A cornerstone of a horror movie is the occasional jump scare, which is fine when watching a horror movie, but not great in our everyday life. Unfortunately, our brains don’t always see it that way, and they can cause us to experience our own version of the horror movie jump scare: the amygdala hijack. So that’s what we’re here to talk about today on the run-up to Halloween. I hope this article doesn’t scare you too much.
What Is An Amygdala Hijack?
The amygdala is a key structure of the brain that’s involved in emotional processing and can override our rational thinking (Orji and Ita, 2024). Ideally, this latter function is only used in life-threatening situations where stopping to think things through might mean we don’t make it.
An amygdala hijack is how we describe a very fast, intense emotional reaction to a non-life-threatening situation that is disproportionate to the situation (Guy-Evans, 2023). Thus, the amygdala supersedes our higher brain functions, like it’s hijacking our brain, stopping our thinking brain, or pilot, from doing anything.
Essentially, our emotional brain takes over, leading to a “fight-or-flight” (or “freeze” or “fawn”) response before our rational brain has a chance to fully process the situation.
Thus, it pumps stress hormones (cortisol and adrenaline) into our system, preparing our body for action and temporarily shutting down our rational thinking capabilities. This can result in impulsive, illogical, and sometimes regrettable actions.
The term “amygdala hijack” was coined by psychologist Daniel Goleman in 1995 to describe this response (Guy-Evans, 2023; and Orji and Ita, 2024), making it a popular term that is now used to describe this overreaction to perceived threats and stress.
Symptoms of an amygdala hijack
- Sudden, intense emotional reactions like anger, rage, panic, and fear.
- Feeling confused, cloudy-headed, or our “brain going blank”.
- Difficulty thinking clearly or making rational decisions.
- Rapid heartbeat.
- Sweaty palms.
- Increased breathing.
- Goosebumps.
- Increased blood flow to muscles.
- Increased blood sugar.
- Overreacting to situations, often leading to regret later.
- Impulsive behaviour.
While an amygdala hijack is helpful in genuinely life-threatening situations (for example, needing to escape immediate danger), an amygdala hijack can also occur in non-threatening situations, such as receiving criticism, having an argument with someone, or other stress triggers.
This is why people can snap in anger, freeze in fear, or shut down emotionally, all of which they may regret later (Guy-Evans, 2023).
Causes Of Amygdala Hijack
According to Orji and Ita (2024), an amygdala hijack is the result of:
- Chronic stress, which is especially good at making us prone to an amygdala hijack. And, annoyingly, frequent amygdala hijacks can also lead to chronic stress.
- Past trauma can make us more sensitive and reactive to potential threats.
- A lack of emotional regulation skills.
- Sleep deprivation leads to impaired prefrontal cortex functioning, meaning there’s less in place to keep the amygdala in check.
- Fear conditioning, such as in the 1920 Little Albert experiment by John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner (Cherry, n.d.).
How To Desensitise Ourselves To An Amygdala Hijack Jump Scare
Mindfulness
Mindfulness practices and strategies, such as meditation, can be a useful buffer between our amygdala’s response and our actions, allowing for better regulation of emotions (Orji and Ita, 2024).
Such practices can also help with developing our self-awareness (Ahmed, Hebbar, and Kumar, 2025), which can further aid in managing an amygdala hijack.
According to Eason (2024), by training the brain with mindfulness and meditation techniques, we can teach our brain to stay present and observant of our thoughts and emotions, without judgement, rather than succumbing to the amygdala hijack.
A simple question
Ask ourselves, “Is this a real threat?” or “What’s another way to interpret this situation?” to help us gauge the situation before we respond impulsively.
Breathing exercises
Breathing exercises, such as simple deep breathing (Orji and Ita, 2024; and Ahmed, Hebbar, and Kumar, 2025), can be another effective way to manage and overcome an amygdala hijack. Breathing exercises like deep breathing help to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which then works like an antivenom to the amygdala hijack (Eason, 2024).
