LESSER KNOWN STRESS RESPONSES, DECODED
You have likely heard of the notion of “fight or flight.” It has become a common expression, and it describes the manner in which our bodies respond to situations that they read as threatening. The idea is that we either go into attack mode or run away to neutralize or escape the danger.
Fight and flight are two manifestations of our body’s acute stress response, a survival system that humans and other mammals have developed to allow swift reactions to dangerous or life-threatening situations. Acute stress responses occur when a physical danger presents itself and ideally turn off once that danger has passed and safety has been reestablished.
What many people don’t realize, however, is that fight and flight are not the only forms our stress response can take. Also available to us are the lesser known but equally important freeze, flop, and fawn responses. Keep reading to learn more about what these responses are, why they exist, and why all stress responses are equally valid.
What Are Freeze, Flop, and Fawn?
The freeze response involves stiffening up, going quiet, and entering a state of immobility. A familiar animal example of the freeze response is a deer in the headlights. The flop (sometimes also referred to as collapse) response is a last-ditch manifestation of the freeze response that involves complete physical and mental deactivation through fainting or going unconscious.
As described by Medical News Today, the freeze response has several reasons for being. Freezing can give the brain a chance to assess a situation and decide how to respond. It can also enable someone to hide or cause an aggressor to lose interest, such as when an animal “plays dead” to be less appealing to a predator. Lastly, freeze responses can relate to dissociation, protecting a person from fully absorbing the physical and emotional impact of a traumatic or distressing event as it is happening through allowing them to disconnect from reality or from their body.
The fawn response entails trying to appease a threatening person as a means to stop them from harming you. Forms of fawning include trying to please, flatter, soothe, bargain, or beg. Fawning often occurs when fighting or fleeing are impossible or unsuccessful. Freezing and fawning responses in general are more likely in situations in which there is a large power or strength differential between the people involved, such as when a parent is abusing a child.
Why There Is No Hierarchy of Stress Responses
I have found in my clinical practice that many people tend to think of some stress responses as superior to others. There can be a perception that fight responses, for instance, are somehow better or braver than responses like freezing or fawning. It can be a source of self-judgment or even shame for some people who have endured traumatic events to feel like the manner in which their stress response activated was in some way incorrect or indicative of personal weakness.
This line of thought is unfair and inaccurate. All five manifestations of the stress response are useful, important, and help ensure our survival and safety. Further, we do not get any choice in what stress response our bodies enter during traumatic circumstances. These responses are instinctive and automatic; our bodies just do whatever they sense will work to best protect us in that moment. There is no wrong way to react during a traumatic event, and practicing self-compassion and non-judgment around these reactions can be a protective factor against the later development of PTSD.
If you have experienced trauma and struggle to understand or accept how you responded during these events, trauma therapy can be of service in helping you reach a place of peace. Contact me today if you would like to learn more.
