Understanding the Four F’s of Trauma: Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn in PTSD and Complex PTSD
Trauma Responses That Shape Our Lives
Trauma isn’t always obvious. It doesn’t always stem from a catastrophic event, nor does it always leave visible scars. Sometimes, trauma lives in the small moments—what wasn’t said, what wasn’t safe, what never got resolved. It imprints itself into our nervous systems and our emotional responses, shaping how we relate to others and to ourselves.
One of the most profound ways trauma affects us is through our survival instincts—known as the Four F’s: Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn. These responses aren’t flaws or personality quirks—they’re deeply wired adaptations designed to keep us safe.
In my work as a trauma-informed hypnotherapist, I see the Four F’s play out in countless ways. Whether someone’s experiencing full-blown PTSD or living with the more layered, relational wounding of Complex PTSD (CPTSD), these survival patterns are often at the heart of their emotional dysregulation, self-worth challenges, and persistent anxiety. The good news is: they’re not fixed. With the right support—especially approaches that go beyond cognitive work and speak to the emotional body—they can transform.
As Dr. Gabor Maté says, “Trauma is not what happens to you. Trauma is what happens inside you as a result of what happened to you.” And it’s in that inner world that healing begins.
What Is Trauma, PTSD, and Complex PTSD?
To truly understand the Four F’s, we first need to understand trauma itself. Trauma is not the event—it’s the nervous system’s response to something that felt overwhelming, unsafe, or inescapable. That could be a violent incident or years of emotional neglect. Either way, the result is a body and brain stuck in survival mode.
PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) typically stems from a single-incident trauma (or repeated trauma of similar experience such as Police and Fire work)—such as an accident, assault, or natural disaster. People with PTSD often experience flashbacks, nightmares, hypervigilance, and a heightened startle response. Their bodies remain locked in “danger mode,” even when the threat is long gone.
Complex PTSD (CPTSD), on the other hand, often arises from prolonged exposure to relational trauma. This might include childhood emotional abuse, neglect, domestic violence, or growing up with a caregiver who was unpredictable, critical, or unavailable. Instead of one big trauma, it’s an accumulation of smaller, repeated ones that condition the nervous system to stay on high alert.
Clients with CPTSD often struggle with:
Chronic anxiety or numbness
Shame and self-blame
Difficulty trusting others
Emotional flashbacks
A sense of being “too much” or “not enough”
Unlike traditional PTSD, CPTSD affects identity, relationships, and emotional regulation. It’s not just a memory problem—it’s a body memory problem. And that’s why therapies like hypnotherapy, which access the subconscious mind and emotional patterns, are so effective.
What Are the Four F’s of Trauma?
When faced with danger, the human nervous system automatically responds to ensure survival. These reactions are primal and instinctive—hardwired for protection. The Four F’s—Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn—are the main trauma responses we unconsciously adopt when we perceive threat.
These aren’t choices we make. They’re shaped by early experiences, attachment wounds, and the kinds of responses that once kept us safe. A child who couldn’t escape an emotionally volatile household might learn to freeze or fawn. An adult who felt helpless in conflict might develop a chronic flight response. Over time, these reactions become default coping mechanisms, deeply embedded in the nervous system.
Here’s a brief overview before we dive deeper into each:
Fight: Meeting threat with aggression, control, or anger.
Flight: Escaping from threat through distraction or overactivity.
Freeze: Numbing or shutting down in the face of threat.
Fawn: Appeasing others to avoid conflict or abandonment.
Hypnotherapy, unlike purely cognitive approaches like CBT, works directly with the subconscious—the part of the mind where these patterns live. It can gently rewire the survival brain, helping clients identify their dominant response, process stuck emotions, and develop new internal safety.
The Fight Response: When Survival Feels Like Control
The Fight response kicks in when our nervous system believes we can overcome a threat through force or control. This might look like anger, defensiveness, or confrontation. At its core, Fight says: “If I stay powerful, I’ll stay safe.”
