Fight, Flight… and Why “Freeze” Was Added Part 1

by Erica Tuminski May 29, 2026

Fight, Flight… and Why “Freeze” Was Added Part 1

by James Porter

For decades, most people learned that the body reacts to stress in two primary ways: fight or flight. The concept was first described by physiologist Walter Cannon in the early 1900s. Cannon observed that when humans or animals perceive danger, the nervous system instantly prepares the body either to confront the threat or escape from it.

Heart rate rises. Muscles tighten. Breathing speeds up. Stress hormones like adrenaline surge through the bloodstream. It is an ancient survival system designed to keep us alive.

And in many ways, the fight-or-flight model still holds true today.

Fight is exactly what it sounds like. Under stress, some people become confrontational, argumentative, aggressive, or controlling. They move toward the problem with energy and force.

Flight is the opposite response. Instead of confronting danger, the person withdraws or escapes. This can involve physically leaving a situation, emotionally shutting down, procrastinating, avoiding conflict, or distracting oneself with work, scrolling, food, alcohol, or entertainment.

But over time, psychologists and trauma researchers began noticing something important: many people under extreme stress did neither.

They froze.

Imagine a deer standing motionless in headlights. Or a person who becomes mentally blank during a crisis. Or someone who feels unable to move, speak, or think clearly during a traumatic event. This reaction did not fit neatly into either fight or flight.

That led researchers to expand the model to include a third stress response: freeze.

Freeze occurs when the nervous system perceives danger but determines that neither fighting nor escaping is likely to work. In that moment, the body may temporarily immobilize itself. Heart rate can drop. Thinking may become foggy.

The person may feel numb, detached, disconnected, or unable to act.

Importantly, freezing is not weakness.

It is an automatic biological survival mechanism.

In the animal kingdom, freezing can help creatures avoid detection by predators. Some animals literally “play dead” when escape is impossible. Humans appear to have inherited a version of this same protective response.

Modern freeze responses can show up in many everyday situations. A person may freeze during a difficult conversation. Someone giving a presentation may suddenly lose their train of thought. A trauma survivor may feel emotionally paralyzed when reminded of a painful event.

Many people blame themselves afterward:
“Why didn’t I say something?”
“Why didn’t I act?”
“Why did I just sit there?”

The answer is often rooted in biology, not character.

The freeze response has become especially important in understanding trauma and post-traumatic stress. Researchers discovered that during overwhelming events, some individuals become immobilized because the nervous system shifts into a protective shutdown state.

Understanding freeze can also help reduce shame. Many people spent years believing they were cowardly, passive, or weak, when in reality their nervous systems were responding exactly as human nervous systems are designed to respond under overwhelming stress.

Today, many experts describe stress reactions not simply as fight or flight, but as fight, flight, or freeze.

And increasingly, researchers are recognizing even more complexity in how humans respond to danger and social stress. One of the newest additions to the conversation is something called the “fawn” response — a survival strategy centered not around fighting, escaping, or freezing, but around pleasing others in order to stay safe.

We’ll explore that in Part Two.

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