Effects

Mental and physical effects by response type

Shared note: All stress responses, when chronic, dysregulate the nervous system and affect mood, cognition, health and relationships.

Fight — mental & physical effects

• Mental: Irritability, intrusive anger, rumination, black-and-white thinking.

• Physical: Tension (jaw, neck), headaches, hypertension, higher adrenaline, digestive upset.

Flight

• Mental: Persistent worry, planning loops, hyperarousal, avoidance-related guilt.

• Physical: Increased heart rate, restlessness, insomnia, muscle tension, sometimes substance use to ‘self-soothe’.

Freeze

• Mental: Dissociation, fogginess, emotional numbing, memory gaps for traumatic moments.

• Physical: Bradycardia or feeling cold, low energy, slowed movement, difficulty initiating actions.

Fawn

• Mental: Low self-worth, anxious attachment, chronic people-pleasing, difficulty trusting own judgement.

• Physical: Stress-related exhaustion, tension from suppressed impulses, gastrointestinal complaints.

Flop

• Mental: Depression, hopelessness, blankness, inability to engage.

• Physical: Profound fatigue, sleep disruption, somatic pain, immune vulnerability.