This section addresses the following questions:

• How does the jagged graph of sharp peaks and troughs relate to freeze?
• How can I tell the difference between dissociation and freeze?
• Can you explain the role of breathing in relation to functional freeze?
• Is social fear of speaking up a form of functional freeze?
• Is it possible to have parts of one’s body in freeze?
• How can I tell the difference between being in freeze and rest-and-digest/calm parasympathetic? Can I tell from sleep or immune function?
• If there’s known birth trauma is there automatically freeze stuck in the system?
• If a child learns to cope with physical abuse by ‘not feeling it’ is that also freeze?
• How long does it take to come out of functional freeze? Is there an order in which body systems come back online?

The freeze response is high activation of the Parasympathetic Nervous System, specifically the Dorsal Vagal branch. This can be confusing, because with the freeze response everything feels numb, like there is very little happening in the system, but in fact, there’s a lot happening. It takes a huge amount of energy to numb the body, draw the blood to the core, slow down the heart rate and breathe (the breath may be so shallow that it feels like it has stopped, and this is also to help the system feel less), and stop all non-essential functions. So it really is a state of peak activation.

Along with freeze often comes dissociation, though not always. The dissociation serves as a function to help mammals not feel the pain of being eaten by a predator — that’s how it evolved. As humans, our higher brain enables us to manage these survival energies, often unconsciously, so the freeze response may manifest simply as feeling lethargic, hopeless, or numb in parts of the body, without the dissociation. Or it may be experienced primarily as dissociation: being completely checked out.

When the freeze response has become an imbedded, go-to option as a response to stress, people will often end up living in what we call a functional freeze. This means it has become normalized and doesn’t necessarily show up in dramatic ways. Functional freeze can actually show up as the ability to accomplish TONS of work and achieve a lot, especially in Type A personalities. There are many successful business people and incredible athletes who are living with functional freeze. They are only able to be such high performers by not feeling into their bodies and what is happening inside. Generally, they don’t know they are doing this, they just know they prefer to always be on the go. Always doing, producing, moving is often the only way they feel anything at all. In first responders, for instance, this is very common. The ‘rush’ of constantly being in a crisis is the only way for them to feel into their bodies.

Functional freeze can also show up as limitations; fear of speaking up, not having boundaries, always giving in to others, lethargy, a feeling of no purpose in life, or no drive to accomplish anything. These are all manifestations of trying to stay as small and quiet as possible. In other words, to remain frozen.

It can also show up completely physically. Parts of the body may be numb and have little sensation, or when someone tunes in to feel what’s happening on the inside, there may just be a sense of void, nothing going on. Or it may show up as poor digestion and immune function, and an inability to get a restful night’s sleep, because when we sleep or are deeply resting we are supposed to be in a more nuanced and healthy zone for the Dorsal Vagal branch — which is the low-tone state. This low-tone Dorsal Vagal state supports digestion, barrier-keeping in the guts, cell repair, physical growth, and immune function. So, if we are living with functional freeze, there may be a tendency when we sleep to dip fully into that freeze response such that we don’t have access to a healthier, low-tone state.

There are many ways freeze becomes a normal part of how we react to stress. Usually it is rooted in early/developmental trauma, where the little one could not fight or flee a hostile, neglectful, chronically stressful, or misattuned environment, and so the system perceived freeze as the only option left, and then eventually just starts to default to freeze when stress enters the picture. It can also happen because of traumatic births or surgical procedures early on, but it’s not a guarantee; if the caregivers are healthy and attuned then the little one’s system will be able to bounce back from pretty much anything. It can also happen later in life through physical abuse that can’t be escaped or defended against; an older child’s system may still learn to numb out as a way to defend.

There is no one timeline or sequence to coming out of freeze, it will be different for everybody. One thing is the same though, in that it does take time. This isn’t something that happens in a session, or a week, or a month. Generally we are looking at months or years, with improvements and gradual changes in physiological function that happen slowly. Some may start to notice they simply feel more alive or feel more sensation, or have more energy or better boundaries. They may start to speak up for themselves. Sleep may improve and start to be more restful, or immune problems may start to clear up. Digestion may get better. Basically, physiological function will slowly improve over time, and we see this in improvements in the systems that have been compromised, and in the behaviours that have their roots in the unresolved freeze response.