#functional freeze

[babyblankyerror]

Functional Freeze

[tristanamerie]

Working your way out of depression/burnout/functional freeze looks different for everyone. Today, mine looked like me eating, folding towels that have been sitting in the dryer for weeks, and putting things away in their rightful places. Baby steps are still steps.

[unwelcome-ozian]

[writing2changetheworld]

Just saw someone on Tiktok say "functional freeze". I wanted to share because I love that so much more than "decision paralysis" (or "[whatever] paralysis").

[teddysoftpaws]

Being in extreme burn out for the 2nd time in 5 years is so damn frustrating. I literally couldn’t do anything but survive these past several months. I slept so much because my body literally made me. It reminded me too much of when I first got disabled but honestly tracks. It’s been 7 months and Im only finally feeling Okish today.

Idk if it’ll last but I’ll keep doing me and self caring best I can. I would love to be out of functional freeze please lol. My days are pretty much reading, watching things and when I have the energy Ill play a game but thats about it. Not much social energy in my body but when I can I love being able to reach out to the few people I can.

[yourhealingjournal]

would you be interested in a comprehensive guide* on moving out of survival mode?

yes

no

not for me, but i have a person in mind who can use it

Voting ended onMar 21, 2024

*guides will include also how to maintain the burst of momentum after getting out of freeze (like: supporting yourself when you have no support system, modelling compassion for yourself, moving away from self-sabotage, how to wade through the lows of recovery period)

ps. if anyone is interested, i might start a taglist? lmk!

[autumnbell32]

A cleaner left a sink running in the unit above me. Woke up to bubbled plaster and a flooded kitchen. Maintenance took their sweet ass time to get here as water continued to leak through the light fixtures. I got teary eyed in front of the maintenance man and he was like, “😳…are you ok?” And I told him I was just frustrated because this is the second time my unit has flooded in the last four years. And I’m kind of stuck here because I can only comfortably afford this little unit. Not easy to support yourself, work full time, and deal with a chronic illness. My resources feel like they are always ebbing away and every day I grind my teeth a little harder. Like, I’m ok- I’ve gotten to the point in healing where I’m pretty much always “okay.” But if anyone tells me this is “just life,” I WILL flip a table.

At least one of us is relaxed. Meanwhile I’m sitting here dissociating lolol 😅.

[unwelcome-ozian]

Functional Freeze? When the freeze response becomes frequent or chronic, it can advance to what is referred to as functional freeze.

If in this state, we will remain stuck in internal distress and alert. This in turn can quietly and consistently create a growing mental block between us and our relationships, tasks and decisions.

Emotional numbing might accompany functional freeze in some cases as well. Typically strong or discernible emotions might be dulled or detached in our conscious awareness.

We further might feel disconnected from ourselves and our surroundings. With our anxiety on a constant loop, keeping us on edge, we may find it increasingly harder to shift our thoughts from our distress to conversations or situations at hand.

This functional freeze is sometimes referred to interchangeably – and incorrectly – as another condition known as dissociation.