17 Effects Of Abusive Relationships, According To Reddit

12.

“Fawning is a solid clue.”

—u/Amiiboid

“Fawning is one of the four F’s of trauma response, and the most problematic and misunderstood in a lot of ways: fight, flight, freeze, fawn.

The first three are relatively self-explanatory but fawning typically results from chronic severe childhood abuse. Basically, at the hint of any kind of triggering/abusive situation, the person becomes totally compliant in a submissive manner intended to prevent them from accidentally antagonizing the abuser in any way, in order to minimize the amount of harm they are about to receive.

From the outside, this can look like compliance, consent, or even enthusiasm on the victim’s part, but inside, the person is NOT okay with the situation. It’s by far the most shitty trauma response to sort out and deal with as it’s the one most prone to a lifetime of being taken advantage of and a constant misunderstanding of boundaries.”

—u/nezroy