How It Shows Up:
Angry outbursts or irritability
Controlling or perfectionistic tendencies
Hyper-independence
Strong inner critic
Hypnotherapy can be transformational here. Rather than labeling these behaviours as “bad,” it allows us to explore why the system believes control equals safety. Clients can reconnect with the experience where that belief took hold, safely reprocess the fear underneath, and begin to cultivate empowered boundaries instead of defensive reactions.
The Flight Response: When Escape Feels Like Safety
Flight says: “I must get away to survive.” This could be physical fleeing, but often it shows up as chronic busyness, anxiety, or mental escape.
How It Shows Up:
Overworking or perfectionism
Constant distraction or multitasking
Fear of stillness
Racing thoughts
This is a highly activated state. Hypnotherapy helps regulate the fear of stillness—often tied to early experiences where being quiet or present meant being unsafe. Through guided imagery and emotional processing, clients learn that stillness can be safe, and peace doesn’t mean danger.
The Freeze Response: When Numbness Becomes a Shield
Freeze says: “If I can’t escape or win, I’ll disappear.” For trauma survivors, this often shows up as dissociation, shutdown, or paralysis.
How It Shows Up:
Emotional numbness
Avoidance and procrastination
Feeling stuck or zoned out
Disconnected from body or emotions
In freeze, the system is in shut-down mode. Hypnotherapy offers a gentle, non-invasive path to re-engage with emotions and the body. Using slow, somatic suggestions, clients begin to “thaw” and feel again—at their own pace.
The Fawn Response: When Pleasing Becomes Survival
Fawn says: “If I keep others happy, I’ll be safe.” It often develops in environments where love was conditional or asserting needs felt dangerous.
How It Shows Up:
People-pleasing
Fear of rejection or disapproval
Difficulty setting boundaries
Chronic self-abandonment
Hypnotherapy helps clients recognize these patterns and return to a sense of sovereignty. In trance, we can access and rewire the subconscious belief that worthiness is tied to compliance—and reconnect to authentic self-expression.
How the Four F’s Connect to Complex PTSD
For people with PTSD, these trauma responses are not temporary—they become ingrained. They affect relationships, work, and identity. They’re often mistaken for personality flaws, but in truth, they are protective responses.
Understanding this changes everything.
Hypnotherapy works beautifully here because it bypasses the analytical mind and speaks to the emotional brain. It allows for reprocessing, emotional release, and nervous system regulation at a core level.
Healing Trauma: How Therapy Helps Regulate Trauma Responses
Recovery from trauma is not about erasing the past. It’s about learning to live differently with it—developing emotional resilience, nervous system flexibility, and a sense of inner safety.
Healing looks like:
Awareness of patterns
Emotional literacy
Reparenting wounded parts
Building internal safety
Hypnotherapy supports all of this by creating space for the subconscious to heal, release, and repattern—deeply, gently, and sustainably.
Using Hypnotherapy for Trauma and Complex PTSD
Hypnotherapy accesses the root, not just the symptom. It helps with:
Processing unexpressed emotion
Rewiring core beliefs
Reconnecting with the inner child
Creating emotional safety
It’s especially effective for clients who feel stuck in talk therapy. When trauma lives in the body, it must be healed through approaches that honor the body’s language.
Daily Tools to Soothe the Four F’s of Trauma
Trauma responses lessen when we support the nervous system daily. Simple tools include:
For Freeze: Grounding objects, body movement, cold water
For Flight: Breathwork, structured rest, mindful pauses
For Fawn: Boundary-setting, journaling your truth, self-check-ins
For Fight: Soothing inner dialogue, calming rituals, releasing control
Every micro-moment of awareness and kindness counts.
Conclusion: From Survival to Self-Awareness
The Four F’s aren’t flaws—they’re survival. But healing is possible. With the right support, including deep emotional work like hypnotherapy, those responses can soften. You can return home to yourself.
You’re not broken. You adapted. And now, it’s time to heal.
