Key Takeaways
- Functional freeze is when someone goes into autopilot as a response to chronic stress and trauma.
- Unlike other trauma responses, someone in functional freeze can appear completely normal to the untrained eye.
- Trauma therapy and simple somatic practices can help bring someone out of functional freeze.
My life had a bumpy start. A household of substance misuse, unstable caregivers, and feeling othered by way of my racial identity in a small town added up to a lot of trauma throughout my childhood.
I found myself always busy, accomplishing a lot, and appearing as if I was excelling to anyone who looked my way. What wasn’t seen was my exhaustion, brain fog, and stress while I frantically worked hard to avoid the deep pain I felt. After years of therapy, some maturing, and deep healing, I learned that what I was experiencing for all that time was functional freeze.
What Is Functional Freeze?
Functional freeze is an often-overlooked trauma response that’s best described by total disconnection and a sense of going into autopilot. Someone in functional freeze can look relatively normal to the untrained eye, but when we look closer, they’re really just going through daily responsibilities without being fully present.
“Functional freeze is a coping mechanism – it’s a pretty adaptive coping mechanism for someone who is in a state of freeze or trauma to be able to still function,” explains Dr. Avigail Lev of Bay Area CBT Center, a licensed clinical psychologist based in California. The thing about this type of coping mechanism is that while they are clever ways our brain and body collaborate to help us function in the world, they also can ultimately result in a significantly diminished quality of life.
How It Differs From Typical Trauma Responses
Functional freeze is different from the typical trauma responses: fight, flight, freeze, and fawn:
- The fight trauma response happens when the nervous system goes into an acute stress response and is flooded with adrenaline. This adrenaline rush offers the body the opportunity to fight the traumatic threat at hand.
- Alternatively, this same flood of hormones can trigger the flight response, which is when someone flees the traumatic threat to avoid harm.
- Fawn is another trauma response where the threatened person may appease the perpetrator in hopes of staying safe.
- Freeze, on the other hand, is when the brain and body communicate and lead someone to freeze up when confronted with a threatening situation. This can look like being stuck instead of fighting back or running. Instead, someone might become quiet and feel foggy, as if the situation isn’t real.
Functional freeze is similar to the freeze response, but rather than being ‘stuck’ and freezing up under trauma, we’re going through the motions as we would be if we were fully functional (hence the name).
Signs You Might Be in Functional Freeze
We asked Kayla Meyer, a licensed professional counselor and psychology professor, to share some of the key signs someone might be experiencing functional freeze. Here are the ones she pointed out:
- A sense of going through the motions each day
- A sense of feeling emotionally numb
- Feeling that life isn’t “real” or feeling disconnected from reality
- Brain fog – this can also show up as exhaustion, difficulty concentrating, or emotional unresponsiveness
You may also be in functional freeze if you consistently feel disconnected from the things that once brought you joy or if you’re engaging in wellness practices like journaling, yoga, or exercise, yet you aren’t feeling any internal shift.
Why It Happens
Sometimes understanding why a trauma response is happening can be the most comforting of all. “A functional freeze response is likely to occur when a person’s nervous system has been repeatedly or chronically overwhelmed,” shares Meyer.
Abusive households and workplaces tend to be breeding grounds for this type of trauma response. This tracks with my experience of living in chaos as a child and subsequently experiencing functional freeze as an adult.
“A functional freeze response is unlikely to occur as the result of a single traumatic incident,” she continues.
How Functional Freeze Affects Your Life
Functional freeze can rob us of joy, connection, and forward progression in our lives. It is hard to connect with others and build a life of meaning if we’re feeling checked out, exhausted, frozen, and stuck in a trauma response. It can feel like we’re missing out on all life has to offer. In the case of functional freeze, we may be missing out on our greatest goals and lifelong dreams.
If this sounds heavy, it is because it is. No one deserves to be trapped in a trauma response. There is hope, though.
How to Get Out of Functional Freeze
The best way to break free of functional freeze is to use grounding techniques:
- Identify five things you see: Meyer suggests strategies that orient you to your environment. “For example, pick a color and identify five objects around you in that color,” she recommends.
- Allow your body to do what it needs: Chelsey Reese, licensed clinical social worker and yoga teacher based in Los Angeles, encourages folks to ask themselves if they need rest or activation. “If your body is screaming for rest, allow it – dim the lights, lay under a weighted blanket, or listen to calming music,” she begins. “If you sense you need gentle activation, try stretching, a short walk, or standing up and shaking out your arms to invite movement,” she follows up.
- Switch up your environment: Reese also encourages individuals to change their environment, since this can cue their body and brain into a new mode. “If you’ve been stuck in one room, try stepping outside, moving to a different space, or even changing clothes to shift your state,” she shares.
- Practice somatic exercises: Chloe Bean, a licensed marriage and family therapist based in Los Angeles, also encourages slow, gentle movement like stretching or walking for some soft activation.
- Assess your surroundings: She also notes that even the simple practice of naming things you see, feel, and hear can bring you out of functional freeze and back into the present moment. “… With awareness and support, it’s possible to thaw, reconnect, and return to balance and grounded strength,” assures Bean.
When to Seek Help
If this article resonated with you, it is time to seek help. Simple as that – there is no need to wait or wonder if things are “bad enough.” If you’re experiencing functional freeze, there’s a good chance your life is somewhat manageable – after all, there’s a reason why functional is in the name. But, there’s no need to settle for mere functioning.
A good place to begin is to find a trauma-informed therapist. You can narrow your search by therapist identity, modality, and focus, making it extra easy to find a trauma therapist that checks all the boxes you’re looking for.
Crisis Support
Have things gotten to the point of crisis? Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor immediately or call the number below.
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Chu B, Marwaha K, Sanvictores T, Awosika AO, Ayers D. Physiology, stress reaction. StatPearls Publishing; 2025.
Edelman N. Doing trauma-informed work in a trauma-informed way: understanding difficulties and finding solutions. Health Services Insights. 2023.
Noordewier MK, Scheepers DT, Hilbert LP. Freezing in response to social threat: a replication. Psychological Research. 2019.
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