Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn
3:02
Companion Slides
The four survival responses — automatic, not chosen. Why freeze is not consent.
Key Concepts
- Fight: confrontation, aggression, resistance
- Flight: escape, avoidance, running
- Freeze: immobility, dissociation, 'playing dead'
- Fawn: people-pleasing, compliance to avoid danger
- These are automatic nervous system responses — not choices
- Freeze is a survival mechanism, never consent
Part of
Module 1: Foundations
What trauma is, how it works in the brain, what the ACE study tells us, and why resilience matters.