Startled
What is Startled?
Easily surprised or jolted by small stimuli. Your baseline arousal is so high that normal sounds or movements feel jarring.
When you might feel startled
Startled is a specific form of hypervigilance, which itself is a type of activated. You might experience this feeling in situations where activated is present, particularly when the circumstances align with the nuances that define startled.
Emotional Hierarchy
Explore Startled on the Interactive Wheel
Use our free interactive feeling wheel to explore startled and discover related emotions.
Open Stress Response WheelRelated Emotions
An explosive surge of sympathetic energy — the nervous system perceives a seriou...
Intense, heat-filled anger that demands action. The body is primed: jaw tight, f...
A protective posture where you keep walls up and watch closely. The system is on...
A hardened, braced state — the body holds tension as a shield. Vulnerability fee...
Too much input at once — the nervous system is saturated with stimulation and ca...
Chaotic, high-energy activation where everything feels urgent and nothing feels ...