The Four Trauma Responses: Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn

Trauma survivors develop different responses to threat and danger based on their individual experiences and what was effective (or seemed necessary) during their traumatic experiences. Pete Walker (2013) identifies four primary trauma responses: fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. These responses represent different strategies the nervous system uses to survive threat and danger.

The Four Responses

Fight

The fight response involves aggressive or confrontational reactions to threats. Fight responses may include:

Anger and aggression: Responding to threats with anger, hostility, or aggression
Defensive behavior: Fighting back, arguing, or defending oneself when threatened
Assertiveness: Standing up for oneself, setting boundaries, or confronting abusers
Hypervigilance: Constant scanning for threats and readiness to fight
Controlling behavior: Attempting to control situations or people to feel safe

When it’s adaptive: The fight response can be adaptive when confronting actual threats, standing up for rights, or protecting oneself from harm.

When it’s maladaptive: The fight response becomes problematic when it’s triggered in non-threatening situations, leading to unnecessary conflict, aggression toward safe people, or controlling behavior that damages relationships.

Flight

The flight response involves escape or avoidance reactions to threats. Flight responses may include:

Avoidance: Avoiding people, places, or situations that trigger fear or discomfort
Escape behaviors: Running away, leaving relationships, or fleeing situations
Hyperactivity: Constant movement, busyness, or restlessness
Workaholism: Escaping into work or activity to avoid emotional pain
Substance use: Using substances to escape or numb emotional pain
Perfectionism: Escaping into achievement or perfection to avoid feelings of inadequacy

When it’s adaptive: The flight response can be adaptive when removing oneself from actual danger or leaving harmful situations.

When it’s maladaptive: The flight response becomes problematic when it’s used to avoid necessary emotional processing, healthy relationships, or important experiences, leading to isolation and missed opportunities for connection.

Freeze

The freeze response involves immobilization, dissociation, or shutdown reactions to threats. Freeze responses may include:

Emotional numbing: Feeling disconnected from emotions or going emotionally “blank”
Dissociation: Feeling disconnected from self, body, or surroundings
Immobilization: Feeling “stuck” or unable to take action
Cognitive freezing: Inability to think clearly or make decisions
Depression: Shutting down emotionally, feeling hopeless or numb
Feeling “trapped”: Perceiving no escape or options available

When it’s adaptive: The freeze response can be adaptive when fight or flight are not possible—immobilizing to conserve energy, playing dead to avoid harm, or dissociating to survive overwhelming experiences.

When it’s maladaptive: The freeze response becomes problematic when it persists beyond danger, leading to chronic dissociation, depression, inability to take action in safe situations, or feeling perpetually “stuck.”

Fawn

The fawn response involves appeasing, pleasing, or submitting to threats. Fawn responses may include:

People-pleasing: Constantly trying to please others, even at personal expense
Lack of boundaries: Difficulty saying no or setting limits
Codependency: Over-focusing on others’ needs while neglecting one’s own
Compliance: Excessive compliance or submission to avoid conflict
Losing oneself: Not knowing who you are apart from others’ expectations
Conflict avoidance: Going to extreme lengths to avoid conflict or disapproval

When it’s adaptive: The fawn response can be adaptive when appeasing a dangerous person is the only way to avoid harm, particularly for children who cannot fight or flee.

When it’s maladaptive: The fawn response becomes problematic when it’s used in all relationships, leading to loss of self, difficulty setting boundaries, staying in harmful relationships, or constantly prioritizing others’ needs over one’s own.

Understanding Your Primary Response

Most trauma survivors develop a primary trauma response based on what was most effective (or necessary) during their traumatic experiences. However, survivors may use different responses in different situations or develop a combination of responses.

Understanding your primary trauma response can help you:

Recognize patterns: Identify how your trauma responses manifest in current relationships and situations
Develop awareness: Notice when trauma responses are triggered in non-threatening situations
Learn alternatives: Develop new strategies that are appropriate for current (safe) contexts
Prevent revictimization: Avoid falling into patterns that recreate traumatic dynamics

Moving Beyond Trauma Responses

Recovery involves recognizing when trauma responses are being triggered inappropriately and developing new strategies that fit adult contexts. This doesn’t mean eliminating trauma responses entirely—they may still serve protective functions—but rather learning to use them appropriately rather than automatically.

