Most of us have heard of “fight or flight.” But those aren’t our body’s only options when responding to a frightening, traumatic, or painful experience. Some of us become emotionally numb or feel disassociated from our surroundings. This “functional freeze” state is associated with our body’s natural “fight flight freeze fawn” instinct when danger is present.
But what if we experience this functional freeze day in and day out, when we’re not in any danger? Believe it or not, that chronic emotional numbness is likely the body’s trauma response behavior to an unresolved traumatic experience or experiences in our past.
If you find it happening regularly and feel stuck in an ongoing cycle of detachment, it’s time to address it. At The Guest House Ocala, we’re here to help you overcome this emotional numbness and get back to being you again: fully alive, fully present, and fully healed from past trauma.
How Your Body’s Natural Stress or Trauma Response Works
Stress is a normal part of life, from looming deadlines at work to worrying about the future, a busy weekend to-do list, and more. And when it happens, your body responds to stress or trauma in ways we refer to as trauma response behaviors. But what is a trauma response, exactly? You actually may be very familiar with some of these trauma response types, such as your heart pounding in your chest, tightness in your shoulders, faster breathing, or sweaty palms.
Behind the scenes, your body’s hormonal changes and physiological responses enable you to do what’s needed to stay alive in the face of perceived danger, according to Harvard Health Publishing. When you recognize a threat, your brain activates your autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for involuntary bodily functions. This nervous system triggers your stress or trauma response, flooding your body with adrenaline and cortisol, your body’s stress hormone. These changes occur so quickly that you may not even be aware they’re happening in the moment.
Fight Flight Freeze Fawn: Recognizing Trauma Response Types
When you encounter stress or trauma, your body’s natural trauma response behaviors are often associated with fight, flight, or freeze. However, there are actually four common responses: fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. Let’s explore each of these types of trauma responses and how to recognize them:
Fight
When you encounter danger, your instinct may lead you to aggressively defend yourself and fight back. This is essentially the fight response in the face of stress or trauma. When this fight response activates, you may begin a verbal altercation or even come to blows and physically fight the threat. Some common ways the fight response manifests include:
- Tightened jaw
- An adrenaline rush
- Elevated blood pressure
- Increased heart rate
- Increased anger and agitation
- Hypervigilance
SOURCE: Health.com
Flight
Instead of fighting the perceived danger, you may have the urge to flee and save yourself. This is called the flight instinct. Rather than face the situation head on, you simply leave the scene. This can often look like walking away from a confrontation or argument instead of talking it through with the other person. Some other common signs of the flight instinct include:
- Trouble staying still or fidgeting
- Feeling trapped
- Avoiding something stressful or threatening
- Panicking
- Increased heart rate and adrenaline
SOURCE: Health.com
Freeze
To round out the traditional fight, flight, or freeze grouping, the freeze trauma response kicks in when you can’t flee or fight. As a result, you may go into an involuntary, temporary state of paralysis. The freeze trauma response is actually one of the most common childhood trauma responses in adults. This freeze instinct happens when your brain’s prefrontal cortex goes offline, and your limbic system — which drives survival behavior — takes over. Manifestations of the freeze trauma response can look like:
- Body and muscle tension (called tonic immobility)
- Shallow and rapid breath
- Hyper-alertness
- Built-up but unreleased energy
- Minimal verbal cues (“I can’t move”) or no speech at all
- Increased heart rate
SOURCE: National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine (NICABM)
Fawn
The fight, flight, or freeze response is something most of us are aware of now, but there’s actually a fourth common response: the fawn trauma response. This happens when you deem it safest to be obedient or submissive to your perceived threat or stressor. As a result, you prioritize the needs of someone else rather than your own. Consequently, fawning is a typical response to abuse. Manifestations of the fawn trauma response include:
- People-pleasing
- Pretending to agree with someone
- Difficulty saying “no”
- Doing what you’re told regardless of the consequences
- The inability to set boundaries
SOURCE: Health.com
Why Do Certain Trauma Response Behaviors Happen?
Considering the common trauma response behaviors, why do we react to stress in different ways? Does it depend on the specific threat or the threatened person? Both, actually. According to George Mason University, you may respond differently than someone else to the exact same stressor. The primary reasons for your varied responses range from your specific genetics to your unique life experiences. At the same time, the way you perceive and evaluate the stressor, trauma, or threat in the moment — as well as the resources available to cope with said stressor — can all influence your trauma response behaviors.
