Understanding Your Protective Responses
Embedded Files
Fight • Flight • Freeze • Fawn
Your nervous system is like a Ring doorbell camera. It is constantly picking up information about what is happening around you and inside your body. When it detects stress, threat, overwhelm, or a loss of safety, it sends an alert. Your body may then automatically shift into a protective response before you've even had time to think about what is happening. Fight, flight, freeze, and fawn are different ways your nervous system may respond to that alert.
These are protective responses, not personality types.
Fight
My system moves towards the threat.
You might notice
Defensiveness
Arguing
Controlling
Conforting
Pushing
Flight
My system tries to get away from the threat.
You might notice
Avoiding
Leaving
Staying busy
Distracting
Restlessness
Freeze
My system becomes stuck or immobilized.
You might notice
Going blank
Numbness
Difficulty speaking
Disconnection
Fawn
My system tries to create safety through connection or appeasement.
You might notice
People-pleasing
Overexplaining
Quickly apologizing
Agreeing
How Does Your Protective Responses Show up?
When you feel stressed, overwhelmed, or unsafe, what do you notice?
Body
What happens in my body?
Emotions
What emotions show up?
Thoughts
What does my mind tell me?
Behaviors
What do I feel pulled to do?
Which Response Do You Recognize?
Flight
Freeze
Flight
Fawn
I'm not sure yet
You Don't Have to Get Rid of the Response
The goal is to notice the response, understand what it is trying to do, and build more options for what happens next.
Page updated
Report abuse