Reframing the Five Fs of Trauma

Finding empowerment in challenging times

In therapy land we often talk about the five Fs of trauma - fight, flight, freeze, fawn and flop.

Yet I’m not sure how often we talk about the reframes.

You may have noticed from receiving my emails that I’m all for a reframe.

So I’d like to ask you:

• When we think of fight, we think about fighting against - but what would you fight for?

• When we think of flight we may think of fleeing from - but what would you like to retreat to?

• When we think of freeze we may think of being stuck, trapped, locked - but where would you like to be still?

• When we think of fawn we may think of servitude and people pleasing - but how would you like to be of service through your strengths?

• When we think of flop we may think of collapse and implosion - but what would you like to fold into?

We live in an increasingly traumatic-inducing world it seems. I hope that these reframes help you to feel more empowered in dealing with some of the demands on us in these times.

I don’t have a particular poem on the theme of reframes (I know, shocker), but I just found this short scribbling in my notes and, for some reason, it seems apt.

The universe is breathing me

And who am I to hold that back,

To rein it in?

That’s it for now,

’Til next time!

Jacky ✨