Fight or Flight Therapy

Fight or Flight Therapy is the first modality to directly address the body's physiological response to stress and trauma, the fight-or-flight response. It is a foundational piece of the stress/trauma puzzle that has been completely overlooked by existing therapies.

Who Can Benefit?

Just about everybody!

After all, in today's stressful world, who hasn't been stressed or traumatized?

Fight or Flight Therapy acts as a tune up for your nervous system,permanently resetting it to a calmer place.

Anyone feeling stressed or not functioning at their best can benefit.
This is especially true for anyone who has experienced any significant trauma in their life. 

Typical clients include:

  •  anyone feeling stressed, anxious or overwhelmed
  •  anyone with a history of physical or emotional trauma or abuse
  •  children with sensory motor, learning or behavioral issues
  •  athletes or anyone seeking peak performance
  •  anyone seeking personal growth or an improved quality of life

Obvious candidates are those with a history of stress, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), concussions or head injuries (TBI), motor vehicle accidents, depression, cognitive problems or emotional, childhood or birth trauma.

But it is important to point out, you don't need to have severe stress, obvious trauma or lots of symptoms to benefit from Fight or Flight Therapy.

Anyone can benefit who is seeking to:

  •  manage stress more effectively
  •  improve mental or athletic performance
  •  or improve their quality of life 


Measurable Results

Quality of Life

The following graph demonstrates the uncommon success of Fight or Flight Therapy.

Using symptom scores on The Fight or Flight Questionnaire:

The RED curve demonstrates scores BEFORE Fight or Flight Therapy.
The GREEN curve demonstrates scores AFTER Fight or Flight Therapy.

Any shift of the graph to the right would indicate improved quality of life.
Note how dramatically people's scores improved! 


The graph above demonstrates self-scored symptom improvement for 24 consecutive clients who met all criteria for data collection.

Each participant filled out The Fight or Flight Questionnaire before commencing, and after completing, their program of Fight or Flight Therapy. Each symptom or behavior was graded on a scale of 0-5 in terms of severity or degree of difficulty, with the worst possible score being 350.

Note: each participant improved, with the least improvement being 19 points, and the most being 251. The average percent reduction in score was 58%, with the median reduction being an impressive 62%.



Testimonial

I went to Dr. Tessler literally seeking help with LIFE!!! Now, I could be his poster child!

Ever since a very stressful childhood, I'd been struggling to just make it through each day. I was overwhelmed with life and everything was hard for me. It felt like I was always walking through mud.

In an attempt to heal, I'd tried various forms of therapy for almost 40 years. I even became trained as a practitioner in several so I could treat myself and others. Despite all that work, for all those years, I still showed up on Dr. Tessler's doorstep scoring 299 out of 350 on his questionnaire!

I told him, after all the things I've tried, if he could drop my score just 50 points, to 249, I'd be thrilled. That's how desperate I was!

First progress evaluation (just 3 weeks later):

The first three weeks of therapy were remarkable. All I did was look at a light Dr. Tessler had given me for 20 minutes once or twice a day. But during those three weeks amazing things happened.

  •  I was able to talk to my husband about some very traumatic things in my life without getting overly emotional about them.
  •  there was a problem with our HOA board of directors and, instead of getting upset, I was able to see it all with a new perspective and deal with it.
  •  I was able to negotiate the price on new furniture. I could never have done that before fearing 'what would people think.'
  •  normally, I hated change, but suddenly I was open to and looking forward to it.
  •  a core issue came up with my husband, and I was able to stop in mid-argument with a new perspective on the problem.
  •  suddenly I found myself not getting 'hooked' into my birth family discord. Letting go of all that was such a HUGE step for me.
  •  I was stopping, thinking, considering and acting, instead of 60 years of 'reacting!'

It would have been interesting if I'd filled out Dr. Tessler's questionnaire at that point, because in just 3 weeks I was a different person ALREADY!!!

Second progress evaluation (six weeks later):

Part of me couldn't believe I was getting better so quickly. At my second progress evaluation I had to admit to Dr. T that I had done 10% sabotaging and 90% 'testing' to see if these changes in me were real
I could not believe something as simple as looking at a light was really working and I was truly changing. Because of the sabotaging and 'testing,' it took me over twice as long (about six weeks) to complete this stage of therapy.

But here's what I had to admit:

  •  I was living with less regret and more in the moment, which I had never done before.
  •  I'd normally hold my breath when I got stressed. Now I was breathing!
  •  It took three visits to the store dealing with a new cell phone. Previously, this would have sent me over the edge. But this time I took it all in stride. Amazing!!
  •  I noticed that in conversation I was actually listening instead of thinking of what I wanted to say to get my two cents in. I trusted that I would get my turn.
  •  I was taking better care of myself and setting better boundaries in dealing with appointments and deadlines.
  •  I was a totally different person in dealing with the stress of my job. This was really amazing to me.

Third progress evaluation (three weeks later):

  •  I was able to step back and see the difference between the 'old me' and the 'new me.'
  •  Oh, how much I liked this 'new me' better.
  •  I was very excited to report that my cranial-sacral therapist said my whole nervous system was entirely different. I was even able to make better eye contact. She was so impressed, she wanted to meet Dr. Tessler to learn about his work.
  •  Previously, I had never wanted to improve my eating habits. All of a sudden it was just happening easily and naturally.
  •  Because of the horrid fall I had that lead me to Dr. Tessler in the first place, I was walking like a 95 year old. One day I realized I was walking, not just as the 61 year old that I was, but rather like a 20 year old. This was so wonderful!!
  •  With the changes in both me and my brother (who had also started Fight or Flight Therapy), my normally dysfunctional family enjoyed one of the nicest Christmases ever.

Final progress evaluation (four months total):

This was huge:

 It was my busiest time of year at work, which would have previously been overwhelming and made me exhausted and grouchy. This year I had energy and was dealing with it so very differently!

And, among other things:
 I was beginning to pay attention to my intuition and not question it.

Final Goals Review

Being my last visit, we reviewed the top three goals I set at the beginning of therapy:

  1. To be able to walk through and function in life easier, to be less overwhelmed. I was 1,000% better
  2. To have less fear. Previously I could have listed hundreds of fears. Now, I could only think of two.
  3. To fall less. I'd been struggling with falling for years, but now I was walking so well!
 
 I was sure-footed and felt that the earth was under me. Amazingly, I had not fallen since I started the program.

And, can you believe my score?

I filled out The Fight or Flight Questionnaire again.

In just four months, my score had dropped from 299 to 48 !!!! 
Remember, I would've been thrilled to be 249!!!

To say the least, I am a totally different person!

Thank you Fight or Flight Therapy!

           61 year old business manager
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