McMusing: Using a Typo as a Teaching Opportunity

3 things: Freeze, Flight, Fight (and Fawn). Yep, that is 4.

Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash

As an author, I am grateful—though not enthusiastically grateful—when readers point out typos. I remember times when a typo would upend me—the shame narrative was strong! Though that is no longer the case, who likes to find out they made a mistake? No one, but it happens. Probably more often than I care to think about. 

So, when I got a message about this paragraph, I was grateful: (I left the error here)

When a car is speeding toward you it is necessary to react quickly. Considering your options is too time consuming! You are probably familiar with the feeling caused by a rush of adrenaline when you perceive danger. This happens because the amygdala located in the center of your brain, in the limbic brain, alerts the more primal area located in the brain stem. Your response is immediate. It is an autonomic response with three options—fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. It is not a conscious choice.

I taught math to small preschool/kindergarten children and also to college students. I do know how to count, LOL. I also know how to use my mistakes as a teaching opportunity.

Flight, fight, and freeze have traditionally been the three autonomic responses. Researchers and those within the mental health profession began to question whether this fully described the range of autonomic responses. Slowly, fawn began showing up in the writings and literature (along with others, but mainly these four). I was hesitant and had conversations with others who were also hesitant. When I wrote the chapter for Trauma in the Pews 2.0  I was sticking with three and added a footnote with the fourth. 

I knew that fawning had been one of my strongest survival skills, but was it just that—a survival skill—or an autonomic response? In other words, did I subconsciously choose to befriend my abuser or did it happen at a deeper level as an autonomic response?

I use my dog, Weber, as an example of autonomic responses. When he is afraid, he will bark (fight), run (flee), and sometimes cower (freeze). I have never seen him try to befriend the animal he fears. But I have watched this occur with children often and recognize it in myself. Then again, maybe his half-hearted wagging tail, even when afraid, is fawning.

This past six months I have been processing the impact of trauma bonding (some information is included here). The body’s goal is survival and all autonomic responses are in the service of protecting the body. Fawning looks different, but it serves the same purpose.

Understanding autonomic responses (and Polyvagal Theory—watch this video) better helped me to make sense of some very complicated and traumatizing times in my young adult life. There is a fine line between autonomic responses and subconscious choices! The main thing to remember is that neither one is a conscious, willful choice. 

So, at the end of a long day, when publishing the article, I agreed with the majority opinion, and in changing the text, I made a typo. Fight, flight, freeze, or fawn—yep, that is 4.