Emotional hijacking
The amygdala is the emotional center of our brain and serves as a sort of security alarm monitoring system. Before we even have a chance to 'think' about something, the amygdala detects evidence of threat or loss and triggers a physiological response underlying fear and grief. The amygdala releases flight or fight hormones that mobilizes the body into action.
                               
The connection between thalamus (which sorts information) and amygdala allows the limbic system to receive some direct inputs from the five senses and start a response before the cortex is involved in decision-making. If the arousal loses the connection to the hippocampus, the emotional arousal spins out of control without the moderating effect of the hippocampus and cortex. A mother rushing into a burning house to save her child suffers from emotional hijacking. So does a woman crying hysterically next to her collapsed home.

Emotional hijacking is pure emotion without thought revealed in panic, rage, or depression. The absence of the intellect can be dangerous. A person who experienced emotional hijacking may say, “I don’t know what came over me” or “I couldn’t think I was so upset.”

11

Losing It