<commit_before>---
layout: post
title: "Emotional Hijacking"
author: "JY"
tags: [brain, amygdala, boxing, emotional hijack, emotional intelligence]
---

So, imagine this.

You are about to give a speech to some forty people, consisting of mentors you look up to as well as your peers. Your speech determines whether you will be elected to a position of authority. You haven't memorized the speech. You also didn't write the speech yourself. It's pretty safe to say that anyone in this position would feel a strong wave of anxiety and fear, manifested in sweaty palms, shaky and shallow breathing, and an utter inability to think.

Well, this was seven-year-old me in a class presidency election. I stuttered through whatever parts of the speech I did memorize, all while bawling my eyes out in front of the crowd for a good ten minutes.

Why am I talking about this despite the amount of laughter (and possibly ridicule) this might elicit from my friends? Well, because as far as I can remember, this was the very first case of emotional hijacking I had experienced.

Emotional hijacking is often referred to as "amygdala hijacking". The last time I spoke about the amygdala was in one of my first blog posts about [fear conditioning](https://jy-h.github.io/boxing-fear-conditioning.html){:target="_blank"}. I'm returning to it today because (1) I've learned a lot more about it via personal experiences and (2) I've been goddamn stuck for ages on my other blog posts so I'm switching gears.

In any case, amygdala hijacking occurs when we perceive a threat that triggers our fight, flight, or freeze response. The amgydala triggers the release of a cascade of chemicals (adrenaline, cortisol) into our system; these chemicals relax our airways to allow for more oxygen intake, increas blood flow to allow for maximum strength and power utilization, break down blood sugar for more energy expenditure, and dilates our pupils to enhance our vision. This deeply instinctual reaction is the result of many years of evolution, and is incredibly effective in springing us into action. However, an active amgydala also immediately shuts off the neutral pathway to our prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for complex decision-making and our ability to be see multiple perspectives. Moreover, an active amygdala causes memory function to decrease. We've probably all said things we later regret in the heat of the moment, and that is the prime example of an amygdala hijack.
<commit_msg>Minor edits.<commit_after>---
layout: post
title: "Emotional Hijacking"
author: "JY"
tags: [brain, amygdala, boxing, emotional hijack, emotional intelligence]
---

So, imagine this.

You are about to give a speech to some forty people, consisting of mentors you look up to as well as your peers. Your speech determines whether you will be elected to a position of authority. You haven't memorized the speech. You also didn't write the speech yourself. It's pretty safe to say that anyone in this position would feel a strong wave of anxiety and fear, manifested in sweaty palms, shaky and shallow breathing, and an utter inability to think.

Well, this was seven-year-old me in a class presidency election (going to grade school in China was a time). I stuttered through whatever parts of the speech I did memorize, all while bawling my eyes out in front of the crowd for a good ten minutes.

Why am I talking about this despite the amount of laughter (and possibly ridicule) this might elicit from my friends? Well, because as far as I can remember, this was the very first case of emotional hijacking I had experienced.

Emotional hijacking is often referred to as "amygdala hijacking". The last time I spoke about the amygdala was in one of my first blog posts about [fear conditioning](https://jy-h.github.io/boxing-fear-conditioning.html){:target="_blank"}. I'm returning to it today because (1) I've learned a lot more about it via personal experiences and (2) I've been goddamn stuck for ages on my other blog posts so I'm switching gears.

In any case, amygdala hijacking occurs when we perceive a threat that triggers our fight, flight, or freeze response. The amgydala triggers the release of a cascade of chemicals (adrenaline, cortisol) into our system; these chemicals relax our airways to allow for more oxygen intake, increas blood flow to allow for maximum strength and power utilization, break down blood sugar for more energy expenditure, and dilates our pupils to enhance our vision. This deeply instinctual reaction is the result of many years of evolution, and is incredibly effective in springing us into action. However, an active amgydala also immediately shuts off the neutral pathway to our prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for complex decision-making and our ability to be see multiple perspectives. Moreover, an active amygdala causes memory function to decrease. We've probably all said things we later regret in the heat of the moment, and that is the prime example of an amygdala hijack.

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