The 4 Types of Trauma Responses

This content has been updated from previous article posted July 3, 2023

When people encounter threatening or high-stress situations, their bodies often react automatically with what’s known as the “fight or flight” response. This instinctive reaction has helped humans survive dangerous situations throughout history. Whether it’s facing a wild animal, experiencing a traumatic event, or navigating overwhelming stress, the brain and body shift into survival mode.

This automatic response is triggered by perceived threats to one’s safety—whether physical or psychological—and can result in intense fear, anxiety, and physiological changes. Over time, particularly in individuals who have experienced ongoing trauma or high-stress environments, these responses can become ingrained patterns of behavior.

To better understand these responses, let’s take a look at an example of how this could come to life. If you happen to find yourself face-to-face with a tiger, would you be more likely to take out a weapon and fight? Or would you lace up your best running shoes and run away – taking flight? Both reactions are considered normal for different types of people. However, there’s more to the story. In today’s society, it’s highly unlikely you will have to face a tiger, but traumatic events that involve actual or threatened death, serious injury, or threat to one’s physical or psychological well-being can sometimes lead to the development of traumatic disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These events can overwhelm a person’s ability to cope, causing intense fear, helplessness, or horror.

Defining The Four F’s of Trauma Response

The four “F’s” of trauma response are commonly referred to as the four primary adaptive responses that individuals may exhibit when faced with threatening or abusive situations.

These various trauma responses may have been learned as a means of survival in childhood, abusive relationships, or severe trauma. The type of response then reoccurs later in life as a default every time the person faces anything they perceive as a threat.

There are four types of trauma responses:

  • Fight
  • Flight
  • Freeze
  • Fawn

These four types of trauma responses can manifest in different ways for different people. For example, a healthy fight response may look like having firm boundaries, while an unhealthy fight response may be explosive anger. In an ideal situation, an individual should be able to access healthy parts of all four types of trauma responses.

By taking this step, you increase the chance that you will be able to face a difficult situation and choose what kind of response works best at that moment, rather than defaulting to learned behaviors that may have been more negative in the past.

Having an understanding of each of these types of trauma responses can help you understand your own behaviors. It’s necessary to have this understanding in order to take the first step toward changing your behavioral patterns and begin the healing process. By taking this step, you increase the chance that you will be able to face a difficult situation and choose what kind of response works best at that moment, rather than defaulting to learned behaviors that may have been more negative in the past.

Understanding The Fight Trauma Response

The fight response is self-preservation. For people using it, it doesn’t matter who they hurt in the process. In some cases, the fight response is helpful and healthy. For example, if a wild animal threatens you and you shoot or trap it, you have responded to the threat in an appropriate way. Similarly, if someone speaks to you in a condescending or abusive way, you might say, “I won’t let you speak to me that way,” which is a healthy fight response.

When used in a positive way, the fight trauma response can help you:

  • Create boundaries
  • Be assertive
  • Find courage
  • Become a strong leader
  • Protect yourself (and loved ones) when necessary

However, when someone has been exposed to intense trauma over time, the fight response can become unhealthy. For some people, it may feel as though the threat of the tiger never went away. As a result, they find themselves always feeling as though they are on high alert, ready to fight.

An unhealthy fight trauma response can result in:

  • Controlling behaviors
  • Narcissistic tendencies
  • Bullying
  • Conduct disorder
  • Demanding perfection from others
  • Feelings of entitlement

Sometimes unhealthy fight responses turn inward. People can feel incredibly angry with themselves for seemingly no reason.

If you have had unhealthy fight responses in the past, take a moment to be compassionate with yourself. You may have learned these behaviors in order to survive and be safe. That’s okay, but it’s important to recognize that you don’t need to respond this way forever. Therapy can be an excellent tool for changing our behavioral patterns, even the ones that are deeply ingrained.

Understanding The Flight Trauma Response

When the threat seems impossible to defeat in a fight, a person may default to leaving the situation entirely. That is the flight trauma response. Similarly to the fight response, flight can be either healthy or unhealthy.

In healthy situations, a flight response to stress can help you:

  • Disengage from harmful conversations
  • Leave unhealthy relationships
  • Remove yourself from physically dangerous situations
  • Properly assess danger

The flight response is an important one to be able to access in a healthy way. This is so that you will be able to sense real danger and leave it when possible. However, people with unresolved trauma may perceive everything as a danger, leading to unhealthy flight responses.

When trauma is involved, an unhealthy flight response may lead to:

  • Obsessive or compulsive tendencies
  • Needing to stay busy at all times
  • Panic and constant fear
  • Perfectionism
  • Workaholic tendencies
  • An inability to sit still

The majority of the responses listed above are attempts to outrun or out-work the perceived danger.

