Signs You're Stuck in a 'Functional Freeze'—And How to Get Out of It The defensive survival response is often associated with feelings of panic. Here's what to know about the mental health phenomenon
"Functional freeze" TikToks have received hundreds of thousands of views
- “Functional freeze” is a defensive survival response often associated with feelings of panic.
- Symptoms of functional freeze include feeling numb, in a fog, tired, or withdrawn.
- Functional freeze TikToks have received hundreds of thousands of views, and experts say the discourse could help normalize the phenomenon.
TikTok videos centered on a range of negative emotions and behaviors—including feeling numb and unfulfilled or constantly doomscrolling and self-isolating—have thousands wondering if they might be in a “functional freeze.”
The term has been popping up across social media in recent months, with TikTokers racking up hundreds of thousands of views on videos discussing these functional freeze symptoms.
“In functional freeze response, your nervous system is stuck in fight or flight during the day when you’re ‘functional,’” said Liz Tenuto, who goes by The Workout Witch online. “But your nervous system uses up all of its energy during the day, so even though you can excel at work or with your family, you crash into a freeze response at night.”
But is a functional freeze a real mental health concern? According to Deborah Serani, PsyD, author and senior adjunct professor at Adelphi University, the phrase “functional freeze” is unique to TikTok, but the phenomenon is actually something that people should watch out for.
“It’s really a new way of describing an older clinical term called immobilizing freeze response,” she told Health.
Though you might not find “functional freeze” in a psychology textbook, Serani said online discourse about the phenomenon could help normalize these and other mental health challenges.
“Doing so removes the stuffy, clinical jargon and replaces it with terms more easily understood,” she explained. “The term ‘functional freeze’ perfectly describes what the psychological phenomenon is—that in the face of trauma or distress, you freeze and then function.”
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What Happens to the Body During “Functional Freeze?”
When a person is stressed, signals in their brain will activate the body’s sympathetic nervous system. In other words, “when faced with terror, a physiological chain reaction leads us to either fight, flight, freeze, or fawn,” said Serani.
Fight or flight refers to whether a person decides to flee a situation or confront the source of the stress to protect themselves. But there are other possible behaviors, too—people in stressful situations may “fawn,” meaning they’ll practice people-pleasing behaviors to avoid conflict. They could also freeze in the face of the stressor.
This latter response—a freeze—can last hours, days, or even weeks, depending on the situation, said Tigist Taylor, LCPC, a licensed clinical professional counselor based in Chicago.
People may present like they are “functioning” in everyday life, and may work, participate in family activities, and socialize with friends as they normally would.
“However, they often report feeling numb, in a fog, feeling detached from their bodies or from their surroundings, and a sense of ‘watching’ themselves move through tasks,” Taylor told Health.
A freeze response can be triggered by a variety of factors, including high levels of stress at work or school, issues balancing family life, or intense conflict in relationships.
“The response is often automatic and serves as a coping mechanism usually to avoid distressing emotions, thoughts, and body sensations,” Taylor explained.
What Are the Signs That You Might Be in a Functional Freeze?
Functional freeze is a defensive survival response that may make a person feel immobile, but is also oftentimes associated with feelings of panic, such as confusion or fear of losing control.
The symptoms associated with a functional freeze tend to fall into three categories, Serani said:
- Physical effects: Lowered heart rate, slowed breathing, breath holding, immobility, fainting, muscle tension, cold extremities, heavy sweating, heavy limbs, staring, hypervigilance, trembling, analgesia, dilated pupils, flushed face, or sudden pallor.
- Cognitive effects: Slowed thinking, confusion, difficulty making decisions, reduced responsiveness, speechlessness, memory retrieval issues, sense of unreality, mind going blank, or racing thoughts.
- Emotional effects: Numbness, tired but wired feeling, buzzing anxiety, feelings of dread, irritability, sudden swell of sadness, detachment, feeling trapped, extreme panic, or blunted feelings.
However, these experiences may not be the same for everyone. “It’s also helpful to realize there are varying and contrasting experiences within each category,” Serani said.
Any person could experience a functional freeze in theory, but people may be more likely to have a freeze response if they’re prone to anxiety.
Additionally, many of these symptoms TikTokers outline in functional freeze videos—such as feeling tired, lonely, or withdrawn—are similar to those associated with post-traumatic stress responses, Serani explained.
Many children and adults can live through one or multiple stressful events without experiencing long-term functional freeze symptoms, she said, while others can develop significant post-traumatic reactions, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A number of factors impact a person’s risk of developing PTSD, including biological factors and genetics.
How to Navigate a Functional Freeze
If you find yourself relating to posts about functional freezes, ask yourself to what extent these symptoms are negatively impacting your world, Serani advised.
“If your ‘functional freeze’ [means it] takes three or four snooze slides on your phone to get yourself out of bed, or a half an hour pause to get yourself ready for your work meeting, or if you detached a few minutes to collect yourself before the kids come home, then no worries,” she said.
But if your functional freeze encapsulates longer times, such as hours a day, days or weeks at a time, then you may be experiencing more pronounced trauma-related concerns.
“Seeking help with a trained mental health specialist will help soften the hold a functional freeze has on your life,” said Serani.
It can also be helpful to identify what in particular might be triggering these symptoms, Taylor added.
“Recognizing that one is in the functional freeze state or moving toward it can mobilize clients to utilize grounding techniques to get the body out of this state,” she said.
If you feel a freeze response coming on, you can try grounding yourself by describing in detail what you see, listening to sounds around you, eating mints or other hard candy, touching something comforting, or using a fidget toy, Taylor said.
“Connecting with the body can also be done using movement and exercise,” Taylor added. “Going for a mindful walk, yoga, intense exercise, or other movement...enables the client to connect with [their] emotions, sensations, and thoughts.”
Strategies used to manage freeze responses may become more or less helpful over time, she said, so it’s also important that people continue to experiment with regulation skills to see benefits in the long term.
This story originally appeared on: Health News - Author:Cathy Cassata