When we notice an emotional surge coming, we can try to consciously stop and take a few slow, deep breaths to activate our parasympathetic nervous system, so it can help with counteracting the fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response.
Thought challenges
As is taught in cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), it’s useful to challenge our negative thoughts if we want things to change (Ahmed, Hebbar, and Kumar, 2025), as they impact our level of control over our emotions and thus the intensity of our amygdala hijacks.
Using thought challenges like reframing and putting our thoughts on trial are two of the most popular approaches for doing this.
Journaling
When I say journaling is the go-to for a lot of mental wellbeing and self-care, I’m not kidding (Guy-Evans, 2023; Eason, 2024; Orji and Ita, 2024; and Ahmed, Hebbar, and Kumar, 2025). Journaling and other forms of expressive writing can help us process and make sense of our emotions, reducing the intensity of emotional reactions (Eason, 2024).
Because an amygdala hijack is often the result of something that’s happened to us, like trauma and stress, it can often leave us feeling like we lack control. By writing about our trauma and working on our stress, we can return that sense of control, and thus diminish the impact of an amygdala hijack or get rid of most of them altogether.
Triggers
Another great journaling and self-awareness task is to identify our triggers. By learning our triggers and recognising the early signs of an amygdala hijack in our body and mind, we can create strategies to manage them better or even overcome them.
For example, we could use exposure therapy to help us reduce the emotional impact of our triggers, and even use interoceptive exposure therapy to mimic the physical sensations to desensitise ourselves to those sensations.
Stress management
Along with identifying personal triggers, managing ongoing stress is vital (Guy-Evans, 2023). There are dozens of ways to manage stress, so what’s most important is finding the ways that work for us as individuals.
For some, it might be a short walk outside, blasting heavy metal, doing yoga, or sitting in silence for five minutes. Find what works for us and make sure we use them. It always pays to have a hobby. If we can do something about those sources of stress, even better.
Regular physical exercise
Regular exercise allows us to benefit from the production of endorphins that physical exercise causes to be released by our body (Orji and Ita, 2024; and Ahmed, Hebbar, and Kumar, 2025). These endorphins work as natural mood elevators and can reduce levels of cortisol and other stress hormones (Eason, 2024). This, in turn, reduces stress and our risk of an amygdala hijack.
Name the emotion
Simply identifying, acknowledging, and naming the emotion we’re feeling, like “I’m feeling angry” or “I’m feeling anxious”, can help shift activity back to our rational brain and thus reduce the emotional intensity we’re feeling (Guy-Evans, 2023).
Sleep hygiene
A lot of things come back to the quality of our sleep, and experiencing an amygdala hijack is no different. Getting good quality sleep helps maintain emotional regulation, whereas poor quality sleep means we’re less able to manage stress and anxiety (Eason, 2024; and Ahmed, Hebbar, and Kumar, 2025).
Change the setting
If possible, physically removing ourselves from the triggering situation for a few moments can help us to regain composure. Creating distance by shifting perspective or by thinking of a calming environment can also have the same effect (Guy-Evans, 2023).
There’s also a psychological phenomenon called the Doorway Effect. This is where we can experience threshold amnesia, which happens when we cross a boundary, such as going into a new room.
It acts as an event boundary for our brain, or rather, like starting a new page, which is often why we forget what we went into a room for. It’s possible that making use of the psychological phenomenon can help us manage an amygdala hijack as well.
Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR)
Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) is a technique to help reduce physical tension and stress by tensing and relaxing different muscle groups (Eason, 2024; and Ahmed, Hebbar, and Kumar, 2025). This makes it useful as a way to help calm the nervous system and prevent the onset of an amygdala hijack if we notice the signs of one coming in time.
Maths
Because the key to dealing with an amygdala hijack is to create a pause between the stimulus and our reaction, which allows our prefrontal cortex to catch up, even something like doing a quick mental math problem can help.
The short pause
One method that used to be popular in films and shows was counting to 10 when angry before reacting. The same works with an amygdala hijack. When one hits, pause, count to 6 or 10 if we have to, then respond (Guy-Evans, 2023).
