When we think about responses to trauma or danger, the classic “fight-or-flight” reaction often comes to mind. This well-known concept, first identified by physiologist Walter Cannon in the early 20th century, describes how our nervous system primes us to either confront a threat or escape it. However, as our understanding of trauma deepens, it becomes clear that the fight-or-flight model is incomplete. For many trauma survivors, their instinctive response goes beyond these two options. Freezing and fawning — lesser-known but equally powerful trauma responses — deserve attention for the crucial role they play in survival, especially in situations where fighting or fleeing are not viable.
The Freeze Response: When Survival Means Immobilization
Freezing, as the name suggests, occurs when an individual becomes paralyzed by fear—both physically and emotionally. In a moment of overwhelming threat, the body and mind can enter a state of temporary shutdown, where the ability to act, move, or even think clearly is suspended. Freezing is not simply indecision; it’s an involuntary survival mechanism, rooted in the body’s instinct to avoid detection by appearing lifeless or motionless, much like animals who "play dead" when cornered by a predator.
What does freezing look like in trauma survivors?
Emotional Numbness: Survivors may describe feeling disconnected from their emotions, as if they are watching their life from a distance. This dissociation is a hallmark of the freeze response, where overwhelming fear or helplessness causes the mind to shut down feelings as a protective measure.
Paralysis in Decision-Making: Those who experience freeze responses often struggle with making decisions, especially in moments of stress. They feel stuck, unable to move forward or change their circumstances, even when they intellectually recognize the need to act.
Dissociation: Dissociative episodes can manifest as feeling detached from reality or oneself. In the context of trauma, this can be a coping mechanism to shield the individual from the full emotional weight of their experiences.
The freeze response is particularly common among those who have endured complex trauma, such as ongoing abuse, where the possibility of fleeing or fighting back is either impossible or extremely dangerous. Peter Levine, a leading expert in trauma therapy, has extensively studied how the body stores unprocessed trauma. His work in Somatic Experiencing emphasizes that when the body cannot complete the fight-or-flight action, it may remain "frozen," storing unresolved tension that can manifest later as chronic stress or anxiety disorders.
The Fawn Response: Survival Through Submission
The fawn response, first described by psychotherapist Pete Walker in his work on Complex PTSD, is a lesser-known but critical component of the trauma spectrum. In contrast to fighting, fleeing, or freezing, fawning involves placating or appeasing the source of threat in order to reduce harm. This response often develops in individuals who have been subjected to long-term abuse, particularly in childhood, where the abuser held significant power. Over time, fawning becomes a learned survival strategy—one rooted in an attempt to maintain safety by pleasing or pacifying the abuser.
What does fawning look like?
People-Pleasing: Individuals who default to the fawn response often go to great lengths to avoid conflict or displease others, even at the cost of their own needs. They become hyper-aware of the emotions and desires of those around them, working tirelessly to accommodate or placate others as a means of staying safe.
Difficulty Setting Boundaries: For trauma survivors who fawn, setting boundaries can feel dangerous. They may fear that asserting their own needs or desires will provoke anger or rejection from others. In therapeutic settings, we frequently observe clients who struggle to say "no" or ask for what they truly want, even in healthy relationships.
Codependency: Fawning behaviours often lead to codependent dynamics, where the individual’s sense of self-worth becomes entangled in meeting the needs of others. This pattern is particularly common in survivors of relational trauma, who may have learned that their safety depended on minimizing their own needs to avoid conflict.
Fawning, while often misunderstood, is a deeply adaptive response in abusive or oppressive environments. It allows individuals to diffuse tension and prevent further harm by aligning themselves with the needs or desires of the abuser. In adulthood, however, these patterns can persist, resulting in an inability to advocate for oneself or establish autonomy in relationships.
Why Freezing and Fawning Matter in Trauma-Informed Therapy
As a psychotherapist specializing in trauma, I often see clients who feel confused or ashamed of these responses, especially when they perceive themselves as “weak” for not fighting back or fleeing. It’s essential to recognize that these responses — freezing and fawning — are not failures of willpower. They are highly adaptive survival strategies, finely tuned to the specific threats that individuals faced during traumatic experiences.
For many, especially those who have experienced long-term or complex trauma, these responses develop because fighting or fleeing simply weren’t options. Freezing may have kept them from overwhelming pain, while fawning may have diffused immediate danger by pleasing the abuser or minimizing conflict. These behaviours are not signs of weakness but of resilience in the face of unthinkable adversity.
In trauma-informed therapy, recognizing these responses allows us to approach healing with compassion and nuance. When we understand that freezing and fawning are rooted in survival, we can begin to help clients gently unwind these patterns. Techniques such as Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Prolonged Exposure (PE), and Somatic Experiencing (SE) offer ways to process and release the frozen tension or ingrained people-pleasing behaviours that can linger long after the original trauma has passed. Through guided therapeutic work, clients can learn to replace these automatic responses with healthier, more adaptive strategies that allow for greater emotional freedom and self-empowerment.
Final Thoughts
Understanding freezing and fawning is so important in our comprehension of how trauma affects the mind and body. These responses remind us that survival takes many forms, and each form reflects the unique needs and challenges faced by individuals during their trauma. If you're a therapist reading this, keep in mind that recognizing the full spectrum of trauma responses enables us to offer more tailored and compassionate care, honouring the ways in which our clients have protected themselves in their darkest moments. As we move forward, we can help them reclaim their autonomy, heal from the past, and develop the skills needed to thrive in the present.
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