You make sense.
I hear so many people feeling confused about their response to a stressful situation. Asking for years:
- “Why didn’t I scream?”
- “Why didn’t I run?”
- “Why didn’t I kick?”
- “Was I being complicit?”
NO, NO, NO, NO!!!! Freeze is a trauma response. It is not a conscious decision to not run or shout; our nervous system has shut down to protect us.
When things happen to us, especially as children, that are unsafe and we can’t get away, it is natural for our body to go into a freeze response. This helps us to stay safe, to feel less pain by numbing out.
This is NOT being complicit. This is your body going into a trauma response.
I’ll be following up over the next week with more details about the different trauma responses.
Take care of each other,
Love, Jen
