your favorite snacks. Pick which song to listen to. Decide whether to wear the blue shirt or the black one. These micro-decisions help rebuild your executive functioning without overwhelming your already taxed system.
  4. Create anchors in the day. When everything feels blurry and autopilot-y, small rituals can help you feel more present. Maybe it’s consciously tasting your morning coffee instead of chugging it. (Is that a note of hazelnut, you detect?) Or stepping outside for five minutes after lunch and breathing in the fresh air, no screens allowed. These aren’t life-changing habits—they’re just little moments where you pause and notice you exist.
  5. Find professional help. Look for practitioners who understand trauma-informed care, somatic experiencing, or polyvagal theory. These approaches work with your nervous system rather than just trying to think your way out of the problem. EMDR, somatic experiencing, and trauma-sensitive yoga can be beneficial because they address the physiological aspects of being stuck, not just the mental ones.

woman, smiling, therapy, connection, feelings Remember, you are not alone. Photo credit: Canva

You’re not alone

If you’re struggling with functional freeze, remember that you are not alone. In our hyperconnected, always-on world, functional freeze has become nearly epidemic. We’re all trying to fit into an overstimulated society that isn’t designed for the human nervous system.

The fact that you’re reading this, that you’re looking for answers and ways to feel more alive in your own life—that’s already a step toward unfreezing. Your awareness is the beginning of change.

Your feelings are still there, waiting for you to come back to them. And when you’re ready, they’ll be there to welcome you home.

From Your Site Articles
mental health
HealthMental Health
Education

Teacher 'ready to quit' after being forced to deal with 'every feeling' her students have

“Maybe I'm getting too old for this modern bubble wrapping of kids emotions."

via Canva/Photos

A teacher can't handle another minute of dealing with her classroom.

In post-pandemic America, a majority of teachers believe that education is heading in the wrong direction. Among their greatest concerns are children's dependence on smartphones, a growing sense of entitlement among students and parents, low pay, and growing mental health behavioral problems among students.

These problems have made many teachers consider new professions. A 2023 poll of 1,200 teachers found that 40% of public school teachers have either seriously considered leaving the profession or are planning to do so by the end of the year. Nearly all said they understand why other teachers have quit.

A veteran teacher recently admitted she was ready to quit her job at a private high school. The problem is that the school has ceded power to its counselors, who have made their students’ feelings the top priority. This makes the classroom nearly impossible to manage.

teachers, teachers quit, educationA stressed math teacher.via Canva/Photos

“The counselors believe every student's feeling needs to be acknowledged,” the teacher wrote. “If a student is talking while the teacher is talking and a teacher tells them to stop they complain to their counselor that their teacher is picking on them. The counselor acknowledges their feelings as ‘real’ and repeatedly tells them their feelings are ok. That feelings are never wrong to have.”

“These kids are high school age and are smart enough to weaponize this power. They've already made me cry once this year and I had another teacher come to my room crying,” the teacher continued. “I'm thinking about quitting either soon or in December. Is this a new trend in education? I know kids and parents have changed, but I've never worked at a school where the counselors make it so much worse.”

“Maybe I'm getting too old for this modern bubble wrapping of kids emotions at the expense of others around them,” she concluded her post on Reddit’s Teacher’s forum.

The school counselors appear to be pushing an idea recently popular in psychology circles: feelings should always be honored and never questioned. Michael Karson, Ph.D., refers to this as the "Tyranny of Emotion" in Psychology Today. "Privileging emotion is like privileging one’s own hunger or lust, an essentially narcissistic approach to gratification that leaves others at the mercy of one’s whims. Instead of demanding compliance with our feelings, we ought to be learning how to manage them," he writes.

teachers, teachers quit, educationA super stressed teacher.via Canva/Photos

The teacher’s story rallied a lot of support for her, with fellow educators chiming in to explain the phenomenon she’s experiencing and share examples of how they’re handling it.

One of the teachers believes that the overwhelming focus on feelings will lead to real problems for students as they age.

