Our life is filled with fears of varying degrees of strength. Some originate from childhood, others arise from the fear of losing something, and others are generated by some unrealized plans.
Many people, at least once in their lives, were permeated by a chilling feeling of fear. It could arise from the expectation of something terrible, creepy, or, on the contrary, sharp and unexpected.
All fears are different in nature and direction. At the same time, it is normal to be afraid. As they say: if fear is within normal limits, then it is good. We all have our fears, some are afraid of the dark, heights, big dogs, speaking in front of a lot of people. The good news is that almost any fear can be overcome.
Why is fear needed?
K. Izard, in his theory of differential emotions, ranks fear among the “basic” emotions. Fear is conditioned by human nature, implanted into his genetic program. The reasons that cause certain fears can be identified as real and imaginary threats.
Fear performs a protective function for the psyche. It is closely related to the instinct of self-preservation. Often it is the fear of death that saves a person from rash, impulsive actions.
The reasons that give rise to certain fears include:
- emotions;
- cognitive processes;
- external events;
- attractions.
How fear manifests itself.
Fear is recognized as the strongest emotion with a minus sign. When a person is afraid, his hands and other parts of the body begin to sweat. He suddenly gets trembling or hot. The heart rate increases sharply. You feel dizzy and your vision may become dark. The body seems to be trying to detach itself from an unpleasant, frightening situation, so the person is in a semi-fainting state.
Also, people who experience severe fear for a long time may experience sleep disturbances, nightmares at night, and such people’s sleep is very superficial.
In other cases, the person panics and tries to escape. There have been cases when a person died from experiencing too much fear.
Psychology, as part of the study of the nature and manifestation of fear, also considers panic attacks. Panic attacks are accompanied by unexplained severe anxiety, which is accompanied by fear and various physical symptoms.
Recently, this problem has become more and more common. Residents of large cities are more susceptible to panic attacks. This is due to the fact that they are under stress almost every day. Panic fear often causes diseases of the nervous and circulatory systems.
Psychophysiology of fear.
Research by American scientists has shown that the feeling of fear is localized more in the right hemisphere of the brain. They came to these conclusions thanks to their study, during which subjects were shown films of various contents using contact lenses. Scientists have recorded that the right hemisphere is more associated with the assessment of unpleasant and terrible scenes, and the left hemisphere, on the contrary, with pleasant and funny episodes.
When a person experiences fear, a number of psychophysiological changes are triggered in his body, such as:
- Changes in heart rate and strength.
- Increased sweating.
- Gastrointestinal disorders (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea) may occur.
- A number of physiological changes occur in breathing (changes in amplitude and frequency of respiratory cycles). There may be a lack of air.
- Constriction of skin blood vessels
- Release of adrenaline into the blood from the adrenal glands
All this happens due to malfunctions in the functioning of our autonomic nervous system, which consists of two main sections: sympathetic and parasympathetic.
The sympathetic department is designed to mobilize all the body's resources in the event of danger. In response to danger, the sympathetic nervous system activates various parts of the body, so the pupil begins to dilate, ventilation increases in the bronchi, the strength and frequency of heart contractions increases, arteries narrow in the circulatory system and blood pressure rises, sweating on the skin increases, etc. The overall effect of such reactions can be called exciting.
The function of the parasympathetic department is energy-saving, under the influence of which the body functions are inhibited. Thanks to the parasympathetic department of the autonomic nervous system, the body restores wasted energy. After the reason that caused the fear disappears, our body does not immediately come to its senses. He needs some more time to restore balance within himself. During recovery, oxygen consumption decreases, the activity of the digestive system is restored, and the ability to remove metabolic products improves.
If the braking process does not start, this can lead to exhaustion of the body, in the worst case, even death.
What is the use of fear?
Fear can serve a person’s benefit, but only when it is directly related to the situation and proportionate to its scale, i.e. not exaggerated. In such cases, it would be much worse if there was no fear, because if we feel danger, it makes us think whether it is worth taking this or that step.
