FIGHT/FLIGHT/FREEZE/FAWN/FLOP :3

FIGHT / FLIGHT / FREEZE / FAWN / FLOP (aka the five reactions to threats and fear)

FIGHT: an impulsive desire to physically “push” their way out of a situation. the first two listed are antonyms of each other and akin to push/pull, with fight exerting force on the world. there is an attempt to move the environment so it is in a safe form rather than the person moving themself so they are safe.

FLIGHT: the opposite. the person moves themself to security, absconding from the danger to fully disassociate themself from the threat rather than facing it head-on aggressively. “push” is fight, “pull” is flight, because the person pulls themself away from/out of the threat so there is nothing to push through.

FREEZE: dear god why would you do this?? freezing is commonly caused from a sense of overwhelming, breaking the person’s brain briefly as there is a delay between processing all that is going on and taking action. also, a primal aspect is a part of this: ”if i stay perfectly still, they won’t see me or will lose interest,” like how hiding prey reacts to a predator, or how we are taught to react to a snake. it is a form of disassociation.

FAWN (also known as appease): fawn is new to the saying, and is described as the impulse to appease the threat so it favours your safety over your danger. it is a stress-response, and the person does/says whatever they can to please the threat and ensure they are kept safe (in comparison to the worst possible outcome at least) and avoid conflict. sadly, this is commonly found in abusive relationships, and will probably not spare the person forever.

FLOP: flop is also new. the person, well, flops. they shut themselves completely down, essentially playing dead. this is similar to freeze but not identical, as in freeze you are unable to process or do anything, essentially standing in place terrified, while in flop you process the events and believe the only way out is to just flop and escape into your own mind. as you can imagine, this does basically nothing in favour of the person, as at least with freeze you have a decision you are yet to evaluate and make. sometimes, when people do flop, they can faint. it is a total loss of physical control.

i hope this was interesting or even helpful!! i wrote this in music class,, sorry for the bad english! what type of reaction do you normally have?? X3