What Is the Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn Response?
Why You React the Way You Do Under Stress
Have you ever felt your heart race and hands shake when faced with conflict? Or found yourself completely shutting down in stressful situations? Maybe you’ve caught yourself people-pleasing to avoid tension?
These aren’t personality traits or weaknesses—they're hardwired survival responses controlled by your nervous system.
The fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses are your body’s way of reacting to stress, danger, or trauma. They’re automatic, meaning you don’t consciously choose them—your nervous system does it for you.
Understanding these responses can help you recognize when your body is stuck in survival mode and, more importantly, how to regulate your nervous system for safety and healing.
What Are the Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn Responses?
These four responses are biological survival mechanisms designed to keep you safe when your brain perceives a threat. While helpful in true danger, they can become dysregulated if your nervous system is stuck in high alert due to trauma, chronic stress, or anxiety.
Let’s break them down:
Fight Response: Defending Yourself Against Threats
What it looks like: Anger, defensiveness, irritation, feeling the need to "stand your ground."
Physical signs: Clenched jaw, tense muscles, increased heart rate, adrenaline surge.
Triggered by: Feeling trapped, attacked, or powerless.
Example: You feel criticized at work and immediately react with anger or sharp words, even if it wasn’t meant as an attack.
How to Regulate: Try grounding techniques like deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, or stepping away to cool down before responding.
Flight Response: Escaping the Threat
What it looks like: Restlessness, avoidance, overworking, perfectionism, the need to “outrun” stress.
Physical signs: Racing heart, shallow breathing, jitteriness, an urge to leave.
Triggered by: A sense of danger, overwhelming expectations, fear of failure.
Example: When conflict arises, instead of addressing it, you distract yourself with work, social media, or excessive busyness.
How to Regulate: Use movement-based coping strategies like walking, stretching, or mindful breathing to channel that flight energy in a healthier way.
Freeze Response: The Body’s Shutdown Mode
What it looks like: Feeling stuck, dissociated, emotionally numb, unable to make decisions.
Physical signs: Heavy limbs, slowed heart rate, blank mind, brain fog.
Triggered by: Overwhelming fear, a sense of helplessness, or a past trauma pattern.
Example: You receive bad news and find yourself unable to react, speak, or even process emotions.
How to Regulate: Use gentle sensory activation like holding a warm object, moving your fingers, or focusing on physical sensations to reconnect with your body.
Fawn Response: People-Pleasing to Stay Safe
What it looks like: Over-apologizing, difficulty setting boundaries, prioritizing others over yourself.
Physical signs: Shallow breathing, nervous laughter, tension in shoulders.
Triggered by: Fear of rejection, abandonment, or conflict.
Example: You instinctively agree to something you don’t want to do just to keep the peace or avoid disappointing someone.
How to Regulate: Practice self-compassion and boundary-setting—remind yourself that your needs matter too.
How These Responses Affect Anxiety & Trauma
If you’ve experienced chronic stress or trauma, your nervous system may be stuck in one of these responses even when there’s no real danger.
🚨 Signs Your Nervous System Is Dysregulated:
✅ Feeling constantly on edge (stuck in fight or flight)
✅ Struggling with emotional numbness or detachment (freeze)
✅ Overcommitting or avoiding conflict at all costs (fawn)
Over time, staying in survival mode can lead to burnout, chronic anxiety, relationship struggles, and difficulty feeling safe in your own body.
How to Regulate Your Nervous System & Shift Out of Survival Mode
The good news? Your nervous system can be trained to feel safe again.
Here are science-backed ways to regulate and move back into a calm, connected state:
Build Awareness of Your Triggers
Ask yourself: “Which response do I tend to default to?”
Journaling or tracking when you go into fight, flight, freeze, or fawn can help you catch patterns.
Use Grounding Techniques to Signal Safety
For Fight & Flight: Slow, deep breathing, movement, or humming to calm the nervous system.
For Freeze & Fawn: Gentle self-touch, warm drinks, or sensory engagement to reconnect with the body.
Strengthen Your Vagus Nerve for Nervous System Resilience
The vagus nerve plays a huge role in shifting from survival mode to calm mode. You can strengthen it by:
✔ Humming or singing (activates vagal tone)
✔ Cold water exposure (splash face with cold water or hold an ice pack on your chest)
✔ Co-regulation (spending time with safe, calm people)
Create a “Safe Space” for Nervous System Recovery
Surround yourself with soothing environments, familiar scents, and comforting textures.
Reduce overstimulation (too much noise, screens, or stressful interactions).
Work with a Trauma-Informed Therapist
If your nervous system is stuck in survival mode, therapy can help retrain it to recognize safety again.
Modalities like Somatic Therapy, EMDR, and Polyvagal-Informed Therapy are especially helpful.
You Are Not Broken—Your Nervous System Is Just Protecting You
If you’ve ever judged yourself for shutting down, avoiding conflict, or reacting with anger, take a deep breath—these are all normal survival responses.
Your nervous system isn’t working against you—it’s trying to keep you safe. The goal isn’t to eliminate these responses but to learn how to regulate them and return to balance.
Next Steps:
✅ Identify which response(s) you tend to default to
✅ Try one regulation strategy today to build nervous system safety
✅ Consider therapy to process past trauma and expand your Window of Tolerance
To find out more about my services, click here: Anxiety Therapy
