One of the most painful misunderstandings about freeze is the belief that it’s laziness. For people with CPTSD, freeze is not a lack of motivation. It’s a biological nervous system response to overwhelm.
When you’re in freeze, it can look like you’re doing nothing. Tasks pile up. Motivation disappears. Even simple actions can feel impossibly far away. And in a culture that values productivity and forward momentum, that gets labeled quickly, by others and by ourselves.
But freeze isn’t laziness.
It’s biology.
Freeze is a nervous system response that occurs when the body perceives overwhelm or threat and doesn’t believe mobilization is safe. Instead of moving into action, the system slows everything down. Energy drops. Initiation becomes difficult. The body prioritizes survival over performance.
This isn’t something you decide.
It isn’t a mindset problem.
And it isn’t fixed by willpower.
For many people with CPTSD, freeze developed early as a way to endure environments that felt unsafe, unpredictable, or overwhelming. The body learned that staying still, quiet, or disconnected was the safest option available.
From a nervous system perspective, freeze is often associated with dorsal vagal shutdown. A state where energy, movement, and motivation decrease as a form of protection.
The problem isn’t that the body learned this.
The problem is that we later judge ourselves for it.
Calling freeze “laziness” adds shame to an already overloaded system. And shame doesn’t create movement. It deepens shutdown. Understanding what’s actually happening changes that dynamic entirely.
When you recognize freeze as a biological response, the question shifts from “What’s wrong with me?” to “What does my nervous system need right now?”
Sometimes the answer isn’t action.
Sometimes it’s rest.
Sometimes it’s noticing.
Sometimes it’s reducing pressure instead of adding more.
Healing doesn’t always look like progress on the outside. Sometimes it looks like learning to stop fighting your body and starting to work with it.
If you’ve ever felt stuck and blamed yourself for it, I want you to know this: your body wasn’t failing you. It was trying to keep you safe. This is how trauma lives in the nervous system, and it’s also where healing begins.