Neuroscience of Trauma Responses

The Autonomic Nervous System and Polyvagal Theory

The four trauma responses correspond to different states of the autonomic nervous system. Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory explains how the vagus nerve, which connects the brain to the body, regulates these responses:

Ventral vagal (social engagement): The optimal state for connection and regulation. When this system is active, we feel safe, calm, and able to engage socially. This is the state we ideally want to be in when we’re safe.

Sympathetic nervous system (mobilization): Activates fight and flight responses. This system prepares the body for action—increasing heart rate, releasing adrenaline, and readying muscles for movement.

Dorsal vagal (immobilization): Activates freeze and fawn responses. This system triggers shutdown, dissociation, and submission—conserving energy and preparing for inescapable threat.

Fight Response: Sympathetic Activation

The fight response involves activation of the sympathetic nervous system, preparing the body for confrontation:

Amygdala activation: The threat detection system is highly active, scanning for danger
Adrenaline and cortisol release: Stress hormones flood the system, increasing alertness and physical readiness
Increased heart rate and blood pressure: Cardiovascular system prepares for physical action
Muscle tension: Body readies for aggressive action
Hypervigilance: Constant scanning for threats activates the fight response

Flight Response: Sympathetic Activation

The flight response also involves sympathetic nervous system activation, but directed toward escape rather than confrontation:

Sympathetic activation: Similar to fight, with increased heart rate, adrenaline, and alertness
Motor system preparation: Body prepares for movement and escape
Hyperactivity: Constant movement or restlessness as the body seeks to escape
Avoidance behaviors: The prefrontal cortex may activate avoidance strategies

Freeze Response: Dorsal Vagal Activation

The freeze response involves activation of the parasympathetic nervous system’s dorsal vagal complex, leading to shutdown:

Dorsal vagal activation: The immobilization system takes over, conserving energy
Reduced heart rate and blood pressure: Cardiovascular system slows down
Dissociation: Disconnection from self, body, or surroundings
Emotional numbing: Reduced awareness of emotions and physical sensations
Prefrontal cortex deactivation: Executive functions decrease, leading to cognitive freezing

As Stephen Porges explains in Polyvagal Theory, “The freeze response is the ultimate survival strategy when fight and flight are not options. The body shuts down, conserving energy and creating psychological distance from unbearable experience” (Porges, 2011, p. 258).

The fawn response involves a complex interaction between dorsal vagal (shutdown) and attempts to access ventral vagal (social engagement):

Dorsal vagal activation: Underlying shutdown and submission responses
Attempted ventral vagal access: Trying to access social engagement to appease the threat
People-pleasing behaviors: Appeasing others to reduce threat and maintain connection
Loss of self: Prioritizing others’ needs over one’s own, losing sense of self

Trapped Responses

Trauma survivors often become “stuck” in their primary trauma response. When the nervous system learns that a particular response was necessary for survival, it may default to that response even in safe situations. This occurs because:

Conditioned responses: The trauma response becomes classically conditioned to neutral cues
Neural pathways: Repeated activation of trauma responses strengthens those neural pathways
Lack of safety signals: Without clear signals of safety, the nervous system defaults to trauma responses
Developmental learning: Trauma responses learned during critical developmental periods become deeply ingrained

Moving Toward Regulation

Recovery involves learning to:

Recognize trauma responses: Identify when fight, flight, freeze, or fawn responses are activated
Understand triggers: Learn what triggers these responses in current (safe) contexts
Develop safety: Create internal and external safety that allows the ventral vagal (social engagement) system to activate
Practice regulation: Use techniques to move from trauma responses back to regulation
Build new patterns: Develop new responses that fit adult contexts rather than recreating childhood survival strategies

References

Porges, S. W. (2011). The polyvagal theory: Neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment, communication, and self-regulation. W. W. Norton & Company.

Walker, P. (2013). Complex PTSD: From surviving to thriving. Azure Coyote.