About this episode

This episode explores the fawn response as a trauma response, discussing its implications and how it manifests in behavior.

This week on ShrinkChicks, Em and Jen wrap up their trauma response mini-series with a deep dive into the fawn response, the often-overlooked survival strategy rooted in people-pleasing and conflict avoidance. While many people are familiar with fight or flight, fawning happens when your nervous system moves quickly to smooth things over, keep the peace, and protect the connection. They explore how the fawn response can look like saying yes too fast, minimizing your needs, avoiding conflict, or feeling resentful after people-pleasing. Em and Jen break down how fawning develops, why culture rewards it, and how it can slowly lead to self-abandonment and shaky intimacy if left unchecked. Listener questions cover the difference between genuine flexibility and fawning, how to practice assertiveness without triggering your nervous system, what to do when someone is fawning to you, and how resentment signals crossed boundaries. Tune in to gain insight, awareness, and action! PS: Fast forward to around 5 minutes to skip the intro and get straight to today’s content. ⁠ Get Matched With One of Our Therapists ⁠ at The Therapy Group! ⁠ShrinkChicks on Instagram⁠ Our ⁠Know Yourself Grow…

People in this episode

Hosts: Em, Jen

Topics covered

• trauma response
• fawn response
• people-pleasing
• conflict avoidance
• self-abandonment
• intimacy

Keywords

• nervous system
• assertiveness
• resentment
• boundaries

Mentioned in this episode

Products: an AG1 Flavor Sampler, Vitamin D3+K2, AG1

Places: California

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