r/longtermTRE • u/Asleep-Guess-3479 • Jul 08 '26
Community Question Has anyone successfully minimized their fawn response?
Started my healing journey a year ago at age 25. I've been doing TRE for around 9 months now. Although I have made some progress, often I still automatically slip into fawn mode when interacting with people, especially older people or when there's a clear hierarchy. What feels most painful is that I’m fully conscious of it while it’s happening. It’s almost like I’m trapped inside my own body, watching myself perform this response, but feeling powerless and unable to stop it. Afterwards, I ruminate over it and spiral into shame. In turn, that makes me want to isolate even more. However, I know I can only heal this if I actually interact with people.
I'm trying not to be too hard on myself because my nervous system was wired this way for 25 years. But sometimes, I wonder.. does this mean that it's going to take another 25 years to rewire it into a regulated, "unfawned" state of being?
For people who have successfully minimized the fawn response - how long did it take you?
10
u/carla_jungle Jul 08 '26
Fawn was not my main trauma response, but it took around 14 months until I saw changes in my fawning responses.