Wellbeing
A study by Ahmed, Hebbar, and Kumar (2025) found that the worse our sense of psychosocial wellbeing is, the more our risk of an amygdala hijack rises, but the same is true for engaging in suicidal behaviour.
For those who don’t know, which included me before writing this article, psychosocial wellbeing encompasses our overall state of mental, emotional, and social health and is reflected in how well we cope with daily stress, build and maintain relationships, and feel a sense of purpose or mastery in life (Eiroa-Orosa, 2020).
It can be easy to forget that we’re not just a collection of bits that need working on, but a fully formed collection of everything, which includes what has affected us and what is and will affect us.
To look after us as a whole, complete person, we have to remember to treat the whole and not just one part of ourselves. The holistic approach to wellbeing. Look for a sense of purpose, find a hobby we enjoy, make plans with the people we care about; it’s not one or the other, it’s all of them.
Seek support
Seek support from our social support network, as talking to a trusted friend, family member, or therapist can help process emotions and develop healthier coping mechanisms.
Not only that, but maintaining strong social connections also works as a buffer to stress and thus reduces the likelihood of an amygdala hijack (Eason, 2024). We’re a social species, so just socialising in general is good for our mental wellbeing.
Summary
An amygdala hijack can be the thing that saves our lives in life-threatening situations, but also the thing that can ruin the quality of our lives in other situations. Given that most of us won’t find ourselves in a life-threatening situation that often, if at all, it can be a problem.
Many things can lead to us being more prone to experiencing an amygdala hijack, such as stress and trauma, so learning to look after our overall wellbeing to avoid unnecessary experiences of an amygdala hijack is important.
We don’t want to react impulsively to things in our lives, because we could hurt the people we care about or even ourselves. Making time to look after our stress levels, making time for the people we love and the things we enjoy, prioritising our wellbeing, and more, all help with our emotional regulation and with avoiding an amygdala hijack. We owe it to ourselves and others to remember this.
As always, leave your feedback in the comments section below. Also, please share your experiences with having an amygdala hijack and how to overcome them in the comments section below. Don’t forget, if you want to stay up-to-date with my blog, you can sign up for my newsletter below. Alternatively, click the red bell icon in the bottom right corner to get push notifications for new articles.
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References
Ahmed, A. A., Hebbar, S., & Kumar, V. V. (2025). Influence of Students’ Personality and Psychosocial Well-being on Suicidal behaviour and Amygdala Hijacking: A study among students in Higher Education Institutions. SDMIMD Journal of Management, 16, 49-64. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ameer-Ahmed-6/publication/390262492_Influence_of_Students’_Personality_and_Psychosocial_Well-being_on_Suicidal_behaviour_and_Amygdala_Hijacking_A_study_among_students_in_Higher_Education_Institutions/links/67e662859f23086421931a41/Influence-of-Students-Personality-and-Psychosocial-Well-being-on-Suicidal-behaviour-and-Amygdala-Hijacking-A-study-among-students-in-Higher-Education-Institutions.pdf.
Cherry, K. (n.d.). What Was The Little Albert Experiment?. Verywell Mind. Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/the-little-albert-experiment-2794994.
Eason, A. (2024). Ways to Defeat ‘Amygdala Hijack’. Adam Eason. Retrieved from https://adam-eason.com/ways_to_defeat_amygdala_hijack.
Eiroa-Orosa F. J. (2020). Understanding Psychosocial Wellbeing in the Context of Complex and Multidimensional Problems. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(16), 5937. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17165937 and https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7460093.
Guy-Evans, O. (2023). Amygdala Hijack. Simply Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/amygdala-hijack.html.
Orji, L. C., & Ita, U. A. (2024). Amygdala hijack: Contemporary insights into causes, correlates and consequences. Midwifery, 7(3), 102-111. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/386372480_Amygdala_Hijack_Contemporary_Insights_into_Causes_Correlates_and_Consequences.