When your body is still trying to escape what is already over.
Our nervous systems remember not only the traumatic experiences we have lived through, but also how our bodies responded to them.
They remember not only what made us feel threatened, but also the survival responses that were activated in those moments. Sometimes those responses can continue long after the danger has passed.
Our bodies are designed to respond to extreme situations. When we encounter danger, our autonomic nervous system — the part of the nervous system that works outside our conscious awareness — immediately redirects our attention and physical energy towards helping us survive.
In those moments, we may first turn towards other people for support. If that is not possible, the body prepares us to escape, fight, call for help, or take whatever action might help us survive.
However, sometimes the most natural response to danger — the impulse to escape — is blocked.
The body may be fully mobilised and ready to move, but there is no way out.
This can happen when someone is trapped during an accident, physically unable to move, or attacked by another person. A blocked escape response can also occur during medical experiences. In some situations, the nervous system may interpret medical procedures that are intended to protect or save us as threatening, because the body experiences them as a loss of safety or control.
Complex trauma — including repeated relational trauma — can also involve situations where the impulse to escape could not be completed. This may happen when someone grows up in an unsafe or violent environment, experiences bullying, workplace harassment, or any situation where they repeatedly feel trapped and unable to get away.
When the body has learned that escape was not possible, a person may later:
Experience intense activation in situations where they feel physically or emotionally trapped, while finding it difficult to calm their nervous system.
Experience panic in situations connected with feeling stuck, restricted, or unable to move — not only physically, but emotionally as well.
Experience dissociation or a sense of disconnection from parts of the body that were unable to move or escape.
Feel conflicting impulses in situations where they feel restricted — a strong urge to escape alongside a sense of being unable to move.
Experience emotional or physical reactions long after the original danger has passed.
So how can we support ourselves when we have experienced a blocked escape response?
Ideally, this work is supported by a trauma-informed therapist with appropriate experience. However, some approaches that may help include:
Recognising the situations in which we respond with overwhelming activation or freezing.
Becoming aware of the body’s early signals that an escape response is beginning — looking around for exits, an urge to move the legs, racing thoughts, or rising physical tension.
Allowing the body to complete the escape impulse, either through imagination or through gentle movements that represent moving away from danger. The important part is not simply releasing energy, but staying connected to awareness and choice while moving.
Working with the memory or image of the situation in which escape was prevented. This may involve creating some distance from the traumatic memory, allowing the event to remain in the past while imagining ourselves having the ability to move.
Asking ourselves: “If I could safely escape from that situation, where would I most want to go?” Then allowing ourselves, in imagination, to move towards that place and complete the response that could not happen at the time.
The aim is not to force ourselves to relive what happened. It is to gently create a new experience: that movement is possible, choice is possible, and that the danger is no longer happening now.