We're Wired to Survive
Our fight-flight-freeze-fawn response explained (content warning: sexual assault)
When I was in my early twenties, my best friend was kidnapped while walking home from a grocery store just after dark. I’ll call her Rina. She was then gang-raped and stabbed before escaping. Rina survived after a harrowing two hours held in the back of a van.
Rina’s story is a vivid example of the body's intricate and innate response to crises, also known as the fight-flight-freeze-fawn response.
This response occurs without our conscious awareness in times of danger. Humans have evolved to survive catastrophes, and this stress response is what helps us to do so.
When the brain detects danger, it instantaneously activates the autonomic nervous system. During an attack, there is no time to pause and ponder how to respond. Even a second delay can result in injury or death, and the stress response is nature's miraculous system to heighten our odds of survival.
When three young men walked up behind Rina on the street, she felt a knife pressed in the middle of her back, and her brain initially went to a freeze response. Recognizing the danger, she realized she couldn’t escape then and did exactly what she was told.
This may look like passivity, but it’s not. It’s part of the emergency survival system.
The Emergency Survival System
This emergency survival system responds before the thinking part of the brain—the prefrontal cortex—even registers what is happening.
This process starts with the amygdala, the brain structure that is the core of the neural system for processing fear. When in danger, the amygdala is the command center, instantaneously sending out a distress signal to another brain region, the hypothalamus, which activates the autonomic nervous system.
The autonomic nervous system controls all involuntary functions of the body, such as breathing, heartbeat, blood pressure, and the dilation or construction of blood vessels. These functions happen automatically and beneath our awareness without any control by our thinking brain.
The autonomic nervous system comprises two components: the sympathetic nervous system, which activates the stress response and allows us to escape the threat. This system partners with the parasympathetic nervous system, which allows us to calm down and return to a state of balance once the threat is over.
During an attack, the sympathetic nervous system activates a cascade of the neurohormones adrenaline and cortisol. The sympathetic nervous system "hits the gas pedal, " resulting in multiple immediate physiological changes.
The body prioritizes functions needed to survive, directing energy away from processes that are not at once essential, like digestion.
Heart rate and blood pressure increase. As much blood as possible is directed to the large muscles that help us escape danger, the arms and legs. Muscles may tremble.
Blood sugar is released from storage sites in the body to supply a burst of energy.
Blood vessels constrict, which helps inhibit bleeding from injuries.
Small airways in the lungs open wide, allowing in more oxygen, which goes to the brain to increase alertness.
Breathing becomes faster and heavier, increasing oxygen to major muscle groups.
Pupils dilate to take in more light to enhance vision.
Senses heighten, and thinking sharpens. There is an increased awareness of sights and sounds, and specific aspects of memory improve.
The pain response is blunted, which is why individuals may be unaware of injuries until they are in a place of safety.
This system is so efficient that the stress response starts before the brain's visual centers can fully process what is happening. This explains why a parent can pull a child out of the path of a speeding car without even thinking about what they are doing.
The System in Action
Rina was outnumbered by three armed men, each bigger and stronger than her. There was no one around who would hear her cries for help. They forced her into their van parked on the street. While appearing to cooperate with them, she began to strategize about escape.
Her mind automatically moved into the fawn response. Though I know the details of what happened, I’ll skip sharing them. The relevant point is that Rina remained calm, began talking with her attackers, and explained that she had a young child at home — which was not true. Rina had no children. Without realizing it, she tried to get her attackers to empathize with her by appealing to their humanity. She asked them not to hurt her; her little girl needed her. This attempt to appease an attacker to stay safe is known as the fawn response.
It seemed to work with one of the attackers. He asked her child’s name and age. Rina made up a name and shared made-up details about her child. Later she would say that she had no idea why she said what she did. The story of the fictional child seemed to just roll out of her mouth.
Though they appeared to be grown men, it turned out that the three attackers were 16 and 17 years old. They smelled of alcohol, and Rina continued to assess ways to escape as each assaulted her. She willed herself not to react. She says she felt no pain but kept thinking strategically. She felt focused and hyperalert. As the attackers passed around a liquor bottle, she told herself they were teenagers and that she could outsmart them.
They were becoming increasingly intoxicated. Rina listened for the sounds of passersby and eventually heard voices coming down on the sidewalk. She moved into the fight-or-flight response. Waiting until the voices were directly outside the van, she took that moment to start yelling as loud as she could and sprung into action. As she lunged for the door, the attacker with the knife grabbed one of her legs, cutting her thigh in the process. She kicked him and kept going, got out the door, and a couple on the sidewalk took her to call the police. Rina was safe as her attackers sped off, and she was taken to the hospital.
Though this stress response occurs instantaneously when in danger, it may take hours to calm down once the threat is over. Keeping the gas pedal stomped to the floor is detrimental to the body over an extended period.
Rina’s assault happened in the late ‘70s, years before medical professionals and law enforcement were adequately trained in the emotional needs of crime victims. There were no crisis response counselors provided. Her hours spent at the hospital were difficult as all the emotions she’d suppressed bubbled to the surface, but there was no one to talk to. She was alone in a cold room for a long period and couldn’t stop shaking. The fact that she was not allowed to contact anyone to come to provide emotional support compounded what she was feeling.
When one is out of danger, the parasympathetic system activates to help the person calm down and return to a state of balance. This system supplies the brakes that halt the emergency response—adrenaline and cortisol stop flooding. Heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure slow down. The body needs to direct energy to tissue repair, healing, and recovery and return to the long-term functions of living. This is known as the time to "rest and digest." This is when we would like to help people recover a sense of physical and emotional safety after a life-threatening crisis, and it is best to offer this support as soon as possible.
While physical injuries need expedient treatment, emotional support is also essential in helping return the body and mind to a state of calm regulation. Victims need to be comforted, soothed, listened to, and reassured; we can enhance the process as we interact with them by remaining calm and ensuring they are not left alone.
The Process of Helping
Heart-to-heart connections are everything. Offering a soothing presence. Creating a sense of emotional safety helps the parasympathetic system do its job. Just having a compassionate human in the room is powerful. In speaking with a traumatized person, our tone of voice matters as much as the words we say, as their nervous system will respond to our nervous system. As we stay calm and grounded, we support the trauma survivor’s shift into a calmer state.
Enhancing emotional support for hospitalized victims of violence is critical to healing. Without support, the survivor of violence may continue in a state of heightened autonomic arousal, which can intensify multiple physical and psychological symptoms.
My heart will forever be with survivors. Trauma recovery support has always been a focus of my work. Several years later, when I was an intern therapist, one of my first jobs was serving survivors of sexual assault at the newly formed Rape Crisis Center.
Rina survived. Her innate trauma responses served her well. Ultimately, she thrived. Like most survivors, that event does not define her or determine the future course of her life.
There is no template for what will save a victim’s life in an attack. The fight-flight-freeze-fawn response will manifest differently in each situation. It works to keep us alive even when we’re not consciously aware of it. Once we’re out of danger, we want to return to a calm, balanced, and regulated state, and the support and compassion of others are part of what helps us do that.