An Informal Trauma Response Test
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Let’s start with the nature of responses to things perceived as traumatic. A trauma response refers to the way you react to trauma triggers. Trauma responses are the result of your body’s fight or flight response, which occurs as an adaptive reaction to real or perceived threats.
If you have been through a traumatic event or events, you might wonder what your personal trauma responses are.
Purpose Healing Center offers professional trauma treatment in Arizona. We have a team of experts who can help you or your loved one identify their trauma response(s) and heal from a traumatic event, or multiple traumatic events, as a whole person.
Our informal trauma response test, provided below, can help you understand how you react to trauma. You could have one primary trauma response, or our trauma response quiz might help you realize that you experience more than one trauma response.
First, let’s go over our trauma response quiz and discuss the limitations of trauma response tests. Then, we’ll go over other important information related to trauma and trauma responses, including examples of traumatic experiences and treatment information.
An Informal Trauma Response Quiz
The four main types of trauma responses are “fight, flight, freeze, and fawn.” These are automatic reactions, meaning that they are involuntary. However, it can be beneficial to find out what your trauma responses are and how they impact various parts of life, like your social relationships.
Circle the signs of each response you experience below. The one(s) you resonate with the most are likely trauma responses you experience.
The Telltale Signs of a Fight Response to Trauma
The following are all potential signs of a “fight” response.
- When I experience trauma triggers or am in a stressful situation, I get angry or lash out.
- When I experience traumatic memories or am in a stressful situation, I feel activated. This feeling might pair with physical symptoms, like a rapid heartbeat, a rush of adrenaline, or jaw tension.
- I struggle with emotion regulation or feel like my anger isn’t in my control sometimes.
- I feel remorse or shame after lashing out at, mocking, or shaming other people.
- I feel agitated more easily than other people.
The fight response refers to a reaction or trauma response where your instinct is to “fight” to feel safe at all costs. This can be unintentional, leading to feelings of guilt or loss of control.
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Know the Signs of a Freeze Response to Trauma
The following are all potential signs of a “freeze” response.
- I struggle with decision-making. This is especially true when I experience trauma triggers or am in a heightened emotional and psychological state.
- Sometimes, when I experience stressful situations or trauma triggers, I feel like I can’t move.
- I shut down when I’m upset, feel overwhelmed, or am met with reminders of past experiences that were stressful or traumatic.
- When I experience trauma triggers or am in a stressful situation, I have trouble speaking.
- When I’m in a stressful situation, I have difficulty concentrating or focusing.
- When I’m in a stressful situation, I sometimes zone out or dissociate.
The freeze response is when your body and mind tense up and “freeze” rather than allowing you to be present and navigate a situation as well as you could if you did not freeze up.
Understanding the Signs of a Fawn Response to Trauma
The following are all potential signs of a “fawn” response.
- I engage in people-pleasing when someone else is upset with me, even if it means my own feelings aren’t addressed.
- If I feel like someone doesn’t like me, I want them to approve of me even more.
- It is hard for me to set boundaries or stick to the boundaries I have set.
- I will do anything I can to keep the peace.
- I neglect my personal needs for other people.
The fawn response is when you fawn over or strive to please others, even if it is at your own expense. Often, this is a direct reaction to feeling that you had to be “good,” obedient, or agreeable to be safe.
The Typical Signs of a Flight Response to Traumatic Events
The following are all potential signs of a “flight” response.
- When I am in a stressful situation or disagreement, my immediate reaction is to leave, even if I know I am safe.
- I avoid real or perceived threats (this could mean avoiding people, places, things, or feelings associated with your trauma).
- I have trouble taking action in dangerous situations (e.g., if a car comes toward you while you’re crossing a crosswalk, you might stop rather than move forward or step back).
- I am often overwhelmed or in a heightened state of anxiety or panic.
- I feel trapped or as though the room is closing in on me sometimes.
- I have trouble sitting still when I am upset or encounter a trigger.
- I experience perfectionism.
The flight response is when your immediate reaction is to flee in the face of real or perceived danger.
The way you react to stressful situations or triggers is just one way to detect that you may need help working through past trauma. People experience a broad range of physical or psychological symptoms of trauma.
For example, sleep disturbances, trouble building and maintaining interpersonal relationships, or disproportionately negative thoughts about yourself, the world, or others.
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Trauma Response Tests Are Not a Diagnostic Tool
While a trauma quiz like the one above can help you understand how you react to trauma triggers, no online trauma quiz or trauma response test can formally diagnose you with a psychiatric disorder like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Talking with a licensed mental health professional who is qualified to diagnose mental health conditions like PTSD is the only way to get a diagnosis.
The Usual Causes of Trauma Responses
Any traumatic event can lead you to develop trauma responses. Similarly, any traumatic event can lead to trauma disorders. Examples of traumatic experiences you might have endured include but aren’t limited to the following.
- Physical abuse.
- Sexual assault or abuse.
- Emotional or verbal abuse.
- Serious injury or illness affecting yourself or a loved one.
- Natural disasters.
- Domestic violence.
- Car accidents.
- Emotional or physical neglect.
