Your Fear Response is “Fawn”
If you scored high in the fawn category, you are a people-pleaser, my friend. You appease others by doing whatever they want while ignoring your own desires.
Definition of the
Fawn Response
Your response to any trigger is “fawning” and you do this out of fear of how others will interpret your true reaction to a serious situation.
The thought behind this response is, “If I can appease this person, I can be safe from conflict or pain.”
Coping Mechanism:
Set Healthy Boundaries and Communicate Assertively
To alleviate your fawn fear response, you can learn to apply these two things in your life.
- Set Healthy Boundaries
- Start your day by claiming your limitations in the different settings. Remind yourself to what extent you are willing to adjust yourself for others.
- Acknowledge what you’ll gain by setting boundaries. Having a good reminder of what you get from practicing having boundaries will motivate you to continue doing this.
- Communicate directly, clearly, and often. Instead of letting yourself just agree and go with the flow of the situation, communicate your thoughts and what you really feel to those who are involved with it, and respond to it with what you really feel like doing.
- Practice self-compassion. It wouldn’t hurt to choose yourself from time to time. Practice self-compassion by choosing yourself in situations that will challenge you, especially if the situation you’re in will definitely compromise you if you choose others.
- Communicate Assertively without being Passive-Aggressive
- Acknowledge how you feel. Allow yourself to feel what you want to feel. If you feel angry, then get angry. If you are happy, go be happy. If you want to cry, then go cry. Having these feelings is totally normal.
- Have a clear, straightforward, and assertive response. Do not filter yourself. Avoid going around in circles with your response; just say what you want to say.
- Along with having an assertive response, make sure that you’ll never forget to validate the other person’s feelings. Validating one’s feelings does not only come from acknowledging what they feel but also understanding their feelings and where they are coming from.
- Be collaborative. Being assertive does not mean that you have to do or decide everything alone. You should also be open to hearing other people’s ideas regarding your situation.
Feel free to download a copy of this fawn response coping mechanism!
The following have been selected for you to help you gain more important insights and understandings of the dynamics at play:
Recommended Video:
Recommended Product:
Boundaries Protect my Peace, Passion, Pleasure, and Purpose – Spiral Notebook
Recommended Readings:
Fawning: The Not-Well-Known Fourth Fear Response
Tips to Communicate Assertively Without Being Passive-Aggressive
4 Fear Responses: “Fight”, “Flight”, “Freeze”, and “Fawn” in Movies
4 Fear Responses: “Fight”, “Flight”, “Freeze”, and “Fawn” in Movies
You find yourself struggling with how to respond when faced with fear. Whether it's a big or small challenge, fear is a part of life that we all have to face at some point. And the truth is, we all have our own unique way of responding to it. You may have a “fight",...
4 TYPES OF
Fear Responses
Fight Response
Flight Response
Freeze Response
Fawn Response
Reaching out for help is always essential.
If you are worried about your mental or physical state or both, be sure to make yourself a priority. Our therapists at Shirley Therapeutic and Consulting Services can aid in rooting the underlying causes of these overwhelming feelings.