The third category of freezing is appears to be as much of a learned response as a survival strategy. You'll see it in both humans and animals.

What's weird about it is it's a blend of both types. It is both tactical AND 'I don't know what else to do.'  What's more is it is EXTREMELY emotional.

Among humans, it appears less about buying time than it is 'this is a strategy that is known to work.'  At the same time the mind kicks the person into a "I cannot move" mode.

The term 'Tonic Immobility' seems to especially apply to this kind of freezing. When there is the perception of no chance of escaping or 'winning' this kind of freeze. A study by Bados, Toribio and Garcia-Grau (above link) states: Tonic immobility is characterized by pronounced physical and verbal immobility, trembling, muscle rigidity, sensations of cold and numbness or insensitivity to intense or painful stimulation.

In short, it shares a great deal in common with 'going into shock.'

This kind of freezing is common among abuse victims who have been 'groomed.' But that statement bears closer examination. What is interesting is that among wild animals this behavior occurs during the attack. This too applies to humans who have no (or little) experience with physical violence. The freeze occurs during the assault.

This kind of freezing can often be seen in 'stompings' where the person has fallen. In that case he simply curls up and protects himself to the best of his ability while being beaten. If the person is still upright, you will often see a hybrid with the 'flight' response where the person covers up and attempts to flee from the rain of blows.

With individuals who have been systematically abused this kind of freeze can be induced verbally -- or with just the presence of visual and emotional cues.

I'll return to that in a bit, but I want to point something out, in a situation where the person has deemed there is no chance of escape or winning, freezing is a strategy. They've learned to freeze and take the abuse because in a deep level of their brains, they KNOW they can survive IF they freeze!

We're not talking a wounded mouse playing dead so the house cat might lose interest. We're talking a proven strategy

The reality is in an ongoing abusive relationship maybe this time they won't, but their lizard/monkey brain has stable data that if they lock up, they will survive. Is it horrible? Yes. Is it awful? Yes. But this strategy has a proven track record of working when that person is attacked.

Where things get complicated with this kind of situation is that this 'program' usually kicks way before the first blow is ever struck. Which causes one to wonder if it is a kind of pre-shock. By just receiving 'previously experienced' stimuli the person goes into this pattern of behavior.

I say this because this reaction is often triggered, not at the legitimate danger of an assault from an abuser, but in any kind of conflict -- with anybody. No matter what degree the conflict, this person's monkey brain kicks it into a matter of life and death. It's not(3). But their limbic system is convinced it is.

You're not going to overcome this deep seated conditioning with a couple of counseling sessions or a weekend long adrenal stress inducing self-defense course. The raw truth is that such behaviors are complex cocktail of interactions between two people. Sometimes it IS between a bully and a would-be victim, but other times it's a person with a dysfunctional past reacting to a normal conflict as though it were another round of abuse(4).

These different categories of freezing are just a roughed out summation of the factors I have come while looking into this subject. I don't claim to have an answer to this problem. But I can tell you that anyone who does is lying to get your money.

The thing about the 'freeze' response is that while standing there doing nothing is end result, there's like ... 18 different ways to get there. The bitch is what works to get you over the freeze when you're coming at it from one direction DOESN'T work for the other 17. And that goes for those 17 other answers too.

What makes this worse is that people want a simple answer to a complex problem. They're looking for 'that one thing' that will solve their freezing problem. When I tell them there ain't no such critter, they get pissy.

There's a reason I drink...

My best answer is that it is critical for BOTH the instructors and students to know that FREEZING WILL HAPPEN. Both tactically and because of the 'homina, homina, homina!' and 'oh s**t!'  factors. No matter how big and bad you think you are, it's gonna happen. It happens to everyone.  It's especially likely if you're monkey and lizard brain have stable data that enduring the abuse is a reliable survival strategy. That's some deep programming that ain't no weekend seminar is going to unwire.

People who survive 'factor in' the potential for freezing in their strategies and tactics.

For example, with civilians when you get the "F**K I CAN'T GO FORWARD!" you need to be able to 'slam it into reverse.' Unfortunately a lot of civilians can't do that (whether they have an emotional investment in getting what they want or pride in the story they've told themselves about who they are) so they end up freezing in the absolutely worst spot. The hardest thing to teach these people is NOT to put themselves into situations where this is likely to happen.

This especially applies to people who want to 'rewrite their history' where they WIN this time. That's a muther'n big problem because they are the ultimate gas and brake stompers. Their monkey brains sends them speeding towards situations like this and then they slam on the brakes at the worst possible time. Or they do what so many RBSD/violence geeks do and spend their entire lives obsessing about violence at the same time strenuously avoiding situations where it goes down (what's the definition of a fanatic? Someone who won't change their mind or the subject?).

With cops and military, if someone freezes  in a team entry, it is not unlike one of your team members got shot and is out of commission. However, a cool thing about these tactics is back up. If you freeze, hopefully your partner won't. The problem is how do you teach cops to not freeze when they are alone? This especially applies to correctional officers.