Emotional Hijack: When Emotions Overpower Cognition

Emotional hijack, also known as the amygdala hijack, is a state where a person’s cognitions are overpowered by their emotions. This usually occurs during a stressful or a crisis when the amygdala in the brain “hijacks” or bypasses normal reasoning processes. This concept was first discussed by Daniel Goleman in his book Emotional Intelligence. 



During a crisis or a stressful event, the amygdala proclaims an emergency, recruiting the rest of the brain to its urgent agenda. These hijackings, typically triggered by emotions like fear, anxiety, aggression, and anger were very vital to our survival as a species. To improve the chances of survival, the fight-or-flight response evolved to allow for automatic response to physical danger without thinking. This hijacking usually occurs very quickly. They trigger a fight or flight reaction moments before the neocortex, the thinking part of the brain, has had a chance to fully understand what is happening, let alone decide if it is a good idea.

Think about an incident in the recent past where you felt that you “lost it” or expressed extreme emotions or experienced an emotional breakdown. Try to recall the situation that resulted in this extreme emotional expression. You experienced emotional hijack in those situations.

One common example of an emotional hijack is an argument with your partner. All of us fight with our partners and we often end up saying things or reacting in certain ways without giving much thought about the consequences. We may say things that we regret later.

What happens when we experience emotional hijack? Let’s look at some signs of emotional hijack.

  • You are not able to think straight. You are not able to think rationally and may take decisions highly influenced by emotions.
  • You are thinking and acting against your own will.
  • You are not able to understand and empathize with other’s emotions.
  • You find it difficult to focus on your thinking or your actions
  • Your fight-flight response might kick in. You may experience that your blood pressure is increasing, you are sweating profusely, you may feel uneasy and restless.

Emotional hijacking is often triggered by certain past events that are disturbing for the individual. They result in a build-up followed by a sudden emotional outburst. For example, you are angry with your boss but you suppress that anger. That anger keeps building up and suddenly one day you snap at everyone in the meeting.

Emotional hijacking takes place in an instant and by the time it gets over, it may result in a lot of damage. A hallmark of such a hijack is that once a moment has passed, those so possessed have no sense of not knowing what came over them.

If emotional hijacking occurs time and again, they will affect an individual negatively. It will also affect their interpersonal relationship.

Dealing with Emotional Hijack

Research has shown people with high levels of emotional intelligence can deal with emotional hijack effectively and they can control them in a better way.

Increasing your emotional intelligence is an effective way to deal with the hijack. Step one is to become more aware of your emotions. Identify situations that trigger you or make you angry or stressed.

Once you have identified your triggers, figure out ways to deal with them more rationally. Addressing your triggers will help you prevent emotional reactions. One way to do that is by taking a break. If you find yourself in a stressful situation (and you are aware that it is your trigger), find a way to distance yourself from it (you can go for a walk, take a nap, cook something, etc.).

This will help you to deal with your triggers effectively. If you feel that your triggers are recurring, then try to seek professional help.

What to do when you realize you are in the middle of an emotional hijack?

Step one is to breathe. Before you say anything, or react to something, take deep breaths. Try to get out of the situation (maybe walk into another room or go out for a run). By changing your environment, it makes your brain reactivate some of the pathways it had shut off to handle the emotional hijack. Secondly, it buys time to calm down and begin to think rationally. Try doing this next time when you get into an argument with your partner.

You can avoid emotional hijack by becoming emotionally intelligent. All you need to do is become aware of your trigger situations and try to resolve them rationally.

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