What is a Trauma Response?

Trauma can be a life-altering occurrence. As much as anyone hopes to avoid it, there’s no way to control if or when it happens.

When a traumatic event does occur, your body goes through something called a trauma response. In its simplest form, it’s a means for self-preservation and survival.

Common Trauma Responses

Fight or flight are the two most commonly acknowledged trauma responses. Over the recent years, a couple more have been added to that list. Fight, flight, freeze, and fawn are all short-lived survival mechanisms to get you through a stressful situation.

The Fight Response

When faced with a threat, your body prepares to fight without even thinking. Fight, for this purpose, isn’t necessarily literal; it could simply mean facing the situation head-on. In some instances, it may mean a physical fight, though.

If you’re involved in a robbery or a physical attack, your first instinct may be to fight back. On the other hand, you may encounter someone who says something insulting, and rather than walk away, you fire your own comment back.

When your brain becomes triggered by the perception of a threat, hormones are released. Resources in your body are rerouted away from non-essential organs and allocated to essential processes needed for the fight.

The Flight Response

For the flight response, your brain perceives a threat and prepares your body to flee. Similar to the fight response, this can be literal or figurative.

In the above instance of an attacker, your automatic response is to run and hide. Hormones are released, and your body is prepared to do what it needs to do to exit the situation.

Figuratively speaking, flight can be emotional and manifest in avoidant behavior. Maybe you ignore the commentary or choose not to address the situation at all, regardless of how much it may bother you.

The Freeze Response

Unlike either of the above responses, a freeze response involves your body shutting down. Your brain becomes so overwhelmed by the stress or trauma that it causes functioning to cease immediately.

This response is more likely to occur if the triggering event is unexpected and high on the severity scale. Your amygdala misfires momentarily, and essential body processes skip a beat. Usually, the freeze response doesn’t last for too long.

The Fawn Response

A fawn response is a strategy in which you attempt to please or appease the stimulus to maintain a level of safety. This is a more common response when you struggle with asserting yourself, exhibit people-pleasing behaviors, or have difficulty setting boundaries.

An example of a fawn response is being in a relationship with an abusive partner. In order to stay out of harm’s way, you’re more inclined to do certain actions to appease that partner.

Additional Trauma Responses

Aside from the four main responses, a few more are lesser known but differ slightly from the others.

The Fine, Flag, and Faint Responses

A fine response is the denial of an event that’s happening or a triggering situation. You try to protect yourself from harm by avoiding any acknowledgment that something bad is happening.

A flag response is similar to the sentiment of waving the white flag. When faced with a traumatic situation, your mind and body go numb, your cognitive processes decline, and you give in to whatever is happening.

A faint response, or vasovagal response, is when you pass out in response to an event. Your heart rate briefly drops, and you faint.

Finding Healing

There is no right or wrong way to respond to trauma because each situation has its own circumstances. In that moment, you do what your body needs to survive.

Unfortunately, each has potential drawbacks and should be addressed. Trauma in itself should be addressed professionally to ensure proper healing.

If you or a loved one has experienced a traumatic event, help is available. Contact us to schedule and appointment to learn more.

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