The body's functions are mobilized, and as a result we are ready for unforeseen developments. At some point, we find ourselves as if paralyzed, and this allows us to orient ourselves, think about our actions, calculate our strengths and decide what to do next: run, hide, resist something.
Hence the conclusion that fear does not need to be drowned out. On the contrary, you should listen to it in order to cope with extreme situations. And another advantage of fear is that it reminds us that life passes and will end someday. This motivates us to live it more consciously and fully, and forces us not to put off important things for later.
Fear also promotes self-knowledge. He seems to say that we are responsible for everything that happens to us, indicates that our life is fragile, and therefore we must rely only on ourselves and our own strengths. We ourselves are the architects of our own happiness and we owe it to ourselves to take an active part in our lives. But what about the other side of the coin?
Devices for measuring the level and strength of fear.
In the process of the development of science, scientists received various devices with the help of which it became possible to carry out psychophysiological diagnostics of a person. At the beginning of the 19th century, the French doctor S. Feret and the Russian physiologist Tarkhanov independently discovered that when fear occurs in human skin, its electrical properties change. This is how the galvanic skin response (GSR) was discovered, which is the most informative component of a polygraph (lie detector). Thanks to GSR, you can measure the level of fear.
Today, the polygraph is one of the most accurate instruments that can be used to measure the body's reaction to a stimulus, which can be either dangerous or non-dangerous.
Therapy methods
A feeling of fear in which there is no obvious threat is spontaneous anxiety, which Freud defined as “Free fear.” When this feeling manifests itself, it is not possible to establish a connection between anxiety and any specific situation or stimulus. This feeling of fear can manifest itself as causeless anxiety or vague forebodings. However, with more detailed examination, precipitating events can sometimes be identified. For example, in some people, “taboo feelings” or painful memories may be identified. At the same time, “forbidden feelings” and painful memories can be quickly suppressed through psychotherapeutic sessions on psychological protection, but the anxiety and feeling of fear caused by them remains. The duration of this feeling of fear (spontaneous anxiety) can vary - from a short attack to a constant feeling of fear or anxiety.
Feelings of fear can spontaneously arise and accompany various mental disorders, such as:
- Anxiety mental disorders
- Depressive mental states
- Post-stress mental states
- Acute, psychotic mental disorders
- Phobic mental disorders
- Post-traumatic mental states
- Neurotic mental disorders
- Toxic brain damage
- Schizophrenia and schizophrenia spectrum disorders
A person’s feeling of fear or its absence is one of the most important instructions for a psychotherapist who conducts a diagnostic examination of a patient. The doctor, focusing on the general condition and the presence or absence of a feeling of fear, in conjunction with other indicators, establishes a diagnosis, clarifying it with indications of the identified true factors in the development of this mental disorder.
In the overwhelming majority, mental disorders, accompanied by various forms and strengths of feelings of fear, are surmountable and can be treated by a psychotherapist.
Depending on the identified reasons causing the feeling of fear, the psychotherapist individually selects and conducts the necessary treatment, which must be comprehensive and contain such necessary elements as: drug therapy, psychotherapy, diet and daily routine.
If we talk about prevalence, today, according to medical statistics, more than 60% of people with various mental disorders experience a feeling of unreasonable fear.
This is what the psychology of fear says about their varieties.
Psychology identifies the 29 most common forms of fear. They, in turn, are divided into 3 categories:
Delusional fears. The cause of their occurrence cannot be traced. For example, it is not clear how to explain a child’s fear of putting on socks. Such phobias often act as a sign that a person has some kind of mental disorder. Often such a person becomes or is already a patient in a neurosis clinic.
Overvalued fears arise on the basis of some ideas. Often such ideas become a kind of prism through which everything that happens is passed through. Usually some life situation affects a person so strongly that its meaning for him then changes dramatically.
Obsessive fears. A person begins to experience fear only under a certain combination of circumstances. Often there are fears such as:
- fear of climbing and being at heights (hypsophobia);
- fear of open spaces (agoraphobia);
- fear of closed and cramped spaces (claustrophobia).
