Understanding Trauma Response Types
When we experience trauma, our mind and body respond to the feelings of being unsafe or threatened. The way our mind and body responds is our brain activating survival systems designed to protect us. These are known as trauma responses: fight, flight, freeze, and fawn.
These responses are rooted in our biology, hardwired through evolution to help humans survive danger. While they can be life-saving in the moment, repeated activation, especially in situations where danger is ongoing or the threat is more emotional than physical, can shape how we react to stress long after the original trauma has passed.
Let’s break down each response, why it happens, and what’s going on in the brain when it does.
1. Fight: Confronting the Threat
What it looks like:
Anger or irritability
Defensiveness or aggression
The urge to argue, push back, or physically defend yourself
The fight response prepares your body to face danger head-on. Your sympathetic nervous system releases a rush of stress hormone, adrenaline and cortisol, triggering increased heart rate, tense muscles, and sharper focus. In the brain, the amygdala (the alarm system) signals a threat, while the prefrontal cortex, responsible for logical thinking, may temporarily go offline so you can act quickly without overthinking.
Why it’s a trauma response:
If you’ve experienced situations where you needed to stand your ground to survive, physically or emotionally, your body might default to fight mode even in non-life-threatening situations, like arguments with a partner or feedback from a boss.
2. Flight: Escaping the Danger
What it looks like:
Feeling restless or trapped
Overworking or staying constantly busy to avoid feelings
Physically leaving a room or situation
Anxiety and panic symptoms
The flight response is about getting away from danger as quickly as possible. In the brain, the amygdala detects a threat and triggers the sympathetic nervous system to prepare your legs and lungs for escape. Blood flow increases to muscles, breathing quickens, and your vision narrows.
Why it’s a trauma response:
If you’ve survived trauma by avoiding confrontation or physically leaving unsafe environments, your nervous system may have learned that escape equals safety. In everyday life, this can look like avoiding difficult conversations, commitment, or vulnerability.
3. Freeze: Becoming Still or “Shutting Down”
What it looks like:
Feeling paralyzed
Dissociation or “spacing out”
Feeling numb or disconnected from your body
Difficulty making decisions
The freeze response kicks in when your brain senses you can’t successfully fight or flee. Here, the dorsal vagal branch of the parasympathetic nervous system takes over. This slows heart rate, lowers blood pressure, and can create a sense of numbness or detachment. The brain may release endogenous opioids, natural painkillers, to blunt emotional and physical pain.
Why it’s a trauma response:
In situations of inescapable danger, staying still or mentally checking out may have increased survival odds, like “playing dead” in nature. But later in life, freeze can show up as procrastination, emotional numbness, or shutting down under stress.
4. Fawn: Appeasing to Avoid Harm
What it looks like:
People-pleasing to prevent conflict
Over-apologizing
Ignoring your own needs to keep others happy
Difficulty saying “no”
The fawn response is less widely known but equally rooted in survival. It’s a strategy where you try to neutralize a threat by pleasing or appeasing the source of danger. This can involve mirroring someone’s behavior, agreeing to things you don’t want, or quickly forgiving harmful actions.
In the brain, this often involves overactivation of social engagement systems, the ventral vagal branch, combined with heightened amygdala alertness. Your body still senses danger, but instead of running or fighting, you use connection as a shield.
Why it’s a trauma response:
If you grew up in an environment where safety depended on keeping others happy, such as with an unpredictable caregiver, your nervous system may equate harmony with survival.
