Peter Walker On Flight

[Badmemories]

I shorten this by copy and pasting this so the information is easier to understand.I then divided it into each response.

http://www.pete-walker.com/fourFs_TraumaTypologyComplexPTSD.htm

This model elaborates four basic defensive structures that develop out of our instinctive Fight, Flight, Freeze and Fawn responses to severe abandonment and trauma. Variances in the childhood abuse/neglect pattern, birth order, and genetic predispositions result in individuals "choosing" and specializing in narcissistic
(fight), obsessive/compulsive (flight), dissociative (freeze) or codependent (fawn) defenses.

Habituated 4F defenses offer protection against further re-abandonment hurts by precluding the type of vulnerable relating that is prone to re-invoke childhood feelings of being attacked, unseen, and unappreciated.

The Flight Type

DEFINED
flight types stay perpetually busy and industrious to avoid potentially triggering
interactions; Flight types appear as if their starter button is stuck in the "on" position.They are obsessively and compulsively driven by the unconscious belief that perfection will
make them safe and loveable. As children, flight types respond to their family
trauma somewhere along a hyperactive continuum that stretches between the
extremes of the driven "A" student and the ADHD dropout running amok. They
relentlessly flee the inner pain of their abandonment and lack of attachment with the
symbolic flight of constant busyness.

ACTIONS
When the obsessive/compulsive flight type is not doing, she is worrying and
planning about doing. Flight types are prone to becoming addicted to their own
adrenalization, and many recklessly and regularly pursue risky and dangerous
activities to keep their adrenalin-high going. These types are also as susceptible to
stimulating substance addictions, as they are to their favorite process addictions:
workaholism and busyholism. Severely traumatized flight types may devolve into
severe anxiety and panic disorders.

THERAPY
While psychoeducation is important and essential to all the types, flight types
particularly benefit from it. Nowhere is this truer than in the work of learning to
deconstruct their overidentification with the perfectionistic demands of their inner
critic. Gently and repetitively confronting denial and minimization about the costs
of perfectionism is essential, especially with workaholics who often admit their
addiction to work but secretly hold onto it as a badge of pride and superiority.
Deeper work with flight types - as with all types -gradually opens them to grieving
their original abandonment and all its concomitant losses. Egosyntonic crying is an
unparalleled tool for shrinking the obsessive perseverations of the critic and for
ameliorating the habit of compulsive rushing. As recovery progresses, flight types
can acquire a "gearbox" that allows them to engage life at a variety of speeds,
including neutral. Flight types also benefit from using mini-minute meditations to
help them identify and deconstruct their habitual "running". I teach such clients to
sit comfortably, systemically relax, breathe deeply and diaphragmatically, and ask
themselves questions such as: "What is my most important priority right now?", or
when more time is available: "What hurt am I running from right now? Can I open
my heart to the idea and image of soothing myself in my pain?"

MISPERCIEVED AS
Finally, there are numerous flight types who exhibit symptoms that may be misperceived as cyclothymic bipolar disorder;

[Badmemories]

i also feel I am partially defined in this part. I was a workaholic. I am very hyperactive (when I am not depressed.)

Severely traumatized flight types may devolve into severe anxiety and panic disorders.

I do have some component of social anxiety. I put off making phone calls for days. Even simple things are hard for me. Shopping? I go late at night when the crowds are small.

I do know one thing that really set off my panic.When I was pregnant with My daughter I went to an open air concert, the kind where you bring a blanket to sit on. The music got louder and people began standing and crowding to the front. I was pressed from all sides by the crowd. I was 8 months pregnant, and I am short 4'11.5 I felt very frightened. I almost did not make it out of the crowd.

So going through these.. I got a lot of work to do!

[Kizzie]

Tks for getting this thread going BadMemories!

I know you're dealing with CPTSD, but there's a great online forum for Social Anxiety that you may want to have a look at, even if just to get some more info on it.   It's called Social Anxiety Support (SAS) and you can find it here - http://www.socialanxietysupport.com/forum/. 

Social anxiety is one of the five main symptoms of CPTSD so you may find it helpful. I've been a member for about 6 months and have gotten a lot out it.  (I post in the +40 group as I can't relate to a lot of the anxieties younger member have about dating, etc.)   

[Annegirl]

I can relate to that too badmemories