It seems stoicism can set us back in an emergency. So says PhD psychologist Peter Levin, author of Walking the Tiger: Healthy Trauma. Levin has found that people who show physical reactions to emergencies and stressful situations, like other species do naturally, cope better with crisis and show fewer symptoms of trauma afterwards than those determined to stay composed. When faced with the unexpected, instead of working hard to remain “in control” by keeping our eyes, faces, voices, and hands steady, we're better off to let our bodies move as they want — shout, shake, shiver, heave or stomp, etc. If allowed such “physical emergency reactions” open up a channel to feelings of calm alertness from which we can act to deal with the situation.