"I really resent that teaching has been conflated with therapy. We are not trained to nurture the emotions of 30 children simultaneously, while also teaching them. I couldn't do it. I don't do it. … It sounds like instead of just 'acknowledging' feelings, there is some entitlement attached to having a feeling. That students and the councelling department have run with the idea that feelings are facts and need constant accommodation. It's not a helpful practice to amplify teenagers negative emotions and put them on a pedestal, to the point where they are aware of how to manipulate adults. Students need support... with professionals and family.

The repercussions of this bubble zone will manifest in negative ways throughout adulthood. Students will become entitled, defensive, righteous, self-involved, disappointed when faced with challenges where their feelings aren't valued.

Another teacher noted that the over-emphasis on feelings neglects other important parts of social-emotional learning (SEL).

"Uh no. SEL has 5 core competencies. The first is self-awareness. Yes, the students should have feelings and feelings are important. The second competency is self-management. Now that we've identified this feeling, how can we self-regulate so we can still be productive in class? It seems your counseling department only got 20% of the training on SEL? Lol."

Another commenter helped make sense of the situation by suggesting a practical way forward for the teacher.

“I would ask and email your admin about it. Tell them your situation and how its affecting instruction. If they have your back, there you go. If they don't, I'd quit.”

From Your Site Articles
teachers
EducationTeachers
Health

Feeling angry? Venting won't make you feel better, but this will.

Researchers are changing what we all thought about anger.

via Pexels

An angry young woman.

When most people get angry they feel the only cure for the intense emotion is to blow off some steam. That could mean venting by yelling and screaming at the source of their anger, speeding down the freeway or punching a wall.

However, new research shows that this type of destructive behavior only intensifies the feeling.

“I think it’s really important to bust the myth that if you’re angry you should blow off steam – get it off your chest,” said senior author Brad Bushman, professor of communication at The Ohio State University. “Venting anger might sound like a good idea, but there’s not a shred of scientific evidence to support catharsis theory.”

Catharsis theory is the idea that by venting one’s anger people will eventually arrive at a relaxed, anger-free state.

To determine if venting is effective at reducing anger and, if not, find effective ways for people to reduce their rage, researchers at The Ohio State University analyzed 154 studies on anger. The meta-analysis found little evidence that venting helps and that in many cases, it increases people’s arousal levels and makes the episode last longer.

So, the guy who screams in his car after someone cuts him off in traffic is essentially only harming himself by intensifying his state of hyperarousal. Or the woman who wants to give the waiter a “piece of her mind” after waiting too long for the check should realize that she’s only making herself more upset.

“To reduce anger, it is better to engage in activities that decrease arousal levels,” Bushman said. “Despite what popular wisdom may suggest, even going for a run is not an effective strategy because it increases arousal levels and ends up being counterproductive.”

“I wanted to debunk the whole theory of expressing anger as a way of coping with it,” study's first author Sophie Kjærvik said. “We wanted to show that reducing arousal, and actually the physiological aspect of it, is really important.”

The researchers found that arousal-decreasing activities are effective at lowering anger included deep breathing, relaxation, mindfulness, meditation, slow flow yoga, progressive muscle relaxation, diaphragmic breathing and taking a timeout.

“It was really interesting to see that progressive muscle relaxation and just relaxation in general might be as effective as approaches such as mindfulness and meditation," Kjærvik continued. “And yoga, which can be more arousing than meditation and mindfulness, is still a way of calming and focusing on your breath that has the similar effect in reducing anger.

The study found that if you’re angry, some forms of physical activity can be helpful while others may prolong the episode. Jogging was found to intensify feelings of anger; however, physical education classes and games involving a ball were found to decrease it. Feelings have two componments, physical and mental, so it’s believed that physical activity with a sense of play involved, may increase positive emotions and diminish feelings of anger.

“Certain physical activities that increase arousal may be good for your heart, but they’re definitely not the best way to reduce anger,” Bushman said. “It’s really a battle because angry people want to vent, but our research shows that any good feeling we get from venting actually reinforces aggression.”

From Your Site Articles
psychology
HealthMental Health
Health

What's the adult version of being picked last in gym? 15 ways adults feel rejected, too.

Unfortunately, the feeling of being left out doesn't end in childhood.

via Ethan Sykes/Unsplash

A man looks out the window, feeling rejected.

