There Are 4 Stress Responses. Here's What Yours Says About You.

""The 'four F's' ― fight, flight, freeze and fawn ― refer to automatic nervous system responses to a perceived threat," Caitlyn Oscarson, a licensed marriage and family therapist, told HuffPost. "These are ingrained responses that can show up in traumatic situations, as well as everyday stress and overwhelm.""

""They're not personality traits, and they're not conscious choices," said board-certified psychiatrist and "Practical Optimism" author Dr. Sue Varma. "They're automatic survival strategies wired into the brain and body. When someone feels unsafe, overwhelmed or emotionally flooded, the nervous system steps in and tries to protect them the best way it knows how.""

""All four responses are adaptive," Varma said. "They develop for a reason, often early in life, and they're attempts at self-preservation, not signs of weakness. It is interesting, however, to note if a person has a particular go-to response, that is very telling.""

Four instinctive reactions—fight, flight, freeze and fawn—are automatic nervous-system responses to perceived threat and operate when the body enters survival mode. These responses bypass the reasoning centers of the brain and can produce behavior that seems illogical or inconsistent with usual values. The responses are not personality traits or conscious choices but learned survival strategies often formed early in life. Individuals can exhibit different responses in different contexts, and having a predominant go-to response can reflect past experiences and what the nervous system has learned about safety and protection.

Read at HuffPost