A major new Norwegian study published in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology reveals that involuntary freezing and mental detachment are among the most common reactions experienced during sexual assaults, challenging long-held societal myths about victims fighting back.
The Biology of Paralysis
Conducted by researchers at the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies (NKVTS), the TRUST study surveyed 700 participants. It analyzed the peritraumatic reactions of 425 women and a small group of men during assaults.
Inside the TRUST Study Data
The research paper, titled “Peritraumatic reactions during sexual assault: Relationships with characteristics of the assault and mental health,” was spearheaded by NKVTS researcher, post-doctoral fellow, and psychologist Isabel Kreis.
According to Kreis, society often assumes that a natural response to an assault involves immediate fight or flight, but the data proves that physiological paralysis is far more widespread.
Primary Psychological and Physical Responses
The study breaks down primary psychological and physical responses during an assault into distinct categories:
- Mental detachment and freezing: Victims experience a complete stiffening of the body, lose physical sensation, and feel as though they are observing the situation from the outside.
- Reactive surrender: Individuals stop resisting entirely, comply strictly with demands, and attempt mental distraction.
- Cognitive strategies: Many report a flurry of thoughts and rapid internal evaluations on how to safely escape the situation.
Kreis noted in her findings that these involuntary survival mechanisms actively dismantle common cultural stereotypes surrounding victim behavior.
A Survivor’s Account from Buenos Aires
Sara Heiervang, a doctor specializing in pulmonary medicine at Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, shared her personal experience as part of the public discussion surrounding the study. In 2018, while a medical exchange student in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Heiervang was sexually assaulted by two South American male physicians she met while out in the city.
Heiervang described how her body defaulted to primal survival biology when she was led into a bedroom. She recalled freezing entirely, losing the ability to move or speak.
Repression and the Path to Understanding
Following the assault, she experienced a profound mental disconnection, deleting large parts of the memory from the immediate event. She took a taxi home, told her friends the next morning in tears, and subsequently repressed the memory for years.
Because she did not develop immediate symptoms like depression, severe anxiety, or physical illness, Heiervang chose not to report the crime to the police, carrying the psychological weight privately until the release of modern trauma research provided a framework for understanding her physiological response.
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