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Understanding The Freeze Response

Though not as common as fight and flight, the freeze response is one with which many people are familiar. In nature, you might recognize it as “playing possum” – a term that is used to describe an animal playing dead or asleep when threatened. When applied to people, an individual will pause instead of trying to fight the danger or run away.

In a healthy freeze, the response can look like:

  • Mindfulness
  • Awareness
  • Full presence in the moment

As with the other stress responses, the freeze response can become unhealthy when trauma is involved. For example, a child who has an abusive parent may be as still and quiet as possible to avoid the parent’s wrath. Or someone may become so overwhelmed by fear in a threatening situation that they cannot move away from the threat.

When someone habitually reacts to stress with an unhealthy freeze response, it can cause:

  • Dissociation
  • Isolation
  • Frequent “zoning out”
  • Brain fog
  • Difficulty making decisions or taking actions
  • Perceived laziness
  • Fear of achieving or trying new things

Some people get stuck in this pattern of freezing because they fear the danger will still exist when they “thaw.” It’s important to learn healthy ways to deal with a real or perceived danger, rather than completely shutting down. A licensed therapist can help you learn to use the freeze response in a healthy way.

Understanding The Fawn Trauma Response

Fawning is the least known trauma response, and it is primarily related to appeasing the threat to avoid conflict or harm. It is also called the “please and appease” response and is associated with people-pleasing behaviors. Individuals who spend time around toxic people often learn to attune to their moods and go above and beyond to anticipate and fulfill their needs, thus neutralizing potential threats.

In some cases, fawning can be productive. For example, if you throw a piece of meat at a dog that is chasing you, you just might distract them long enough to use your flight response and escape the situation. Individuals with a fawn trauma response tend to be highly attuned to the emotions and needs of others. This sensitivity can enable them to empathize deeply with others’ experiences and provide support or comfort. Their ability to understand and connect with others’ emotions may foster compassion and create a nurturing environment for those in need. In addition, if individuals have experienced abusive or dangerous situations in the past, the fawn response may serve as a strategy to minimize potential harm or maintain their physical and emotional safety. While this response may not always be healthy or sustainable, it can initially provide a sense of protection.

It’s important to note that while these positive effects may exist in certain contexts, the fawn trauma response can still pose challenges and hinder personal growth and well-being. Over time, excessive people-pleasing, self-neglect, and the suppression of one’s own, authentic needs can lead to emotional exhaustion, codependency, and a loss of personal agency.

The Lasting Impact of Trauma

Trauma can leave traces that long outlive the memory of the event. These effects go far beyond emotional pain. Trauma can disrupt the body’s natural systems, compromising the immune system, sparking inflammation, and, according to some research, contributing to autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis. It may also cause chronic muscle pain, disturb sleep cycles, and drive up blood pressure—all of which can severely affect quality of life.

Working with a therapist or counselor who specializes in trauma disorders and PTSD specifically can be beneficial for individuals who exhibit an unhealthy trauma response. They can help explore healthier coping strategies, establish boundaries, and develop self-compassion and assertiveness skills. The goal is to strike a balance between empathetic and compassionate behaviors towards others while prioritizing one’s own well-being and authentic self-expression.

Treatment options for traumatic disorders like PTSD include psychotherapy, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), as well as medication in some cases. Seeking professional help is crucial for individuals who are struggling with the impact of a stressful event and experiencing ongoing distress.

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Key Takeaways Key Takeaways

  • Trauma responses are survival mechanisms. The four primary trauma responses—fight, flight, freeze, and fawn—are adaptive patterns developed in response to perceived threats and can become ingrained behaviors over time.

  • Fight: The Protector Instinct: This response channels energy into confronting the threat head-on. In healthy form, it shows up as assertiveness and boundary-setting. In its unhealthy form, it may become controlling, angry, or aggressive—often rooted in a constant sense of danger.

  • Flight: The Escape Plan: Flight involves fleeing from danger, whether physically or emotionally. It can look healthy when used to leave harmful environments, but unprocessed trauma can turn it into anxiety, perfectionism, or the urge to stay constantly busy to avoid perceived threats.

  • Freeze: The Survival Pause: Freeze is the body’s way of becoming still in the face of overwhelming fear. Mindfulness and reflection are healthy expressions, but chronic freezing may lead to dissociation, inaction, and mental fog as a result of past trauma.

  • Fawn: The Peacekeeper Mode: Fawning is a people-pleasing response to stay safe by appeasing others. While empathy and compassion are strengths, unhealthy fawning can result in self-neglect, blurred boundaries, and difficulty asserting one’s needs.

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LifeStance Health

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