The Impact of Chronic Stress and Trauma Responses in Adults
Normally once the perceived threat or stressor subsides, your body’s cortisol levels drop and your parasympathetic nervous system takes over to dampen your stress response, according to Harvard Health Publishing. However, some people are unable to lower their stress levels, leading to chronic stress in their day-to-day lives. This is partially because your body can overreact to stressors that aren’t actually life-threatening, such as those mentioned earlier in this article. And functional freeze is one of these chronic trauma responses in adults, causing long-term challenges and health problems if left unaddressed.
Functional Freeze: What Does It Mean?
While it may be a popular topic on social media these days, functional freeze is a very real experience, not some fleeting trend. Struggling with functional freeze is a physical, mental, and emotional state that causes you to lack the motivation to carry out tasks due to stress, burnout, or lack of purpose, explains Today.com. Consequently, you may feel emotionally numb and struggle with disassociation from the world around you.
Some signs you may be in a state of functional freeze include:
- You outwardly function yet feel frozen and lack motivation to complete simple tasks, especially in your personal life
- You constantly feel low-level anxious and exhausted simultaneously
- You easily zone out or feel stuck
- You struggle to finish to-do lists you may have started earlier
- You experience emotional numbness
- You feel detached from friends or family and even want to avoid social situations
SOURCE: Today.com
Unlike traditional fight or flight responses, functional freeze may be an unseen struggle as you outwardly appear to function as normal. Yet it’s still a freeze trauma response, and one that doesn’t go away. It’s often the result of feeling stuck or trapped in a stressful or threatening situation that you can’t escape. Deep down, it can arise from lingering issues associated with complex or ongoing traumatic experiences such as:
- Neglect or abuse
- Very stressful environments or burnout
- A devastating loss
- Relationships that are not safe
- Medical issues
As functional freeze continues in your life, you can develop further problems such as anxiety or depression. Chronic stress in general can also lead to ongoing health problems such as:
- Headaches
- Muscle tension and pain
- Digestive issues
- Weight gain
- Heart disease
SOURCE: Mayoclinic.org
Thawing Out: Overcoming Numbness at The Guest House
At The Guest House Ocala, many of our staff have experienced trauma themselves (and gone through our treatment programs — we call them the OGs), even struggling with functional freeze. We’ve personally seen how professional treatment can help others reclaim their lives, which is why we specialize in healing trauma and trauma-induced conditions like mental health disorders and addiction.
We also know that each person’s response to trauma is different, so we personalize our treatment based on your unique needs and goals using both a holistic approach and a variety of therapeutic modalities, including:
- Group and individual therapy
- Somatic therapy
- Adventure therapy
- Meditation
- Equine therapy
- Brain mapping
- Psychodrama
From Emotional Numbness to Emotional Balance
If you’ve been living with chronic stress in a functional freeze, you may have gotten used to the ongoing emotional numbness. However, you can learn to let go of your numbness and manage your emotions, not suppress them. As a result, you can achieve emotional balance, where both positive or negative emotions no longer affect your overall well-being long-term. And when you’re emotionally balanced, you’re more aware of your emotional responses, more able to express your emotions in a healthy way, and more resilient when new stressors arise.
So, what steps can you take to become emotionally balanced? There are actually some key techniques you can utilize to conquer chronic stress and functional freeze, including:
- Practice deep breathing, meditation, yoga, prayer, and other activities that elicit your body’s relaxation response
- Exercise and engage in physical activity
- Seek support from friends and family
- Spend time in nature
- Work in short bursts
- Laugh
- Be kind to yourself
- Seek professional help
SOURCES: Harvard Health Publishing and Today.com
Help and Healing is Available
One of our unofficial mottos at The Guest House Ocala is “Love them back to health.” Because we’re a trauma-first clinic led by compassion and kindness, we can help you finally overcome the unresolved trauma driving your functional freeze and emotional numbness. As Dr. Peter Levine, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma healing, says, “Trauma is a fact of life. It does not, however, have to be a life sentence.” If you’re ready to achieve long-term healing and emotional balance, call us today.