Why People-Pleasing Isn’t Kindness: Healing The Fawn Response With Dr Ingrid Clayton

In this episode of How To Be In This Body, we explore the fawn response as an adaptive survival strategy (not a character flaw) and trace a gentle path from self-abandonment back to self-contact. Dr. Ingrid Clayton, clinical psychologist and author, brings together clinical insight, lived experience, and practical tools for building internal safety and reducing shame.Together, Ailey and Ingrid unpack how fawning develops, why danger can feel familiar, and how our bodies learn to prioritize connection over selfhood. This conversation offers compassion, language, and embodied understanding for anyone who has learned to appease in order to survive and who is ready to begin coming home to themselves.In this episode:0:00 – Embodiment And Show Welcome1:47 – Meet Dr Ingrid Clayton8:16 – Agency, Validation And Reclaiming Story16:28 – The Missing Discourse On Fawning20:26 – Codependency Versus Trauma Response23:27 – How Fawning Feels In The Body28:34 – From Self-Abandonment To Self-Contact34:57 – Fawning In The Therapy Room 41:34 – Trust Your Body’s Unique Path44:27 – Everyday Practices For RegulationYou can read the transcript hereLearn more about Ailey Jolie:Find: WebsiteFollow: InstagramExplore: SubstackExperience: Insight TimerSign up: InBodyMethodEmail: [email protected] follow along with the In This Body podcast:Follow: InstagramFind: WebsiteEmail: [email protected]