We all naturally respond to trauma in a certain way. We either Fight Flight Freeze or Fawn

Here I will describe each of them with a list of some of the traits and characteristics of each one.  

In my previous articles, I described what Complex Post Traumatic Stress disorder – CPTSD is and what its symptoms are.  CPTSD is a psychological disorder that can happen when a child is exposed to repeated interpersonal trauma i.e. trauma experienced from care providers, mainly our parents, to the child. 

It can happen in order situations in particular where there is power imbalance such as some relationships, in certain types of prisons etc. As my blog is mainly supporting people who have experienced trauma as a child, I will be referring to childhood experiences here. 

We all naturally respond to trauma in a certain way. We have inbuilt instincts that are triggered to help us survive. With that being said, our brains cannot distinguish between running from a pack of lions to experiencing trauma as a child. 

Trauma is just trauma. As a child, you have a basic biological need for safety and security. If this is compromised either because of emotional, spiritual, physical or sexual abuse, this could force you as a child to start behaving in ways to escape, control the situation or to try and avoid it. This is a natural response to the stress and trauma you were experiencing.

Remember, when you are looking at trauma, it is really important to put yourself in the position of a child. For example, if you were repeatedly let down and ignored as a child aged four, as an adult now you might say it is not a big deal. 

However, if you try to imagine what a four-year-old would be thinking and feeling at the time, a child at that age would not have the worldliness to make sense of what is happening. 

All you would feel or believe is that you would have done something wrong, “it’s all my fault”. You would start doing things to make themselves feel better. You might start to fight or act out, or even go as far as working out how to try and be as kind and helpful as they can to the person that has hurt you, that let you down. Just to try and get their approval.

You would not do this consciously. As a child you would not have had the verbal skills to talk about it, never mind work out what to do for the best.  For example, if you find yourself as a people pleaser. Maybe as a child you got attention by being extra helpful. If it got you some attention, even if it was negative, you would start to repeat that behaviour to get more of the attention you needed.

That behaviour would have been constantly repeated until it becomes part of your habits and behaviours. This would especially happen if the trauma was repeated. You would respond in a certain way in an attempt to get your needs met and to survive.

You could respond to stress in any one of these four ways

Fight

Flight

Freeze

Fawn

When you experience stress or trauma, you all automatically gravitate to one of those four ways depending on the given situation. For example, if you saw a tiger in the middle of the city centre, most of us would run (in other words flight). Wouldn’t be appropriate to fight, for most of us anyway or even freeze and standstill, or even trying to Fawn by negotiating with a wild animal. We would hopefully respond accordingly.

What happens when we have experienced childhood trauma? You would respond, regardless of the situation with one, maybe two of the Fight, Flight, Freeze or Fawn types. This was a way of coping as a child, but when we carry those behaviours into adulthood, it can cause problems, as you can imagine, for us.

Just to express quite strongly here that these behaviours are learned behaviours in response to your childhood environment. It is not a character flaw or a weakness. You did what you needed to do to survive. 

The great news is that, what was learned back then, can be unlearned and you can learn more helpful behaviours. It starts by understanding yourself a little bit more and trying to recognise what your response type is.

Also, no ONE response is better or worse than the other as we all need to respond in any of the given four types at some time or another. It is OK for you to fight back at times, it is OK to escape from difficult or annoying situations, it is OK to take part in activities that allow you to zone out and be still, and it is OK to be helpful and kind. When you just do one of those all the time, it will cause you difficulties.

When we are fixated on one or two of the four types (will be referred to as 4F types), we may show the following behaviours:

Fight

Flight types believe that with control and power, they will be safe

Unconsciously driven by the belief that power and control can create safety, not feel abandoned and they will secure love.

Narcissistic (extremely self-centered with an exaggerated sense of self-importance)

Aggressive

Passive aggressive

Controlling

Nice – Nasty

Overly demanding

Entitlement

Type A

Bully

Autocratic

Demands Perfection

Shames others

Sociopath

Flight

Flight types unconsciously believe that perfection will make them safe and love-able. They also try to outrun the trauma

Hyperactive

Obsessive

Running away

Compulsive

Compulsive rituals

Hoarding

Panicky

Rushing

Worrying

Driven-ness

Adrenaline junkie

Busyholic

Micromanager

Compelled by perfectionism

Over analytical

Abuses stimulants such as caffeine, chocolate, cocaine etc

Freeze

Freeze types, unconsciously disconnects to stop him or herself from experiencing pain. They could also believe, unconsciously, that people are dangerous

Dissociative

Running away

Hiding

Isolation

Couch Potato

Sleepy

Daydreamer

Critical of others

Space Case

Hermit

Achievement Phobic

Abuses depressants such as Alcohol, opioids, benzodiazepines

Fawn

Fawn types seek safety by integrating with the wishes, needs and demands of others.

Co-dependent

Obsequious

Servitude

Grovelling

Loss of self

People Pleaser

Doormat

Slave

Social perfectionism

D.V. Victim

Class clown

Over listening to others

One sided relationship