Functional Freeze: How to Start Moving in the Right Direction Again

I work with a number of clients who feel stuck in a state of "functional freeze." Although this isn't a clinical diagnosis, it can be a helpful way of describing an experience that doesn't always show up clearly on the outside.

From the outside, a person may appear to be functioning just fine. They are able to attend work, meet commitments, and generally keep up appearances. Underneath all of this, however, they may be feeling intense exhaustion, struggling with motivation, and experiencing high levels of anxiety all at once.

Some people use the phrase "tired and wired" to describe this feeling. It can all too often fall under the radar and start to feel like "just the way things are."

Why it can feel so hard to move out of functional freeze

If we go back to that simple description of feeling "tired and wired," we can begin to see why functional freeze can be so difficult to move out of. These two sides of the experience can end up working against each other, making it hard to break out of the loop.

To illustrate the point, if you rest more to address the tiredness, tasks can pile up, commitments may be missed, and some people may feel guilty or ashamed for taking the rest they need. All of these things can increase anxiety.

Equally, ignoring the tiredness and pushing on can lead to increased fatigue, crashing out, and feeling back where you started.

When might therapy help?

If functional freeze is interfering with your day-to-day life, it might be time to consider therapy.

Working with a therapist can support you to:

• Understand what is happening within your body when you are experiencing functional freeze.

• Identify any particular triggers that lead to freeze becoming a prominent part of your life.

• Explore and address any underlying causes of the freeze response.

• Take gradual steps towards the life you want.

How I work with functional freeze

One thing that I find can be helpful for a lot of clients is to understand a bit about the freeze response. It is a protective response that is there to keep us safe during situations that our nervous system perceives as dangerous or overwhelming.

Having some compassion for why our bodies are feeling and behaving the way they are can be an important step on the healing journey. In short, it is easier to start building some momentum if we are not beating ourselves up for not "just being able to do it already."

The next thing that helps is seeing moving out of functional freeze as a process of rebuilding capacity. Starting small and taking lots of incremental steps until you find yourself far from where you started, but without it feeling overwhelming to get there.

I sometimes describe this as looking for a bit of "safe wiggle room." Not the biggest step you could take, but a step that feels safe enough to be manageable while still gently moving you in the direction you want to go.

In therapy, this could look like working together to identify the direction that you want to move in and then breaking down the steps to get there. The idea here is to identify and take a step in the direction that you want to go, but one that feels suitably small, safe, approachable, and appropriately challenging for where you are, so that it doesn't trigger excessive fatigue or anxiety. In sessions, we can discuss how taking that small step felt and reflect on how your body responded to it.

The idea is that, over time, your nervous system can begin to feel safer with the levels of activity that you are exposing it to, gradually building your capacity.

Final thoughts

If any of this resonates, or if you have been feeling stuck for a while, it might be time to seek some additional support.

I offer a free 30-minute video call for anyone looking to explore how therapy might help. If you'd like to get started, simply click the green button at the top left of this page.