[leomama]

Hi

I healed part way, now I'm dealing with my dawn defense which is new for me.

I'm going to do some reading on Pete walkers website regarding this.

Does anyone else work with this defense mechanism?

[PumpkinPieHead]

Dawn defense? You use dish soap to treat your PTSD?

Joke....what is it?

[leomama]

Originally Posted by PumpkinPieHead

Dawn defense? You use dish soap to treat your PTSD?

Joke....what is it?

Fawn , sorry, typo.

[Trace14]

Originally Posted by leomama

Hi

I healed part way, now I'm dealing with my dawn defense which is new for me.

I'm going to do some reading on Pete walkers website regarding this.

Does anyone else work with this defense mechanism?

I've read about them, but never really worked with them. Pete Walker does have great explanations of them though.

[leomama]

Originally Posted by Trace14

I've read about them, but never really worked with them. Pete Walker does have great explanations of them though.

Thanks, in session with my therapist yesterday I started dealing with this one.

[xenos]

I related a lot with Pete Walker's book. He was a Fawn type and me too also a fawn type. It's just a developmental arrest, that we are habitually directed toward the fawn instinct more than we should. This can manifest into people pleasing, being a clown for others, saying yes when we want to say no.... etc. Because our parents were abusive in the past, we took rigid roles in our early lives to manage being around with them. My mother used to be very angry at me and very harsh in the past, so being around her (which amounts to establishing the first relationship with another human being) made me gravitate towards saying Yes more than No. So we became fawn types in our adult lives. Changing this habit via (disapproval is OK with me, as Pete Walker states) takes some time. but its psychologically healing and self integrating and your suffering will be no doubt less when you learn to use the other types (fight/flight/freeze) in a more sophisticated and flexible way.

I can talk about fawn for hours, because I'm recovering from it, and its detrimental towards ones psychological health, pretty much with the other defenses too.

wish you the best.

[leomama]

fight is my first defense, fawn comes up next. I appreciate the input!