What are the 5 types of trauma responses?

The freeze, flop, friend, fight or flight reactions are immediate, automatic and instinctive responses to fear. Understanding them a little might help you make sense of your experiences and feelings.


What are the 4 types of trauma responses?

The mental health community broadly recognizes four types of trauma responses:
  • Fight.
  • Flight.
  • Freeze.
  • Fawn.


What are a list of trauma responses?

What Are Common Reactions to Trauma?
  • Losing hope for the future.
  • Feeling distant (detached) or losing a sense of concern about others.
  • Being unable to concentrate or make decisions.
  • Feeling jumpy and getting startled easily at sudden noises.
  • Feeling on guard and alert all the time.
  • Having dreams and memories that upset you.


What are the 3 responses to trauma?

Trauma response is the way we cope with traumatic experiences. We cope with traumatic experiences in many ways, and each one of us selects the way that fits best with our needs. The four types of mechanisms we use to cope with traumatic experiences are fight, flight, freeze, or fawn.

What are the five responses?

The 5 F's of Trauma Response

We actually have 5 hardwired responses to trauma: fight, flight, freeze, flop, and friend. In a moment of danger, these responses all happen automatically to try to keep us safe.


5 Types of Trauma Responses. How to identify the 5 different trauma responses.



How do I know if it's a trauma response?

Not everyone responds to trauma in exactly the same way, but here are some common signs: Cognitive Changes: Intrusive thoughts, nightmares, and flashbacks of the event, confusion, difficulty with memory and concentration, and mood swings.

What does trauma response look like?

Initial reactions to trauma can include exhaustion, confusion, sadness, anxiety, agitation, numbness, dissociation, confusion, physical arousal, and blunted affect. Most responses are normal in that they affect most survivors and are socially acceptable, psychologically effective, and self-limited.

What are the 7 domains of trauma?

The FDA considers the following 7 Developmental Domains:
  • N. eurological and Biological Maturity.
  • O. ver-reactive Stress Response.
  • E. motional Regulation.
  • A. ttachment Style and Relationships.


Is apologizing a trauma response?

But, when we talk about apologizing, we wrap all of these complex concepts up into a single practice. It's a common trauma-state response to want to avoid conflict.

What are the six principles of trauma?

Healthcare organizations, nurses and other medical staff need to know the six principles of trauma-informed care: safety; trustworthiness and transparency; peer support; collaboration and mutuality; empowerment, voice and choice; and cultural issues.

What is the most common trauma?

Perhaps one of the most common forms of trauma is emotional abuse. This can be a common form of trauma because emotional abuse can take many different forms. Sometimes it's easy for emotional abuse to be hidden or unrecognized.


What is a fawn response?

Fawning is a trauma response where a person develops people-pleasing behaviors to avoid conflict and to establish a sense of safety. In other words, the fawn trauma response is a type of coping mechanism that survivors of complex trauma adopt to "appease" their abusers.

Is overthinking a result of trauma?

"Overthinking can happen to anyone, but those who have experienced trauma can be especially vulnerable," she explains. "Neuroscience tells us that trauma, like childhood abuse or neglect for example, can actually alter the development of the brain to become stuck in a constant state of hyper-vigilance.

Is trauma a reaction or a memory?

Memories of trauma are like normal memories in these respects, but they have important characteristics that make them much different from normal, everyday memories. However, after being traumatized certain central events may be remembered forever and this is an adaptive outcome.


Why is my trauma response people pleasing?

Fawning or people-pleasing can often be traced back to an event or series of events that caused a person to experience PTSD, more specifically Complex PTSD, or C-PTSD. Fortunately, C-PTSD can be approached and treated through comprehensive therapy.

What are the R's of trauma?

The trauma-informed approach is guided four assumptions, known as the “Four R's”: Realization about trauma and how it can affect people and groups, recognizing the signs of trauma, having a system which can respond to trauma, and resisting re-traumatization.

What are the four C's of trauma informed care?

These 4 Cs are: Calm, Contain, Care, and Cope 2 Trauma and Trauma-Informed Care Page 10 34 (Table 2.3). These 4Cs emphasize key concepts in trauma-informed care and can serve as touchstones to guide immediate and sustained behavior change.


What are the 8 principles of trauma informed care?

Trauma Informed Care Principles
  • Safety. Throughout the organization, staff and the people they serve feel physically and psychologically safe.
  • Trustworthiness and transparency. ...
  • Peer support and mutual self-help. ...
  • Collaboration and mutuality. ...
  • Empowerment voice, and choice. ...
  • Cultural, historical, and gender issues.


What are subtle signs of trauma?

Pay Attention to These Lesser-known Signs of Trauma
  • Feeling Overwhelmed Often. People who experience trauma will often experience a sense of overwhelm. ...
  • Mood Swings. Another lesser-known symptom of trauma is general mood swings. ...
  • Emotional Numbing. ...
  • Poor Decision-making.


How is trauma stored in the body?

The energy of the trauma is stored in our bodies' tissues (primarily muscles and fascia) until it can be released. This stored trauma typically leads to pain and progressively erodes a body's health. Emotions are the vehicles the body relies on to find balance after a trauma.


What happens in the brain during a trauma response?

When we experience trauma, the brain shuts down all nonessential systems and activates the sympathetic nervous system and the mammalian brain. To help us survive the trauma, the brain releases stress hormones and activates the flight or fight response.

How do you break a trauma bond?

Here are 13 steps from a therapist to help you break a trauma bond:
  1. Find Resources Around You. ...
  2. Communicate Your Needs Clearly & Assertively. ...
  3. Disengage & Retract From the Situation. ...
  4. Face Your Feelings. ...
  5. Validate Yourself. ...
  6. Talk to a Professional. ...
  7. Keep a Journal. ...
  8. Take Time to Grieve What You Lost.


What does overthinking destroy?

Kills your creativity

Overthinking can stifle creativity. According to Psychology Today: "Previous research from Stanford University found that 'overthinking' as marked by too much activity in the prefrontal cortex reduced creative capacity."


Can obsessive thoughts cause trauma?

The more stressful the external cues, the greater the frequency of intrusive/obsessional thoughts, the greater the distress the individual will likely feel (Rachman, 2002). These stressful situations may be traumatic and/or aversive, which may provide evidence for the link between trauma and OCD.

What childhood trauma causes overthinking?

For many of us, our brain is set to anxious because of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and childhood trauma. ACEs include things like an unwell parent, being neglected, or a home with violence. As a child we learn to always be scanning for danger, and it can become a lifelong habit if we don't seek help.