Survival instincts uncovered: Understanding fight flight freeze fawn

In life-threatening situations, our bodies respond in ways that aim to ensure our survival. Common survival responses are fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. 

Biological instincts within our autonomic nervous system, specifically the sympathetic nervous system, prepare us to confront, flee from, ignore, or appease a source that represents potential harm. 

For individuals who’ve experienced trauma, the associated neural pathways in our brains can become particularly sensitive to real or perceived threats. Such hyperawareness can lead to challenges in managing stress responses and potentially contribute to conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

In this article, we will explore what distinguishes the four prevalent stress responses from one another, their corresponding mental health implications, and how online therapy can help people regulate emotions in the face of stressors.                  

Understanding the acute stress response

The fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses are part of our acute stress response. 

When faced with a threat, the body activates its sympathetic nervous system, releasing stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol that prepare us to act quickly. To protect us from harm, this response is automatic and not within our conscious control.        

Fight response

The fight response activates when we perceive a threat we believe we can overcome. The body prepares for confrontation, often resulting in heightened alertness, increased heart rate, and focused attention. This response can serve us well in certain circumstances, but if triggered excessively or inappropriately, it can contribute to aggression, impulsivity, and challenges in our mental health.

For example, someone could tap you on the shoulder while riding in a packed subway car. Someone displaying the fight response may be primed for aggression, perceiving the threat as coming from someone who intends to harm. This response often stems from having experienced similar impactful moments associated with trauma, such as physical or sexual assault.

Flight response

The flight response occurs when we perceive a threat we believe we can escape by running away, often literally. Our bodies prepare for quick movement, which may cause increased heart rate, rapid breathing, and a rush of energy. Like the fight response, this can protect us in appropriate contexts but can lead to anxiety, restlessness, or avoidance behaviors when overactivated.

An appropriate flight response may look like coming across a snake and noticing it is coiled in a defensive position with its fangs bared. 

Many people would experience a quick engagement of the flight response and start backing away to avoid a potentially fatal bite. 

Freeze response

While fight and flight are the two most commonly referenced stress responses, the freeze response may be just as common. In the freeze response, we perceive a threat but assess that neither fighting nor fleeing may be an option. This response can be akin to “playing dead” to make us less noticeable to the threat. 

Physically, the freeze response may involve reduced movement and slowed breathing. When frequently activated, especially in response to past trauma, the freeze response can contribute to feelings of paralysis, difficulty making decisions, and depressive symptoms.

Fawn response

The fawn response may be triggered when we perceive a threat we believe we can appease or placate. It involves behaviors aimed at pleasing others, defusing conflict, or seeking approval. 

While this can be adaptive in certain circumstances, chronic activation can lead to behaviors such as people-pleasing, difficulty setting boundaries, and low self-esteem.

Fawning may look like childhood trauma where a child does everything to appease an angry parent as a way to avoid their lashouts and “survive” in their environment. This behavior may translate to adulthood, where pleasing others becomes a coping mechanism to avoid the anger, disappointment, or rejection of others. 

In a workplace scenario, an employee might fawn in front of an intimidating supervisor to avoid toxic behaviors such as public shaming or unfair treatment.

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Mental health implications

Chronic activation of any of these stress responses can lead to mental health conditions. For instance, chronic fight or flight responses can contribute to anxiety disorders, while a frequent freeze response may be associated with depression. Fawning, if overused, can lead to relational difficulties and low self-esteem.

The acute stress response system can become significantly dysregulated in individuals who’ve experienced significant trauma. These individuals may respond with fight, flight, freeze, or fawn responses in situations that aren’t genuinely threatening. This quickness to enter the fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response can often be seen in PTSD, where reminders of past trauma can trigger these survival responses, leading to significant distress and impairment.

If you or someone you know seems to be struggling with these stress responses, and they’re interfering with daily life or linked to past trauma, it can be beneficial to reach out to a mental health professional. Therapists and counselors are trained to help individuals understand and manage these responses and can provide strategies to manage them.

It can help to remember that our fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses aren’t “wrong.” These responses are survival mechanisms humans have evolved to protect us as a species. 

However, when these responses become our default, especially when triggered by non-threatening situations or reminders of past trauma, they can contribute to emotional distress and impact our mental health. Understanding our tendencies can be the first step in navigating stressors.

Online therapy for addressing trauma responses

Online therapy can be an excellent resource for individuals grappling with overactive trauma responses. 

With its convenience, individuals can receive support from the comfort of their own homes. Online therapy provides a sense of boundaries that can reduce the stigma often associated with seeking psychological help. 

This therapy mode also facilitates consistent treatment attendance and provides the opportunity to find a broader range of therapists who may specialize in trauma and stress-related disorders.

Studies suggest that online therapy can be as effective as traditional face-to-face therapy for many conditions, including trauma and stress-related disorders. Patient satisfaction was often higher in online therapy groups than in face-to-face groups. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), in particular, has shown effectiveness in online formats for managing symptoms of PTSD and retraining stress responses.