Fight or Flight Is Familiar. Freeze Often Goes Unnoticed.

Most people are taught about fight or flight.
It’s quick, visible, and easy to recognise.

Freeze is different.

It rarely announces itself.

What freeze actually looks like

In practice, freeze often appears as:

knowing what you want to say — but being unable to say it

feeling mentally present but physically stuck

replaying a moment later and thinking, “Why didn’t I react?”

This response is frequently misunderstood as passivity, calmness, or even agreement.

It isn’t.

Freeze is a temporary shutdown of action, not a lack of awareness.

Why it’s missed

Freeze doesn’t look dramatic.
There’s no panic, no escape, no confrontation.

From the outside, nothing seems wrong.

From the inside, decision-making is suspended.

When this response is overlooked, people often internalise it as failure:

“I should have done something.”

Recognising freeze doesn’t excuse behaviour —
but it does restore accuracy to the story we tell about ourselves.

Sometimes, the body chose stillness because it sensed no safe movement.