Few things in life can make you feel lower than standing in front of your gym class and being the last person picked for a team. You stand there, staring at your feet, praying your name is called before the last person. It feels like being rejected socially and for your lack of athletic prowess simultaneously.

Unfortunately, the feeling of being left out doesn't end in childhood. Even as adults, there are experiences that can give us that same lonely, sinking feeling of being chosen last in gym class.

A Reddit user named JuicyCiwa posed a question to the AskReddit subforum so people could share the situations that make them feel rejected as adults. They asked, “What’s the adult version of being picked last in gym class?” and it received over 6,600 responses.

Initially, the post feels like a bit of a downer because it’s person after person describing the socially humiliating moments we all endure as adults but rarely talk about. However, it’s also affirming to know that we’re not the only people who suffer rejection from friends, coworkers or family.

Here are 15 moments when adults feel the same as being picked last in gym class as a kid.

1. Left out of lunch

"Seeing everybody in the office return from a lunch outing you were never told about. And the even worse flip side, arriving at the location for a group outing, and nobody else shows up because it was canceled, but nobody told you." — khendron

"How about: walking out to the parking lot for the office lunch outing? You walk toward the car you were assigned to ride in and watch it drive away." — JJohnston015

2. Am I invited?

"Watching people plan an event in the same room as you but not inviting you." — __DVYN__

3. Hello?

"When the group chat goes silent after you suggest something." — PositiveEmo4

4. Not being in the group chat

"Finding out there is a group chat you aren’t part of." — MaryJaneParker818

"Found out there was one with all the women in my family, but not me. Getting mean girled by your own mom/aunts/siblings." — ProfSkeevs

5. Being invited to a party as an afterthought

"'Oh you wanted to come? I didn't think it would be your thing. But yeah, I guess you can come if you want to.'" — JustMyUserName47

6. Friends fade

"Being well-liked but never reached out to. If you don't keep up the effort, everyone just fades away." — Minmidmax

"This has been most of my friendships these last few years. I moved away for school, and boom, there went 90% of my relationships. I moved back and tried to reconnect with some people, just to figure out that most of my old friends refuse to initiate now. It always has to be me to reach out, otherwise, they won’t make time for me. I finally stopped trying. It’s disheartening, especially when it becomes obvious that you care more than the other people do. On the bright side, it showed me who my real friends are. My friend pool is smaller, but it’s much stronger too and I couldn’t be happier." — Lovinlemon

"Especially as dudes cause we don't really make new friends after our 20s. Everyone is just a ‘mate’ when you start working. I knew all of my best friends before I was 25." — First_Time-Farmer1

7. Can you take a picture?

"Being asked to take a group picture of the group that you had come with." — Either-Sherbert-8845

8. Pushed out

"Walking behind the group on the sidewalk because there’s no room for you to be next to them." — BigRedStL

9. When your kid is left out

"Seeing pics on Facebook of your friend group having fun outings and sleepovers for their kids, but your kid wasn’t invited. Even though my kid is also seemingly good friends with all the kids that were there." — Honey1375

"Ooh, this one hurts bad because it involves both you and your kid." — No-Grocery-7118

10. Ouch

"Having your Tinder date leave the bar with someone else." — PMmeyourboogers

11. B-listed

"Getting a wedding invite a week or two before the wedding day." — Kyadagum_Dulgadee

12. Uber exclusion

"Having two Ubers to get somewhere, being someone who ordered one of the Uber, and everyone obviously wanting to ride with the other person." — OMGItsKells

13. Besties?

"When your best friend mentions their best friend and it isn't you." — According-News-5901

14. “Keep talking, I’m listening”

"When someone is telling a story in a group, but no one listens and they trail off talking. But you're doing the kind thing and making eye contact with them, so they know you are listening and can keep talking. They notice. But still choose not to finish what they were saying." — Jbkites

15. Facebook blues

"You post some quote or meme on Facebook and not getting any likes/comments. One of your friends posts the same quote or meme and they receive lots of likes and comments from your mutual friends." — Beigereige

From Your Site Articles
feelings
HealthMental Health
Trending Stories