Tonic Immobility
Sexual Assault and Neuroscience: Alarmist Claims vs. Facts
by Jim Hopper, Ph.D., Psychology Today
I was looking for a easy to understand definition of tonic immobility. Jim Hopper, a respected activist for rape victims seems to have the best for now. He defines it as “a fear-based state of rigid paralysis, which can render one mute as well (and is very different from the transient freeze response associated with the detection of an attack).” This is more an article than a academic study but it’s a good one. I recommend Jim Hooper articles.
Fear and the Defense Cascade: Clinical Implications and Management
by , , , , August 5, 2014, Harvard Review of Psychiatry
A long and exhaustive look at the fear cascade including tonic immobility. It compares and likens the reactions in animals with humans and gives examples of each type. It may be too hard a look for most people but they did an excellent job and it’s worth reading at least parts of it.
Tonic immobility during sexual assault–a common reaction predicting post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression
by Anna M€oller, Hans Peter Scondergaard & Lotti Helstrcomd, Separtment of Clinical Science and Education, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, AOGS, Acta Obstetricia Gynecologica Scandinavica, 2017
This is the first study able to include a large population. It was done on 298 victims who visited a clinic in Sweden. “Of the 298 women, 70% reported significant tonic immobility and 48% reported extreme tonic immobility during the assault.” These percentages were higher than previously estimated and demonstrates the gravity of the situation. I have found that if I tell someone I have been raped, they will ask if I fought, if I ran, or if I screamed. This answers those questions, questions that many women have not been able to answer until now. Tonic Immobility prevents the victim from screaming, from running and from fighting. I know what this knowledge did for my own self confidence. It should help any woman who has undergone tonic immobility. Men can learn also. If, in the past a man disbelieved his wife, daughter, or lover because she couldn’t answer questions to his satisfaction, he can finally forgive what was never an infidelity in the first place. He may even find it in his soul to beg her forgiveness.