#fear response

Fight

Fight is when you quite literally fight to keep away whatever your brain perceives to be a threat, this can obviously be physically attacking the theat, but in more everyday terms, it can also be verbally fighting, anything to show you're bigger and badder than the threat so it will back off. Whether it was a bear in the woods or someone getting to close in a store. Fight is the snapping response, either with fists or words.

Flight

Flight is when you run. Literally. It is the "get me the fuck away for this bad thing" response. Anything to get you and the bad thing or threat as far apart as you can. Whether it's literally standing up and booking it in another direction, or perhaps it's logging out of a horror game when things get a little too much. Flight is get me outta here response.

Freeze

Freeze is when your brain chooses deer in headlights mode. You don't move, don't fight, you just stare at the problem like it's a T-rex, and if it can't notice you, maybe it'll stop and leave. This can be literally freezing and not moving, or it can be going totally silent in an argument or just cowering in an anxiety inducing situation. Freeze is the if I stop, then maybe that will male this bad thing also stop response.

Fawn

Fawn is when your brain decides that taking the side of the threat is better than handling itself. This can be agreeing with someone in an argument just to make the fight stop. It can also be trying to make yourself enjoy something you don't in order to make it seem like less of an issue. Fawn is choosing to minimize yourself to make everything else less angry at you as it's choice of threat response.

Flop

Flop is when all else fails, so your brain says to play dead and pray for a better outcome. Often, this only engages when you've tried some of the other threat responses, but the threat is still there and still bad, so you're now out of options. It's not usually literally flopping and pretending to be dead. It's more often a disassociation type of response. You're not freezing. Freezing implies you're still alert. Instead, you're just completely leaving your body and hoping it'll sort itself out without you having to deal with the nasty experience it's going through. Flop is the choice of just to close your eyes and go to a happy place despite what's happening around you threat response.

Fool

Fool is when your brain thinks it can lie it's way out of the situation. It's basically a fakers version of a fight response. You're gonna try and look big and scary, but you won't actually follow through with saying or doing anything if that happens to not work. This is basically your version of a dog puffing its fur to appear bigger. You won't actually fight. You might not do anything else other than trying to look tough, but maybe if you look scary, the threat will just back off, and you won't need to. Fool is the tough guy with no real plan type of threat response.

Bonus Notes!