Terror To Triumph

An interview with childhood abuse survivor and psychologist Dr. David Marcus reveals his passions helping families and children who suffer trauma.

We've talked about fawning, flight, and fight. Now we're exploring the fourth response: freeze. The shutdown. The dissociation. The moment when your body goes numb and your mind goes somewhere else.If you grew up in an abusive home, freeze might have been your only option. When you couldn't appease, couldn't run, and couldn't fight back—you disappeared. Today, we're breaking down what freeze looks like, why it happens, and how to come back to your body.

We've talked about fawning—appeasing to survive. We've talked about flight—running to survive. Now we're talking about fight: the response where you stand your ground, where you rage, where you defend yourself with aggression.If you grew up in an abusive home, fight might have been your armor. It might still be. Today, we're breaking down what fight looks like, why it happens, and how to channel that power into something that actually protects you.

Last week, we talked about fawning—the response where you appease to survive. This week, we're exploring the opposite: flight. The urge to escape. The compulsion to run.If you grew up in an abusive home, flight might have been your lifeline. It might still be. Today, we're breaking down what flight looks like, why it happens, and how to heal from a lifetime of running.

This is the first episode in our REACT series—a deep dive into the four trauma responses that shaped how we survived childhood abuse. Over the next four weeks, we're breaking down fawning, flight, fight, and freeze. Today, we're talking about fawning: the response that looks like kindness but is actually survival.If you grew up in a chaotic, controlling, or abusive home, you might recognize yourself in this episode. Stick with us.

Tonight, we're talking about the immediate aftermath. What's happening in your body. What you need to know. And what you need to do right now.""This is not your fault. What happened to you is not your fault. Say that to yourself now. We'll say it again before we're done.