Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn: The Four Mental Health Trauma Responses Explained

Introduction: What are Trauma Responses?

Since trauma is a buzzword and often misused, we will begin this article by clarifying what we mean when we use the terms ‘trauma’ and ‘trauma response’ in the context of fight-flight-freeze-fawn, or the four Fs. Trauma is not an event, but our emotional response to the event. 

This highlights that different people can respond differently to the same event, and for some, an event may exceed their capacity to cope. Trauma response is how we respond emotionally to an adverse event, and essentially the words ‘trauma’ and ‘trauma response’ can be used interchangeably. 

Trauma can be acute, chronic, complex or vicarious. Regardless of the type of trauma, our trauma responses can be broadly put into four categories - fight, flight, freeze or fawn response. 

The four Fs have been built on the original theory of fight-or-flight stress response. The fight or flight response is an immediate response to a stressful or threatening situation, which evolved to help us survive or navigate that situation effectively.

Over the years, two more Fs - freeze and fawn - have been added to this. While in the presence of immediate stress, this is a helpful response, often in cases of trauma, it becomes a prolonged and chronic response that continues well after the threat has passed. 

An example here might help us understand this better - say while driving a car, you accidentally hit a biker. While no serious damage was caused, this incident was traumatic for you and found yourself fleeing the scene in a state of panic. 

Now every time a biker comes close to your car, you find yourself getting anxious and wanting to drive away to a safe distance. This might be a flight response, and in a situation like this, it might be fair to say that you are stuck in a trauma response. 

The Fight Response

The fight response quite literally indicates a “fight” approach towards a traumatic or triggering event. One may take up a combative stance when feeling threatened. 

In the context of relationships, this may show up as follows - say your former partner was extremely critical of you, and not constructively or helpfully. Now, if your current partner offers any constructive criticism, you become defensive and combative and are unable to view it as useful feedback. 

Their feedback might feel threatening because it activates our internalised critical voice from the previous relationship. We might become defensive and pick a fight with them, or feel that they are unfairly critical when they might just be providing honest feedback. This may indicate a fight trauma response. 

The Flight Response

Flight response to trauma involves avoidance behaviours or escaping the situation, or denying the pain we feel.

A common example of flight trauma response is what we call ‘hyperindependence’. If someone has been hurt in a close relationship, including not being able to rely on primary caregivers, one may cope with it by not getting too close to anyone at all. It may feel safer to not rely on anyone, but hyper-independence can drain us in the long run. Hyper-independent individuals also tend to deny their emotional difficulties and continue to do so until it becomes too much to bear. 

Another example of the flight trauma response is avoiding confrontation. If you dig deeper into the life stories and experiences of individuals who are “conflict-avoidant”, you might find that they either grew up with parents who fought a lot or they had a parent who was punitive and confrontational with them. 

The Freeze Response

Have you heard of the phrase ‘deer caught in the headlights’? It means that one is too terrified to think or move, and is stuck or frozen in the face of a threat. This is a freeze response. It can be understood as being so overwhelmed by the stressor or trauma that we can’t mobilize ourselves to tackle the situation. We may experience dread or panic, and be unable to make any sort of a decision. We may also feel this in our body in the form of heaviness, stuckness or resistance to any movement. 

This stuckness is essentially a way to avoid dealing with the situation and can show up in many different forms. Some examples of freeze response include doomscrolling, binge-eating or drinking, or hypervigilance. Sometimes, the freeze response occurs when fight-or-flight is not an option. Sometimes, it may be followed by a fight-or-flight response. 

A freeze state may also happen in situations where we feel helpless. Examples of this include zoning out at a toxic workplace when quitting a job is not an option, using maladaptive coping mechanisms like drinking or binge-eating to cope with a dysfunctional relationship we feel we can’t leave, doomscrolling at the end of the day to deal with lack of work-life balance and so on. 

The freeze response is a state of immobilization which is associated with depression. We know that individuals who are living with depression often lack the motivation or energy to do things. Many tend to oversleep. We are now learning that this inactivity may be a freeze response, and may require the individual to work through the trauma that has contributed to this. 

The Fawn Response

Someone I know grew up with a volatile parent. Whenever the parent would have an anger outburst, this person would adjust their behaviour to appease the parent. They would do a wide array of things like doing extra homework, picking up chores around the house, and even paying compliments to the parent, all to calm the parent down. 

Now, as an adult, they struggle with any expression of anger in their friends or partners. Anger or volatile mood brings up the same fawn response where these individuals feel they need to do something to please or appease the friend or partner. 

The characteristic feature of a fawn trauma response is people pleasing, and the intention is to restore a feeling of safety in the situation or relationship. 

Fawning is most commonly seen in the interpersonal context, and may include the following:

• Having a hard time saying no or setting boundaries 
• Putting one’s own needs on the back burner in order to please the other 
• Paying compliments and downplaying the other person’s flaws to please them 
• Neglecting one’s responsibilities (like work and other relationships) in order to please someone 
• Doing things one doesn’t want to do to keep the other person happy 

How to Identify Your Trauma Response

While we may show a combination of the four trauma responses, one may be more dominant than the other. To identify your trauma response, you can refer to this simple cheat sheet: 

Remember that the purpose of a trauma response is to help us feel safe. While it may do that in the short term, it does not always help us resolve the issue. Often, trauma responses continue well after the threat has passed. If this is the case, our trauma response may no longer be useful and may be keeping us from experiencing our lives in a richer and fuller way.

