4 Signs You're Been in What Trauma Specialists Call a ‘Functional Freeze’

There are approximately one million things on your to-do list, from baking a few batches of thumbprint cookies for your kid’s school’s bake sale to planning your bestie’s birthday brunch (and those are just on top of your normal day-to-day tasks). But for some reason, you feel like you can’t do them. After procrastinating, you eventually check off your to-do list, but it feels like you’re going through the motions, tired and unmotivated. If you’ve felt like this, you might’ve experienced a functional freeze, a stress response that happens when you feel stuck, but are still able to function at a basic level in daily life. I reached out to psychotherapist Janet Bayramyan, LCSW, to learn more—including how to deal if you find yourself in a functional freeze.

Janet Bayramyan, LCSW, is a psychotherapist and owner of Road to Wellness. She has more than eight years of experience as a trauma therapist and is licensed in California, Florida, South Carolina, Texas, Connecticut and North Carolina. She has worked with individuals with a history of trauma and addictions, couples facing relationship challenges and individuals experiencing significant life transitions. Bayramyan approaches therapy from a supportive and strengths-based perspective, always considering one’s strengths, cultural background and identity.

Per Bayramyan, “A functional freeze is a stress and survival response that occurs when someone feels immobilized by overwhelming emotions or circumstances, but is still able to function at a basic level in daily life.” She explains that, unlike a complete freeze, when a person may feel paralyzed or entirely shut down, a functional freeze allows them to go through the motions of their routine while feeling emotionally numb, detached or trapped. She continues, “This state is a form of dissociation, often triggered by trauma or chronic stress, and serves as a survival mechanism when fight or flight responses feel unavailable or unsafe.”

As for why it happens, Bayramyan tells me that a functional freeze occurs when the brain's stress response system perceives a situation as overwhelming or inescapable. “The functional freeze state is linked to the aftermath of traumatic experiences, chronic stress, feeling trapped and an overloaded nervous system. A dysregulated or overloaded nervous system may default to freeze mode when other coping strategies feel ineffective or unavailable.”

Signs of a functional freeze, Bayramyan shares, include:

• You feel disconnected from your emotions or the people around you. This might feel like you’re observing your life from the outside, and Bayramyan tells me that this is a form of dissociation, and people often describe it as being in a dream-like state, or feeling like the experiences they go through are not real. 
• You feel fatigued or unmotivated (even if you’ve had adequate sleep or downtime). The fatigue is not explained by a medical reason, but is more so this emotional functional freeze state. 
• You perceive yourself as trapped in your current circumstances, with little hope or belief in your ability to change them. 
• You procrastinate completing tasks or avoid situations that require effort, even when they’re important. (Avoidance is another survival coping strategy.)

“First, it is important to analyze if there is a true threat in your life to keep you in this freeze state—or if the threat is no longer there and it is now a perceived threat,” Bayramyan says. “You may not get the answer to this on your own, but speaking with a licensed therapist can help you understand if life truly is dangerous or if life is a little bit more peaceful than you realize.” If there is a true threat in your life (whether that’s an abusive relationship or a difficult job with a narcissistic boss), Bayramyan shares that you need to be in a functional freeze state because your life does require survival and it would be illogical to drop your guard. We need these strategies to cope with difficult situations. 

However, if things are okay, she suggests trying the following strategies:

• Reconnect with your body. Engage in grounding techniques like deep breathing or nose breathing, stretching or walking, to signal safety to your nervous system. 
• Break tasks into tiny steps. Reduce overwhelm by setting extremely small, manageable goals. For example, instead of cleaning an entire room, commit to clearing one corner or putting away one item. 
• Seek emotional support. Talk to a trusted friend, therapist, or support group to process your feelings and receive validation. Connection helps regulate the nervous system and reduces feelings of isolation. 
• Reassess your environment. Identify stressors or perceived “traps” in your life and brainstorm small ways to create a sense of choice or control. So, if work feels overwhelming, delegate tasks or set firmer boundaries around your availability. 
• Practice self-compassion. Recognize that the freeze response is a survival mechanism and not a personal failure. Replace critical self-talk with affirming statements like, “I’m doing the best I can right now.”