There are actually 5 of these common responses, including 'freeze', 'flop' and 'friend', as well as 'fight' or 'flight'. The freeze, flop, friend, fight or flight reactions are immediate, automatic and instinctive responses to fear. Understanding them a little might help you make sense of your experiences and feelings.
We actually have 5 hardwired responses to trauma: fight, flight, freeze, flop, and friend. In a moment of danger, these responses all happen automatically to try to keep us safe.
PTSD symptoms are generally grouped into four types: intrusive memories, avoidance, negative changes in thinking and mood, and changes in physical and emotional reactions.
In the most extreme situations, you might have lapses of memory or “lost time.” Schauer & Elbert (2010) refer to the stages of trauma responses as the 6 “F”s: Freeze, Flight, Fight, Fright, Flag, and Faint.
If you have a child, you've experienced this moment–the meltdown.
The fawn response to trauma is not an uncommon one, but it is the newest accepted addition to the primary reactions to perceived danger. The fawn response is when an individual tries to avoid or minimize distress or danger by pleasing and appeasing the threat.
But, when we talk about apologizing, we wrap all of these complex concepts up into a single practice. It's a common trauma-state response to want to avoid conflict. Conflict can feel dangerous.
Emotional Trauma Symptoms
Psychological Concerns: Anxiety and panic attacks, fear, anger, irritability, obsessions and compulsions, shock and disbelief, emotional numbing and detachment, depression, shame and guilt (especially if the person dealing with the trauma survived while others didn't)
A trigger might make you feel helpless, panicked, unsafe, and overwhelmed with emotion. You might feel the same things that you felt at the time of the trauma, as though you were reliving the event. The mind perceives triggers as a threat and causes a reaction like fear, panic, or agitation.
In this episode I explore the 7 Fs of survival response – fight, flight, freeze, faint, fawn, fix, and flop – within the context of some recent and past news items as well as my own experience.
The responses are usually referred to as the 4Fs – Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn and have evolved as a survival mechanism to help us react quickly to life-threatening situations.
A 'flop' response results in a total bodily collapse, which might involve blacking out or loss of consciousness, loss of control over bodily functions or total disorientation. This is also referred to as collapsed immobility where the muscles become all floppy like a ragdoll.
Some unpleasant experiences produce permanent changes in the brain and corresponding shifts in intelligence, emotional reactivity, happiness, sociability, and other traits that used to be thought of as set for life.
Extreme emotional instability is also a sure-tell sign of trauma where the person may express anger or rage, irritability, and other outbursts that are uncharacteristic of their typical behaviors. Therapists often observe emotional mood swings that are difficult to control for the individual.
The UK Trauma Council defines complex trauma as traumatic experiences involving multiple events with interpersonal threats during childhood or adolescence. Such events may include abuse, neglect, interpersonal violence, community violence, racism, discrimination, and war.
Freezing as a response to a threat might seem effective, a sort of “playing dead” in the face of danger; however, in humans freezing manifests as an inability to communicate, react, or take any action of self-preservation or defense.
Therapy (PE Therapy)
(PTSD) education; (2) breathing techniques to reduce the physiological experience of stress; (3) exposure practice with real-world situations; and (4) talking through the trauma.
Initial reactions to trauma can include exhaustion, confusion, sadness, anxiety, agitation, numbness, dissociation, confusion, physical arousal, and blunted affect. Most responses are normal in that they affect most survivors and are socially acceptable, psychologically effective, and self-limited.