Addressing the confusion in language within the literature of trauma: A reflective account and conceptual synthesis

Article type: Reflective Account

Author:

Michael Guilding

Affiliation: 

Independent clinician, UK

Abstract

There is much confusion in the literature concerned with our biological responses to

threat particularly as regards the states of “Freeze” and “Tonic Immobility”. The term

“Freeze” is used by various authors to describe three quite different biological states,

while an unchallenged decades-old hypothesis concerning Tonic Immobility may

have obscured our understanding of parasympathetic shutdown in response to a

seemingly inescapable threat to life. This confusion can prevent therapists from

clearly understanding trauma responses and thus limits our ability to help our clients.

This article examines some contradictions in the literature and proposes a clearer

terminology for describing human fear responses.

This reflective account, that synthesizes selected literature with clinical and personal

observations, is an extract from Michael Guilding’s forthcoming book “Fear in the

Therapy Room: A survival guide for working with complex trauma”, due to be

published in June 2026 by Hammersmith Books, who have given permission for its

inclusion in the Journal.

Keywords: freeze response; tonic immobility; threat response; defensive immobility; orienting response; fight-or-flight; parasympathetic shutdown; dorsal vagal; polyvagal theory; dissociation; trauma terminology; clinical conceptualisation

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© 2025 The Author(s).

Published by the Complex Trauma Institute under the Creative Commons

Attribution–NonCommercial–NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Published in: Perspectives on Complex Trauma

Volume 6, Issue 1 (2025)

ISSN 2635-0807