There is, by the way, a 4th and 5th reaction: "reason". Sometimes, you need not fight, you need not flee, and you don't freeze. You can talk your way out by reasoning with, or re-assuring, the attacker with conditions. But some argue that this is a form of "fighting" - or rather, "engaging" the assailant, rather than running away. Whatever you call it, it's another reaction.
It is not a gender-specific thing, I think it is more personality. People who are in conflict with strong moral objections - for example, facing certain death unless they kill their assailant, when their moral beliefs strictly prohibit killing - are good candidates for freezing. Such people who are confident, though, are also good candidates for reasoning. Note the woman in Texas who was being robbed in her jewelry store. She decided to pray with the assailant - her way of reasoning, reassuring, or engaging. And it worked - the assailant went on his way. I think he even gave up his gun.
I also think inexperience, injury, fatigue, fear of losing one's life, or fear of losing a loved one's life can also contribute to freeze.
As to children, there have been many interesting success stories in the news: an 8-year old girl successfully fights off a kidnapper who tries to toss her into a trunk, a 12-year old shoots an intruder, and a few others - proves it is a myth that children cannot fight off adults. I think the trick is to teach them to use the skills they are most likely and most comfortable to use: their voices. Screaming, or teaching them to say something that might turns heads, etc are good examples. Teaching kids to strong arm a wrist grab is, in my opinion, silly - and dangerous. Teaching them from an academic point of view may be fine, but, children should not be taught such techniques, lest they get overconfident in their ability to use them, and also, lest they go into the schoolyard and try it on their friends.
But in the end, I think the freeze syndrome can be mitigated with good practice and instruction - another good reason why DVD's and books should be relegated to the reference department, and not left for the primary class instruction.
EDIT: Sorry, in my diatribe, I forgot to mention the 5th response: comply. A demand for cash, for example, need not resort to fight, flight, freeze, or reasoning - but simply hand over the wallet.
You cited an example earlier about a child who, in a tournament, struck an opponent and then froze. This could be one of those moments of fear ("is that person gonna get back at me?!") or it could be out of conflict ("mommy and daddy tell me never to hit, but, I have to hit, but I'm not allowed to hit, but I'm supposed to hit...", etc)
Here, clear instructions about what is expected, and when it is expected, and then these instructions are often repeated - this is how to bleed out the tendency to freeze.
EDIT(2): there are people in martial arts who, ironically, don't like being grabbed. They are the ones who prefer "striking" arts - places that have no grappling. These people could suffer from PTSD, like physical or sexual abuse, or they have been victims of a violent crime. Striking is a way to keep people away, whereas grappling is the opposite - keeping them close. So, psychologically, that person wants to keep the opponents away - and striking fits the bill. But these same people, suffering from whatever psychological damage they have, do not like to grapple - be grabbed. There is a feeling of not being in control, of not being able to escape, and be reminded of whatever happened to them. Such people need more than just practice, they need psychological or psychiatric help to help them cope. In time, they may overcome their past, much as some rape victims later get married and have families. They may not fully overcome, but they can cope if they get the right help.
By the way, children who exhibit this - an abnormal aversion to grappling, yet no problem with striking - ought to be watched closely. If they are victims of abuse, other signs will show, and then authorities may have to get invovled.
The answer to all your scenarios is to disassociate the act from fighting. By this, I mean make the drill a game instead of a fight. Detach the self-defense from the act of moving and doing, then slowing refine it with added technique.
It does not surprise me that a more senior or experienced student can also freeze-up. What essentially happened is that s/he is trying to come up with an ideal answer consciously instead of just reacting. Their thought process goes something like this - faced with a problem, think back on all the techniques they know, choose the right one, react. They were looking for the perfect solution to something they never (or think they never) faced before.
What rank was your 'freezer'? I think that too makes a difference.
Since possum already analyzed your problem really well here is an example.
I was a freezer too when I started martial arts simply because I could not think of a way to react. It is not just a physical freeze but also a mental freeze when suddenly confronted with something unexpected. I also could never think of verbal comebacks when someone said something mean. My brain just froze. What I think caused this was that compliance was literally beat into me when growing up. You did not talk back, defending against school bullies was not allowed and you did what you were told no matter how unreasonable the request and often harmful to me. You just took it and if you didn't there was more where that came from. You would never win it.
What worked for me? A martial arts teacher with endless patience and one on one training. First I had to learn to hit a person. Pathetic I know. Sometimes he went as far as try to make me mad so I would hit him harder. He'd have rolled up newspaper and beat me with it but he never did anything that would have led me believe he was retaliating for the times I hit him hard. He always paired me with the highest ranks because they would go hard and I would have to go/fight harder. Eventually he had me do full contact. I never realized how good of a job my teacher had done until the brown belt I was about to spar asked me if I could go a little easier and not try to kill him. I was a green belt at that time. That's when I realized I was 'over it'.
Mind you I did competition sparring since orange belt but I never saw it as a fight. The pairing up was more like a game of tag so it did not register as a fight in my mind. An outright attack would have been different and I probably would have froze.
My teacher was old school so the training was often brutal but I did stick it out. Small injuries (sprains, broken fingers/toes, broken noses, and especially lots of lager bruises) were common. Now I would be afraid to do such training to one of my students for fear I am going to get sued. But in the end pain is a good teacher and eventually you are so much more inclined to get it together just to keep from getting hurt so much. Plus you get used to the feeling of pain and are not intimidated or afraid of it so much since now instead of just being on the receiving end you also know how to dish it out.
I am still not overly aggressive but I have no trouble hitting someone and have to be careful not to nail someone accidentally too hard. I always have a verbal comeback and often have to contend with thinking it and not saying it and I can be very sarcastic. So there is hope.
I have had students (male and female, teens and up) like that and I usually have them spar my biggest most intimidating student hard. I don't mean that my big student beats up the other student but he really pressures them. If the other student backs up too much I make them stay on a spot so they have to deal with the pressure. That seems to help some and a lot of it seems to be time too.
With young kids it's more difficult but most of the times I can at least get them to scream in the game that you described.
Lol, Possum covered it for you in his mini book "How to not freeze in a self defense scenario" lol!
Great answer possum!
Some students are too timid and afraid. Their default response tends to be to "freeze" rather than "fight" or even "flight" when doing sparring, one step sparring, and self-defense drills. One teenage student I taught a while ago could not react when we did a drill where the goal was to keep me from dragging her from the mat to the wall. The mat was the safe zone to escape to, the wall was the "bad place". All she had to do was knock my hand away and run. Some students had trouble of course, but they fought, improvised, etc, and got away to the safe zone by any means necessary. This student froze. Ironically, if you saw her spar, you would think she was the last person in the world who would freeze when grabbed and dragged by the back of the collar. She's not the only one I have ever seen freeze. However, the freezers tend to be the exception rather than the rule. But, they do exist.
How can we get these students to unfreeze?
How can we address this if it occurs in males?
How can we address this if it occurs in females?
How can we address this if it occurs in very young (as in under 8 years old) students?
How can we address this in teens? Adults?
