For example, test-related anxiety may trigger a heightened nervous system response. In some cases, the body's response to a perceived threat does not align with the severity of the situation. The fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses may occur due to stress, anxiety, or trauma. These neurobiological mechanisms may be adaptive in life situations, and understanding them may help you develop coping strategies. When you feel threatened, your body may immediately respond to the situation, Regardless of which fear response occurs, your nervous system's underlying goal is likely to minimize or avoid the danger and return to a calm state. In the fawn response, you may find yourself complying with the attacker to save yourself or reduce the severity of the threat.The freeze response may render you unable to move or act against the threat.The flight response involves removing yourself from the dangerous situation through any means possible.The fight response involves confront the threat aggressively.These automatic behaviors are a part of the defense cascade, which is the body's way of safeguarding itself.

The fight, flight, freeze, or fawn responses are physiological changes that can happen in the body when a person is faced with a perceived threat. They recognized that many people had additional stress responses beyond fight or flight, including, freeze and fawn. In the 1920s, a physiologist named Walter Cannon described what he called the acute stress response, later named the 'fight or flight response.' In recent years, physiologists and psychologists have continued to build on and refine Cannon's work. A therapist can help you find the answer What is fight, flight, or freeze?

Fight flight freeze fawn chart