- Growing up in the foster care system.
- Medical malpractice.
- Homelessness.
- Bullying.
- Proverty.
- War.
You may have what’s called complex trauma, which stems from exposure to repeated trauma or multiple traumatic events. If you experience childhood trauma in the form of ongoing verbal, emotional, sexual, or physical abuse, for example, that would be considered complex trauma.
Those who endure complex trauma can sometimes experience additional symptoms. In any case, if a traumatic or stressful event negatively affects you, you deserve to get help for it.
Mental Health Conditions Affect Trauma Survivors at a Disproportionate Rate
People who survive a traumatic experience are at a higher risk of various conditions and concerns that may impact their mental well-being. These can include but aren’t limited to the following.
- PTSD.
- Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD).
- Substance abuse or substance use disorders.
- Eating disorders.
- Anxiety disorders.
- Mood disorders.
- Borderline personality disorder.
Purpose Healing Center is able to screen for and diagnose psychiatric disorders. This means that, while a trauma quiz cannot, we can give you a formal screening and diagnosis if applicable.
Why Getting Help for Trauma Responses Matters
Getting help for trauma matters because it can help you release yourself from the mental, physical, and social effects of trauma. Possible effects of trauma include your unique trauma responses.
When you acknowledge your trauma responses, you can work through them and get back in the “driver’s seat,” so to speak. Instead of reacting with a trauma response alone, you’ll get to navigate the situation yourself and make your own choices.
Let’s say that someone is being unkind to you, and your initial reaction to mistreatment is usually a fawn response. Although you may have strived to please them in the past, healing may look like letting them know how you feel, setting boundaries, or standing up for yourself.
Other Benefits of Professional Trauma Treatment
When you seek professional help for trauma, it can decrease your reactivity and help you respond to situations the way you want to, but that’s not all. Finding professional help for traumatic events can also help you:
- Get relief from PTSD symptoms, including avoidance, mood and cognition-related, intrusion, and hyperarousal symptoms.
- Establish healthy boundaries, boost your communication, and improve your conflict resolution skills.
- Overcome or reduce the effects of chronic stress on the body (e.g., physical trauma symptoms).
- Develop healthy interdependent relationships rather than avoiding connection or pursuing codependent relationships.
- Identify coping strategies for intense emotions.
- Implement self-care routines.
- Build a positive support system.
- Increase self-awareness.
We encourage those facing substance abuse to opt into a dual diagnosis treatment program, where both addiction and other mental health concerns are addressed.
Purpose Healing Center offers dual diagnosis treatment in addition to standalone mental health treatment for trauma survivors who also face substance abuse.
Finding the Right Mental Health Professional
Appropriate support matters during the healing process. No matter your circumstances, we’re here to help you get comprehensive care as a unique person.
We treat a broad range of mental health concerns, from conditions like PTSD, mood disorders, and anxiety to grief, addiction, and other things that may be affecting your life.
Since specialists in a wide variety of conditions and treatments are on-staff at both Purpose Healing Center locations, you’ll get care that is sincerely geared toward you and your needs.
Trauma Treatment Options at Purpose Healing Center
We offer inpatient and outpatient IOP trauma programs.
Our inpatient trauma treatment program is intensive, with an all-day therapy schedule consisting of group therapy sessions that address childhood trauma, among other topics, and a wide array of other activities as well.
Inpatient treatment is life-changing for many people, but it’s not the right choice for everyone.
Our outpatient programs are flexible and can accommodate those who need to work throughout trauma treatment or who prefer living off-site while getting treatment during the day.
When you reach out to us about getting trauma treatment at Purpose Healing Center, we’ll help you choose the right program option.
Our Approach to Trauma Treatment at Purpose
The experts at Purpose Healing Center use diverse treatments for trauma and trauma-related disorders.
Trauma therapies with the most profound impact on trauma survivors may include:
- Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT).
- Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR).
- Prolonged exposure therapy.
- Cognitive therapy.
- Cognitive processing therapy (CPT).
We use a combination of the most evidence-based therapies for trauma while offering other forms of treatment, like holistic practices and medication.
You’ll get a personalized trauma treatment plan at our facility that is designed to fit your needs. This is true regardless of whether you enter an inpatient or outpatient trauma treatment program with us.
Call Purpose Healing Center for Trauma Treatment in Arizona
Purpose Healing Center offers trauma treatment in Phoenix and Scottsdale. Our programs are covered by most forms of insurance, including AHCCCS. With a full continuum of care and aftercare planning services, we’re here to help you through every stage of your personal trauma-healing journey.
Please call our admissions line to learn more about our trauma treatment options or to verify your health insurance coverage today.
FAQs Regarding Trauma Responses
What are the 4 trauma responses?
The four most well-known types of trauma responses are the fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses.
What are the 5 trauma responses?
While you may experience fight, flight, freeze, or fawn responses, these do not fully encompass all of the possible reactions to trauma you can have. Another less-recognized trauma response is called the “flop response.”
The “flop” response is similar to the flight response, but it is characterized by surrendering to a threat. Someone experiencing a flop response may experience feelings of hopelessness in response to a real or perceived threat.
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