‘Fight or Flight’ Isn’t the Only Human Stress Response

There’s another option, called ‘tend and befriend’

Ashley Abramson
Forge
Published in
5 min readApr 28, 2020

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Photo: Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images

Several years ago, I confessed to my therapist at the time that I was nervous about an upcoming flight. It was my first time traveling solo, and I couldn’t stop worrying about being left to fend for myself if something terrible happened.

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Ashley Abramson
Forge

Writer-mom hybrid. Health & psychology stories in NYT, WaPo, Allure, Real Simple, & more.