How the Flight Trauma Response Can Show Up In An Argument You want to leave the room and RUN. You might make yourself stay, but every part of you is screaming to get away. You might start fantasising about leaving the relationship and even threaten to leave the relationship. You find yourself looking for an escape route, and your eyes start to dart around. You stop listening to your partner because your sympathetic nervous system has taken over, and the thinking brain has switched off. Your mind is racing. Thoughts don’t seem to be connected logically. You feel jumpy. When they move their hand, you think they are going to lash out at you. In the moment, you are not aware of your body.