Symptoms of Being Stuck in Fight, Flight, Freeze, or Fawn Mode

We are complex beings and trauma can show up in many different ways for us, regardless of the type of trauma response that’s dominant for us. Symptoms of being stuck in a trauma response may include the following

Psychological or emotional signs 

• Not being able to stop thinking about the traumatic experience, or being “haunted by it”
• Avoiding places, people or situations that remind us of the traumatic experience 
• Having emotional responses that seem inappropriate or out of proportion to the situation at hand. One of the symptoms of being stuck in fight or flight mode is having combative or defensive responses in situations where it seems unwarranted. 
• Inability to feel joy or pleasure. This is one of the common freeze mode symptoms.  

Physical and behavioural signs 

• Being easily startled 
• Self-destructive and high-risk behaviour like excessive drinking and using other substances, binge eating or self-harm 
• Physical signs of anxiety like sweating, rapid heart rate, breathlessness and headaches 
• Exhaustion or fatigue 

The Impact of Trauma Responses on Mental Health

When we are exposed to a threat, it is healthy and adaptive to have a response to it. In some cases, we may need to fight. In other cases, it may be wise to escape the situation. Sometimes, people-pleasing tactics can get us out of tricky situations, and sometimes, hypervigilance can help us be better prepared. But, the aim is always to resolve the situation and tackle the threat at hand. 

If we are chronically under threat and hence, in a trauma state, this can lead to several mental health issues. As we discussed above, we are now learning that depression can sometimes be a result of chronic trauma. Other mental health conditions that are associated with trauma include PTSD, complex PTSD, anxiety, acute stress disorder and adjustment disorder. 

Chronic trauma can also lead to changes in our relational patterns, impacting how we show up in both personal and professional relationships. It can reduce our confidence and self-esteem. Research is also showing that chronic trauma increases the likelihood of many physical illnesses including diabetes, hypertension, stroke and cancer. 

Coping Strategies for Managing Trauma Responses

Managing trauma responses involves establishing a sense of safety. Sometimes, we may be psychologically safe but our body may continue to feel under threat. Coping with trauma responses, then, requires a combination of mind and body practices. Some of these include: 

• Establish a safe relationship - If you can not restore a feeling of safety in a relationship that may be causing trauma, find another relationship (a friend, family member or a therapist) with whom you feel safe 
• Do physical practices that activate the parasympathetic nervous system - Trauma activates our sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for all the biological changes needed to deal with a threat. To restore a sense of safety in the body, it is important to activate the parasympathetic nervous system. Activities like yoga, swimming, walking, stretching and breathing exercises relax the body, and with time, the mind too. 
• Take on a creative activity - Creative and arts-based activities like painting, sculpting, pottery or writing can help us express what we feel. Creativity can also help us deal with feelings of helplessness and hopelessness and revive a sense of hope and confidence in our ability to think in new ways. 
• Introduce play in your life - In his book, The Body Keeps The Score, Bessel Van Der Kolk emphasises the importance of introducing play in one’s life in order to get out of the trauma response. Trauma robs us of our ability to feel joy, and introducing playful activities like game nights or dancing can help us reconnect with that. 
• Be patient with yourself - If we are chronically stuck in a trauma response, learning to regulate ourselves and respond differently to situations that are not threatening can take time and practice. Remember to be patient with yourself on this journey. 
• Seek therapy - A lot of our trauma responses are unconscious. Meaning, they are almost automatic and we may not be conscious of why we respond in the way that we do. Therapy can be extremely useful in gaining insight into our behaviours as well as learning new ways to deal with situations that make us feel empowered. Learn more about how to find the right therapist who is the right fit for you.

When to Seek Professional Help

If you’re wondering when to seek help for trauma, here are some things you can consider - 

• If you’re stuck in an emotional or behavioural pattern that is not helping you 
• If you find yourself being combative or defensive in relationships
• If you avoid situations that cause anxiety or discomfort 
• If people-pleasing is something you do often 
• If you lack motivation, energy or will to do things 
• If you are not able to feel joy in activities 

Trauma response treatment helps you understand and process the impact of the trauma, gain insight into your patterns, and helps you find ways to feel more empowered. Support groups can also be a useful space to learn from the experiences of others, and find new and empowered ways of being. 

Conclusion

A trauma response is our emotional response to an event. If something exceeds our capacity to cope, it may elicit a trauma response. Trauma responses are broadly put into four categories - fight, flight, freeze or fawn. While in the short term, sometimes, a trauma response can help us tackle the threat, staying stuck in this state can have an impact on our mental and physical well-being. It’s important to seek help and restore a sense of safety and empowerment if we’ve experienced any form of trauma. 

FAQs About Trauma Responses

What are the fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses?

Fight, flight, freeze and fawn responses are the four trauma responses. In fight response, we take on a combative or defensive stance. In-flight response, we may want to escape or deny the situation. In freeze response, we are stuck and immobilized. In fawn response, we may make attempts to please or appease the other person. 

How do I know which trauma response I have?

Here’s a cheat sheet to identify which trauma response you have - 

Can trauma responses change over time?

If the threat has passed and we are in a safe environment, trauma responses tend to decrease over time. However, if a certain coping mechanism has helped us in one threatening situation, we are likely to resort to the same or similar mechanism in the future as well. 

Are trauma responses linked to mental health disorders?

Chronic trauma can lead to mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, or adjustment disorder. 

What are effective ways to manage trauma responses?

Some ways to manage trauma responses include: 

• Restoring the feeling of safety 
• Relaxation exercises 
• Creative activities 
• Seeking social support 

Citations

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