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The Trauma Response and Suicide
Don’t become a statistic
The trauma response causes people not to think but to react emotionally and can be the catalyst for many mental health problems. One of the most severe consequences of trauma is suicidal ideation and attempted or completed suicide.
This article is part of a four-part series about suicide and its link to trauma.
What is the Trauma Response?
A trauma response is how a person responds to distressing situations. Most people have experienced trauma of some sort in their lives. However, the type of trauma that can lead to suicide involves serious life-threatening events and causes the person experiencing it to feel helpless to control.
There are four primary trauma responses, including fight, flight, freeze, and fawn, also known as the four F’s of trauma. These trauma responses are learned through threatening or abusive situations you survived after a significant event or in childhood. Unfortunately, unless a person works on these issues and puts them to rest, the four F’s of trauma become the default response later in life as they face other things they perceive as threatening.
Understanding your trauma responses and which one you default to can aid you in understanding behaviors that have bewildered you. Facing your trauma…
