3 min learnNew DelhiMight 14, 2026 12:00 AM IST
Actor Soha Ali Khan just lately revisited a daunting incident from 2011, when an intruder entered her bed room round 4 am whereas she and Kunal Kemmu had been at residence. Recalling the expertise throughout a dialog on Yuvaa, Soha admitted that whereas Kunal bodily confronted the thief regardless of having his hand in a solid, she reacted very in another way within the second.
Talking candidly about concern and self-perception, Soha stated, “When our home was damaged into, and Kunal caught the thief a few years in the past, I stood within the nook and cried. It wasn’t my most interesting second. I need to be form to myself by saying that it was in the midst of the evening, and I wasn’t ready, however I positively may’ve been extra helpful. I’m most likely not the bravest individual. My system tends to close down when there’s one thing occurring. I’m engaged on it.” She additionally referred to as herself a “phattu (coward)” whereas reflecting on how she responded in the course of the stressful situation.
The dialogue additionally comes within the backdrop of one other traumatic incident involving her brother, actor Saif Ali Khan, who was reportedly attacked and stabbed a number of occasions throughout a theft try at his residence in January 2025 whereas making an attempt to guard his household.
However what does psychology say about completely different stress responses?
Sonal Khangarot, licensed rehabilitation counsellor and psychotherapist, The Reply Room, tells indianexpress.com, “Human beings are wired for survival, and our nervous system routinely chooses responses based mostly on perceived hazard, previous experiences, persona, trauma historical past, and even biology. Whereas many individuals are accustomed to the ‘battle or flight’ response, psychology additionally recognises freeze, fawn, panic, dissociation, or emotional shutdown as equally legitimate survival reactions.”
Some people instinctively battle again as a result of their nervous system mobilises vitality towards motion and management. Others could freeze as a result of the mind perceives that staying nonetheless will increase probabilities of survival. “Individuals with unresolved trauma or continual stress might also react extra strongly as a result of their nervous system is already extremely alert. These reactions aren’t indicators of weak spot or braveness alone — they’re deeply automated protecting mechanisms formed by the mind and physique making an attempt to maintain an individual protected below excessive stress,” explains Khangarot.
How can people course of these feelings extra healthily?
After a daunting or traumatic state of affairs, Khangarot reveals, many individuals replay the occasion repeatedly and choose themselves harshly for not reacting the best way they imagined they “ought to have.” Nonetheless, it is very important perceive that survival responses are automated, not aware character choices.
The knowledgeable recommends {that a} more healthy option to process guilt or disgrace is to interchange self-criticism with self-understanding. As an alternative of asking, “Why wasn’t I braver?” people can ask, “What was my thoughts and physique making an attempt to do to guard me at that second?” Speaking in regards to the expertise with a trusted individual, therapist, or help system may assist scale back emotional isolation and distorted self-blame.
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“It’s equally essential to keep away from evaluating one’s response to motion pictures, social media narratives, or different folks’s tales. Trauma responses differ from individual to individual. Therapeutic begins when folks permit themselves compassion as a substitute of punishment for a way they survived,” concludes Khangarot.
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