5 Physical Responses to Trauma: How they feel and how they're misunderstood

This blog is Part Two in a five-part series. If you haven’t yet had a chance, please read Part One, "The cost of being a victim..." by Alexandra Ruiz Costas in English and en español. For the blogs this week and next, I express gratitude to my wonderful artist friends Cayla Samano and Yurani Cubillos. Cayla helps us visualize the 5 Physical Responses to Trauma in five animal drawings she created. As you’ll see, Cayla is insightful in how she expresses emotional and behavioral states through her animal drawings. And Yurani adds her digital magic to enhance those expressions with color. 

In this blog, I’ll introduce the concept of 5 Physical Responses to Trauma. Then, I'll focus solely on the freeze response, which I’ll dissect from a survivor’s perspective and from people who re-traumatize the victims by misunderstanding trauma responses and misjudging survivors as a result. Next week, we’ll focus on the remaining four responses: fight, flight, fawn, and fake.

"I couldn't move. It's like my brain disconnected from my body."

"I didn't have time to think. I just ran." 

"I said no. STOP! I'm done! I'm calling the cops."

"I was afraid of him. I couldn't leave so I kept trying to make sure that everything was the way he wanted. My body was tense the whole time, but I'd ask him what I could get for him, what he needed, just trying, hoping, praying he wouldn't hurt me again."

"He kept saying he loved me and I wanted to believe him. I needed him. He was all I had. So I just kept pretending that everything was normal. That everything was fine." 

Each one of these statements demonstrates one of the five physical responses to trauma and how they feel psychologically and in the body. When we experience trauma, our brains switch from analytical mode to protective mode. The rational brain shuts down and primitive instincts kick in, just as they do for animals. 

The threat itself can be verbal, psychological, emotional, social, spiritual, and/or physical. 

The response is physical because trauma is stored in the body, and the body shifts to protective mode, causing a physical response.

Many trauma survivors question these responses to trauma and feel shame or blame. They might ask, "Why didn't I leave?" "Why didn't I run?" "How could I have loved someone who did such terrible things to me?" "Why did I believe them?" "Why didn't I see this coming?" 

The answer is that they experienced a trauma that felt life-threatening. When that happens to us, fear floods our brains, and our bodies go into protective mode. In that state, we don't have control of what we think, say, or do. Our bodies respond to the threat with what it thinks would most protect us. We need to flip that shame and blame thinking into the truth. The perpetrator caused the harm. You did nothing wrong. You were wronged. That threat of harm takes over our responses.

Remember the opening statements? Here’s what happens in the first one. 

"I couldn't move. It's like my brain disconnected from my body."

This person is describing the freeze response. We can see this in animals such as rabbits, who often freeze in place when they sense a threat. In that threatened state, their bodies prevent them from moving. Instead, they hold very still, hoping that their lack of movement will mean that a predator will not see them. 

For humans, the freeze response can come up when someone says something cruel, racist, misogynist, homophobic, or other harmful statements that we don't expect. You've probably heard someone say, "I just froze" when they described an unexpected threat, whether verbal, psychological, or physical. With physical threats, the body's freeze response can last for a few minutes or it can become so severe that it causes what is called trauma paralysis or tonic immobility. Panic attacks can cause the same sensation of not being able to think or move. The immobility is temporary; yet it can last until the person is removed from the traumatic situation and receives support to deep breathe and reclaim embodied movement. 

The freeze response can recur each time a victim is re-traumatized. We heard about this from Alexandra Ruiz Costas last week. When media sources try to extract an interview from Alexandra when another femicide occurs, it often re-ignites the trauma. She wrote, “Many people don’t realize how re-traumatizing it is to be bombarded with questions, comments, interviews, judgments, and insensitive details each time that another femicide occurs.”  

At Healing Bells, we believe survivors. We know how important it is to practice trauma-sensitive, survivor-centered methods of engagement. We know how important it is to name the 5 Physical Responses to Trauma to help survivors understand what is happening to them. Unfortunately, many law enforcement, court, and judicial personnel do not understand the physical responses trauma causes. Due to that lack of knowledge, they often question the victim insensitively. If the victim freezes (a completely natural neurobiological response to trauma), they will not be able to have an immediately clear and coherent detailed statement. Instead of understanding the trauma response, some law enforcement officials have questioned the validity of the survivor's claim, asking why they see no physical evidence, why the victim showed no emotion, why they didn’t fight back, why they hardly talked, and why the victim can't remember some details of what happened. The answer is: Each of those responses is a freeze trauma response. Law enforcement personnel and everyone who works with survivors needs to be trained in the neurobiology of trauma so they can understand rather than blame victims. This next story shows how that can happen.

When she learned of the devastating discovery that police had stored over 11,000 untested rape kits in a Detroit warehouse for decades, Dr. Rebecca Campbell–a psychology professor at Michigan State University–began reading through police reports to determine why such a gap in justice happened. In the police reports, Campbell discovered derogatory, racist, and dehumanizing language toward the victims–more than 80% of whom are African American women. She read report after report in which police didn't believe survivors because the police had a preconceived idea of how a survivor should respond. Their idea demonstrated an enormous misunderstanding of physical and psychological responses to trauma responses and the reality of how they feel for survivors. In response, Dr. Campbell developed training sessions for law enforcement, judicial, healthcare personnel and social workers. I highly recommend learning more from Dr. Campbell's free webinar, The Neurobiology of Trauma; and the film documentary, "I Am Evidence,” produced by Mariska Hargitay–lead actor from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. 

Learning about these responses helps survivors understand what they have experienced. It is essential for anyone who works with survivors to understand the 5 Physical Responses to Trauma, how they appear to an observer, and how they feel for the survivor. Just as Dr. Campbell is doing, we at Healing Bells are offering education about trauma responses survivors experience. We are sharing this information via blogs; a documentary film; music, theatre, and dance productions; classes; and future publications. 

Please share this blog series with everyone who cares about healing from trauma.

Understanding is a key stepping stone to healing.

Finding a supportive community is another lifeline to healing.

That’s what we’re about at Healing Bells.

This blog is Part Two in a 5-part series. 

1. See Part One, "The cost of being a victim..." by Alexandra Ruiz Costas in English and en español.

2. 5 Physical Responses to Trauma: How they feel and how they’re misunderstood. #1: Freeze. Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra.

3. 5 Physical Responses to Trauma, continued: #2–5: Fight, flight, fawn, and fake. Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra.

4. How to treat survivors with the respect and compassion they deserve. Alexandra Ruiz Costas.

5. How can survivors remove embodied trauma and open their healing journey?" How does Healing Bells collaborate respectfully and sensitively with survivors and how do they open a healing pathway together? Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra.

#DrRebeccaCampbell #TheNeurobiologyOfTrauma #IAmEvidence #MariskaHargitay #LawAndOrderSVU #DoNoHarm #SupportSurvivors