It is not fear itself that leads to such disorders, but the fear of it. The personality itself mentally plays out the most unfavorable scenarios for the development of events. It is the possible consequences (pain, suffering, deprivation) that frighten her. And the strongest fears eventually become phobias.
What is the harm of fear?
When fear turns out to be far-fetched and has little to do with reality, when the threat turns out to be imaginary and there is simply no basis for it, fear has a destructive effect on a person.
It can cause relative harm - limit a person’s freedom, make him passive, distort and even narrow his perception of what is happening. And if such fear arises again and again, it becomes impossible to live a full life.
And unreasonable fear can cause absolute harm, becoming a serious psychological obstacle in life. We lose the opportunity to realize our potential, to do what we like, want and what is important. And it’s precisely these kinds of fears (by the way, you can read about the types of fears and phobias in a separate article, “Types of Fears”) that you need to learn to fight.
How to deal with phobias?
Starting to fight your fear is often hindered by a reluctance to acknowledge the fact of its existence. Society believes that being afraid of something is stupid and shameful. This makes it more difficult not to deny the presence of a phobia. As a result, fear is driven somewhere far into our subconscious and carefully ignored.
The following ways can help get rid of this sticky, unpleasant feeling:
- Get over yourself. You need to look fear “in the eyes.” Try to survive the situation that seems monstrous and traumatic. Usually people who have managed to change themselves notice that their own idea of how everything will happen turned out to be much worse and more terrible than reality.
- Find the root cause. Try to remember or understand why you have such a fear or phobia. Once you realize this, it will be much easier to understand how to eliminate your fear.
- Visualization . Imagine how successfully you will overcome a difficulty you have, for example, the fear of speaking in public. Think clearly about how you will emerge victorious from the current situation. Having experienced a positive (albeit fictitious) experience, it will be much easier to turn everything into reality.
What is the point of fighting fear?
Surely you yourself have already concluded that it is, of course, impossible to live without fear. If it were not there, we would cease to feel dangers and threats, we would not be afraid of anything, which means we would begin to underestimate the real world, which can be very unpredictable. The result of all this would be, at a minimum, serious trouble, and at maximum, death.
So why should we fight fear? In fact, everything is very simple: if you do not take into account the fear that saves us from real danger and death, but consider only those fears and phobias that interfere with life (fear of public speaking, fear of success, fear of intimacy with people, etc. .), fighting them will automatically make our lives better.
By overcoming ourselves and ceasing to be afraid of something, we become stronger as individuals, reveal internal reserves, expand our comfort zone, develop intelligence, gain a lot of useful knowledge and skills, as well as a huge number of opportunities that did not exist before.
A trivial example: you have always dreamed of becoming a speaker and since childhood you have fantasized about speaking in front of a huge audience, talking about something important and interesting for you and the public. But here’s the problem: you are seized with horror and panic when at least five people are looking at you at the same time. As a result, you cannot fulfill your dream, do what you are passionate about.
Start working with this fear. Even if not immediately, but after a while you will stop being afraid of being in front of people and will be able to gradually begin to master the basics of public speaking. And if you continue, your dream will turn into a real goal that you can completely achieve.
And many such examples can be given. But the most interesting thing is that the principles of dealing with fears are in most cases the same. It is enough to learn a few rules and techniques, and your life will begin to transform. And the first step towards getting rid of fears is understanding their causes.
Every person is capable of overcoming fear.
Fear makes us anxious and apprehensive. We become more cautious, picky, suspicious, and this often interferes with enjoying life itself. You have to be constantly on your guard. The phobia becomes our internal burden, which we have to carry with us every day.
Perhaps we should try to get rid of it?
When you decide to fight your fear or phobia, remember!
- Every person has hidden forces within him to fight.
- The causes of fear lie within you, for example, some traumatic situation from childhood.
- Fear causes you to become addicted, and almost any addiction can be overcome.
Remember, you are not alone. If you want to live a calm life and get rid of the fear that interferes with your normal life. The time has come, you have already passed 50% of the way and you have very little left.
