Your Nervous System Isn’t Broken, it is Protecting You

Understanding CPTSD Responses

When your body tenses, shuts down, lashes out, or says “yes” when it means “no,” it’s easy to think something is wrong with you. But what if those reactions were actually signs of intelligence? What if they were your nervous system doing exactly what it was designed to do—keep you alive?

For many of us who live with Complex PTSD (CPTSD), our emotional responses often feel confusing or extreme. We might wonder why we react so strongly or why we can’t seem to stay present in the moment. But the truth is, our bodies have been trained by past trauma to respond in ways that prioritize safety over connection. And that makes perfect sense, even if it no longer serves us in the same way today.

Understanding the Survival Patterns of CPTSD

CPTSD alters how your nervous system interprets threat. The survival strategies it activates—commonly known as fight, flight, freeze, or fawn—are not character flaws. They are protective reflexes rooted in experience. When your environment has felt unsafe, your body learned to respond in the ways that kept you alive.

Let’s explore what these responses might look like and how they function:

Response	What It Looks Like	What It Means	How to Support Yourself
Fight	Anger, irritability, defensiveness	Protecting your boundaries by pushing away threats	Practice calming breath and grounding techniques
Flight	Avoidance, restlessness, overworking	Attempting to escape real or perceived danger	Create safe spaces and allow for gradual exposures
Freeze	Numbness, shutdown, dissociation	Shutting down in response to overwhelm	Use gentle movement, breathwork, and sensory grounding
Fawn	People-pleasing, over-apologizing	Seeking safety through compliance or approval	Practice assertive communication and hold gentle boundaries

You may recognize one dominant pattern or find yourself moving between several. The key takeaway is this: these responses are not signs of weakness. They are the language of a body that has had to survive.

Learning to Support the System That Supports You

The journey of healing starts when we stop blaming ourselves for our reactions and begin to understand them instead. Your nervous system is constantly scanning for danger or safety. When it senses threat—even a perceived one—it responds immediately to protect you. But sometimes, it responds based on outdated data.

This is where compassionate awareness becomes your most powerful tool. Begin by noticing which response shows up most often for you. Do you become numb in stressful situations? Find yourself overcommitting or saying yes to things that drain you? Do you lash out quickly, or do you always walk on eggshells to avoid conflict?

Once you identify your common responses, you can begin to build your own regulation toolkit. That might include breathwork, grounding exercises, gentle movement, time in nature, or creating safe rituals at the beginning and end of each day.

Here’s a sample of what tracking your responses and regulation efforts might look like:

Date	Response Noticed	Regulation Practice Used	Feeling After Practice (1–10)
2025-05-19	Freeze	Body scan and deep breathing	7
2025-05-20	Fight	Grounding walk outside	8
2025-05-21	Fawn	Practiced saying “no” aloud	6

You don’t need to be perfect. You simply need to begin. Each moment of noticing is a moment of healing.

From Survival to Safety

The truth is, your nervous system isn’t broken. It’s brilliant. It kept you alive. It did its job during times when connection, trust, or safety weren’t guaranteed. And now, with support, it can learn something new: that safety is possible in the present. That you no longer have to live in survival mode. That calm is not dangerous, and rest is not a trap.

As you begin to support your body with curiosity instead of criticism, you make space for a new way of being. One where you respond rather than react. One where you feel safe enough to soften. One where the world begins to feel a little less like something to brace against, and a little more like something you can breathe inside of.

🎧 Want to explore more about how your nervous system is wired for survival and how to gently support its healing?

Tune in to the Life’s Deceit Podcast on YouTube. In each episode, we dive deep into trauma, healing, and how to reclaim safety within ourselves—with honesty, compassion, and lived wisdom.

👉 Watch here