Hyderabadis Grapple with ‘Functional Freeze’
Hyderabad: People in Hyderabad describe a strange paradox in where they go to work, respond to messages and meet deadlines. However, inside they feel empty, slowed down, and unable to begin even the simplest task. Psychiatrists say the term floating around online for this condition is “functional freezing,” a stress response that can look like competence on the outside but shutting down on the inside.
Jayasree noticed this most in the evenings. “I come home and I can’t do anything,” he said. “I have a hard time even watching anything on Netflix, which used to be my escape. Now all I do is doom scroll.” Social plans feel distant and conversations feel laborious. “As a human being, I feel almost numb. All I can do is give orders and doomscroll.”
Ravi S. remembers when the pause began. He had just been promoted and was the youngest person in his position. “Immediately after the promotion, things got so overwhelming that I couldn’t keep up,” he said. “I couldn’t even work for a while.”
Colleagues saw a high performer. It was the first time he saw his production drop. “If you give 110 percent at work, that’s considered your normal, which is not my normal. I think I set expectations too high by working too much.” She took a month off and started setting boundaries. “I’m better now.”
Direct national council member of the Indian Psychiatric Association, Prof. Dr. Vishal Akula placed his experiences into a familiar stress response. “Functional freezing is a stress response in which a person feels mentally stuck or emotionally shut down,” he said. “When the brain detects a threat, it activates the fight-flight-freeze system. Fighting means confronting the problem, fleeing means avoiding it, and freezing means remaining motionless or shutting down.”
Calmness can be deceiving. “With frostbite, a person may appear calm on the outside, but inside may feel numb, empty, overwhelmed, or unable to engage in tasks,” he says. Anxiety feels restless and noisy. Depression carries lasting sadness. “Freezing feels slow, heavy, and disconnected.”
The phrase itself does not appear in psychiatric manuals. “No, ‘functional freezing’ is not a formal medical diagnosis in DSM-5-TR or ICD-11,” Dr Akula said. Symptoms of people grouped under this label often pertain to stress reactions, trauma-related conditions, adjustment problems, burnout, depression, or dissociation.
When asked about common triggers, Dr Akula lists, “Academic competition, workplace goals, fear of failure, constant comparison via social media, financial pressures like EMI, lack of sleep and limited emotional support.” Today, stress is about constant pressure rather than physical danger.
When a threat is unavoidable, the brain can shift from alarm to shutdown, heart rate and breathing slowing. Limbs feel heavy. People describe watching themselves from afar. Research on trauma has documented a similar reaction known as tonic immobilization. Dr Akula stated that long-term stress can lead a person from a state of extreme anxiety to collapse. “The person may begin to procrastinate heavily, feel emotionally detached, be less productive, and feel tired even after resting.”
No formal prevalence study is available for functional freezing. Many experts suspect underreporting and stigma play a role in this gap. People who feel numb are often told to get out of it or are accused of being lazy. Dr Akula said high achievers may be embarrassed to admit emptiness after success.
Minor interventions can interrupt freezing. Slow breathing, light movement, breaking tasks into smaller steps. Longer-term change may include sleep, exercise, routine, and therapy. Professional care becomes important when the shutdown lasts for weeks, disrupts work or study, strains relationships, or involves despair or suicidal thoughts.
