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Trauma Responses: Fight, Flight, Freeze & Fawn
When faced with danger, the mind-body responds by initiating one of four survival strategies: fight, flight, freeze or fawn. These responses are designed to help us survive highly threatening situations. However, when trauma responses are unaddressed and become chronically activated, they can replay like a computer program, causing persistent distress and impairments to daily functioning. In this article, I will delve deeper into the nature of these trauma responses, their impact on health, and discuss ways to identify and transform these responses for optimal wellbeing.
Fight
When encountering a dangerous or threatening situation, the mind instantly evaluates the best response to deploy to ensure survival. Appraising a situation as threatening, for instance, can trigger a cascade of symptoms in the mind-body in order to energise it to fight off a predator. This fight response can be physical fighting, verbal fighting, or engaging in any other activity that will attempt to extinguish the threat. Once the danger has passed, and if the trauma is not properly processed, this fight reaction can continually manifest, where the mind perceives of a threat where there is none, reacting to any internal or external stimuli that remind one of the event(s). Persistent fight reactions in daily life can take the form of:
- Chronic anger and unpredictable outbursts
- Aggressiveness and hostility
- Persistent Irritability
- Defensiveness
- Attempts at asserting dominance and controlling
- Hyper-vigilance
Flight
Perceiving of a threat however, may energise you to flee danger, if this is more likely to ensure your survival. This can be physically running away from a violent person or natural disaster. If unaddressed, chronic flight responses can lead to avoidance of anything deemed a threat and distressing, such as people, places, objects, animals, thoughts, memories or sensations. To avoid trauma related distress, it is common for people to be in a constant state of doing, to have a drive for perfectionism, and an inability to relax. Other signs of a chronic fight response include:
- Persistent anxiety and panic
- Decision avoidance
- Abruptly ending relationships due to fear of commitment
- Withdrawal
- Procrastination
- Mental disengagement
- Over reliance on technology
- Frequently moving residences or jobs
- Excessive planning
- Avoiding sleep due to fear of nightmares
- Over or under eating to avoid negative emotions
- Feeling trapped
Freeze
When fighting or fleeing is not an option, the freeze response may be triggered to ensure survival. This response entails doing nothing, because running may not be an option and fighting could cause death. Whilst still perceiving of threat and experiencing stress symptoms, the whole energy body becomes constricted. Physically you may be very still, yet highly alert. At its most extreme, you may collapse or even faint (flop). Ongoing presentations of this immobilisation response can include:
- Withdrawal from people
- Feeling disconnected from oneself or the environment
- Numbness
- Extreme avoidance behaviours
- Hyperawareness
- Giving up easily
- Fear of change
- Excessive social media use or binge TV watching
- Procrastination or difficulty taking actions
- Muscle tension
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Feeling stuck
Fawn
A fourth survival response observed among clinicians is called fawn. This also entails perceiving of a threat, encountering typical stress symptoms, however rather than running, fighting or freezing, the person attempts to appease the aggressor. This can often occur in the context of childhood abuse. Parents may, for example, be physically violent, and the child learns that if they do what the person wants, or engages in pleasing behaviours, then they can divert the threat and stay safe. It is also commonly observed among domestic violence cases where the victim attempts to please the perpetrator in order to stay safe. Chronic fawn responses include:
- A fear of saying no
- Saying things to please others out of fear
- Constantly caring for others or being overly polite and agreeable due to fears
- Difficulty setting boundaries and making decisions
- Excessive reliance on others to solve problems or to make decisions
- Hyperawareness of others’ emotions
- Fear and avoidance of conflict
The aforementioned responses do not follow a specific order and can vary depending on the specific context. For example, a person may experience freeze, flight and fawn in one situation, or, fight, flight, freeze in another. Furthermore, be mindful that observing anger or people pleasing traits in oneself or others does not necessarily indicate unaddressed trauma. Other factors may contribute to these responses. Therefore, detailed assessment is important.
Trauma: An Adaptive Survival Response
It’s important to remember that trauma responses are ways for people to survive and cope with highly threatening or dangerous situations. They are, as some have described, normal responses to abnormal circumstances. However, if the trauma(s) is not properly processed with the right strategies, then problems occur because these responses become chronic. Consequently, they can appear in the form of post traumatic stress disorder, characterised by symptoms such as intrusive memories, flashbacks, avoidance, negative changes in thinking and mood, and hyper-vigilance. Alongside PTSD, other mental and physical health disorders may also develop.
Trauma Therapy
Fortunately, unaddressed past trauma can be effectively healed. The type of approach utilised for treatment depends on the individuals symptom presentations. However, adopting a trauma informed holistic approach, one that entails applying traditional techniques, combined with body-centred strategies, can work effectively. For example, cognitive restructuring techniques, EMDR, Somatic therapy, real or imaginal exposure therapy, and mindfulness, are some proven methods.
Trauma Self-care
Investing in self-care as an adjunct to therapy can also aide in the management of symptoms. For fight reactions, regular exercise such as boxing, running, yogic breathing and movement can help. So too can developing self-awareness through mindfulness, addressing perceived threats or learning to let go of past hurts.
Similarly, self-care for flight reactions can benefit from deep breathing exercises, practicing sitting meditation in group contexts, using guided meditation apps that facilitate a relaxation response, or simply spending time in green space taking a gentle stroll.
For freeze reactions, try to practice grounding techniques such as holding an ice cube or focusing on textures. Maintaining a regular body scan routine, walking, stretching and general mindfulness can also be effective.
Learning assertiveness skills, experimenting with setting boundaries, and investing in self-care, as well as joining supportive groups, can all make a difference if you struggle with fawning.
It is possible you may experience with one or all of the trauma responses, and so a tailored approach is essential. Nevertheless, general self-care recommendations include:
- Applying EFT for daily stress
- Learning problem solving techniques to address environmental stressors
- Engaging in light exercise routines a few times per week
- Eating healthy food
- Practicing gratitude and mindfulness techniques
- Cultivating compassion for self and others
Conclusion
Remember, traumatic stress responses are designed to be short term adaptive ways to survive and cope. However, when experienced chronically, they either shut the biological system down or significantly impair its functioning, much like a car would breakdown if you continuously press the gas peddle. Just as a car requires regular maintenance, our brains and bodies need ongoing care to function optimally. Therefore, treating PTSD and maintaining wellbeing through self-care is important for purposes of living a happy and long life.
I hope you found this article useful. If you have any questions, or to discuss treatment and support options then feel free to get in touch.
With best wishes,
Sadaf
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