Fear is... Basic definitions and ways to get rid of all types of fear

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.

Fear from a psychological point of view

Fear is an innate emotion that contributes to the preservation of the race. Some psychologists, such as A.I. Zakharov, defined this as something that is based on the individual’s instinct of self-preservation, where one of its useful properties is the protective nature of this emotion.

This feeling was defined as a state of painful experience by V. M. Leibin. William James equated it to the basic and one of the strongest instincts of an individual. Sigmund Freud divided it into 2 groups: phobia and fear. The first he considered was the process of pathological fear, that is, a constant feeling of anxiety and fear, regardless of the situation; “fear” refers to the fear of something specific.

The behaviorist approach to the psychology of fear was studied by John Watson, who identified certain stimuli that contribute to its appearance: blows and jolts at the moment of falling asleep, sharp sounds or loss of support. He called the rest only their different variations.

According to the scientist, fear can be both an innate and acquired feeling. In infancy, there is no fear of certain phenomena (fire, falling, etc.), so acquired fear is added to it. This type is formed on the basis of negative experiences that happened in the past. During the scientist’s research, it became clear that most fears in people are formed during the first year of life.

The idea of ​​the emergence of a behaviorist approach was also developed by other scientists, such as B.F. Skinner. His idea of ​​operant conditioning of fears showed that fears can arise, be maintained and strengthened as a result of certain events in a person’s life. Reinforcement is divided into both positive and negative.

A striking example of positive reinforcement would be a child who, as a result of escaping from this feeling, tries to find refuge in his parents. By asking for help and receiving their care, he develops a certain strategy, during which he will every time resort to the help of his parents in the event of subsequent potential danger.

In this case, it is very difficult to overcome this phenomenon, since the child receives positive emotions from his relatives and this increases some benefit from fear. If the desired care and attention can only be obtained in this way, then the child will sometimes even stimulate his fear in order to receive positive emotions.

Is fear of heights normal or a phobia?

One of the most common fears is the fear of heights. In what cases can anxiety caused by heights be considered a normal emotion, and when is it already a phobia?

Example one. The person understands and does not hide his fear of heights. He will not climb on a stepladder once again, he will always try to entrust window cleaning to someone more courageous, and if he finds himself on an airplane, he will feel very uncomfortable and will definitely choose a seat away from the window. In this case, the reason for fear has a logical explanation. Each of the situations described involves some degree of risk to life or health. But as soon as the potentially dangerous situation disappears, the anxiety and feeling of fear also disappear.

Example two. A person is terribly afraid of heights, and not only at the moment when he finds himself on the same stepladder or on an airplane. A wave of fear covers him at the very thought of heights. By the way, uncontrollable fear, as a rule, makes significant adjustments to a person’s life. For example, a panicky fear of heights becomes the reason why a person travels only by land transport. Also, such people quite often do not rise above the 2nd floor. You won’t see them on the balcony of a high-rise building; it can be problematic for them to even look out the window of an apartment located on the 3rd or 4th floor.

Unlike the person in the first example, for whom height is, although uncomfortable, not “deadly,” in the second case everything is much more complicated. A person with an uncontrollable fear of heights falls into stupor at the very thought of the source of panic. His heart rate increases, limb tremors, dizziness and heavy sweating appear. Comparing the two examples, one can understand that in both cases people are afraid of heights, but the nature of their fear is significantly different. The first case is a classic example of ordinary fear. The second example is a typical manifestation of a phobia. By the same principle, by analyzing what is behind a person’s emotion, one can determine where is ordinary fear and where is phobia.

The following table will help you clearly understand all the subtleties of the difference between natural fear and phobia.
Comparison chart of fear and phobia

Types of human fears

It is impossible to unambiguously determine the types and categories of human fears, since there is no generally accepted classification of them. Some scientists, such as D. B. Sadok and G. I. Callan, divide fears according to the degree of their constructiveness - those that pose a real threat and those that can be assessed as an inadequate stimulus to a certain stimulus, which can lead to psychopathology.

Fear of childbirth may appear based on stories told by someone with negative consequences (death of a child or mother), but it can only aggravate the process of giving birth to a child. The fear of being left in a burning house, in turn, stimulates reflexes, as well as other signs of fear, which help prevent such a situation, thereby adequately responding to certain stimuli.

Yu. Shcherbatykh divides fears into 3 types, which are more characteristic of a socialized modern person:

1. natural fears associated with natural phenomena: volcanic eruption, earthquake, floods, etc. Fears of animals can be distinguished as a special group of natural fears, especially snakes. This subgroup is often associated with rational fears about death.
2. social fears are associated with a person in society. This category displaces the basic needs of a person and puts a person’s social status in the foreground. Social fears are dictated by society and the herd instinct, and may not always be detrimental as a result. This category can often affect emotionally unstable individuals.
3. existential fear generated by emotions about what is happening. The more a person thinks and worries about certain concepts, the greater the likelihood of aggravating the fear, or at least laying its root.

Feelings of fear are innate and can accompany us almost throughout our lives, but it is better to get rid of some of their types by analyzing their origin and understanding their impact on your life.

Creation of fear - where does it come from?

Often fear is something we imagine. This is where similar quotes arise about its essence: “Fear shows us one world, and love another world. We decide which world is real..." - words of Louise Hay. There are also sayings about fear of this kind, that is, often existential - “fear has big eyes.”

Life without this feeling is almost impossible. In order to overcome it, you need to get rid of primitive fear, its primary sources.

The breeding ground for him is the inability to control his imagination. Intentional imagery can be positive for designers, writers, or artists. But when a person begins to believe in negative images or situations so strongly that it develops into fear, one must not only consign it to oblivion, but also question the very pretext of its existence, if there are good reasons for this.

The fear of abandonment, being alone, the fear of betrayal or the fears of children (darkness, heights, etc.) originate from somewhere. Often it comes from childhood. Children are very susceptible to the influence of the external environment, since their psyche is still unstable. Childhood fears can carry over into adulthood.

It is important to be able to understand the starting point of the appearance of this phenomenon in order to stop the process in the bud. It appears gradually. It can all start with anxiety and ordinary fear and develop into phobias and neuroses. It is generated by feeding it, events from life, negativity in the environment.

Fears are generated where they are given free rein. It can be difficult to exclude the possibility of its occurrence, but when understanding its existence, it is best to begin to fight not with its symptoms, but with itself. Do not underestimate the role of your imagination - thoughts and conjectures influence feeding this feeling properly in its favor.

It is worth remembering that it can be reinforced by itself under the influence of a negative stimulus. At the moment of trying to prevent it, the person unconsciously reinforces it. Therefore, read our article on how to suppress feelings of fear.

Sense of anxiety

It is an emotional state that lasts over time. A person anticipates the occurrence of some event in the future that entails danger, but cannot change the situation. There is a constant feeling of helplessness, self-doubt makes feelings and emotions uncertain, an emotional void is formed, which is filled by anxiety. The state of depression only aggravates general anxiety; a person begins to see confirmation of his fears in the most innocent things.

The tendency to anxiety depends on the level of personality development. Educated and successful people, as a rule, are more confident in themselves and do not allow reasonable fears to develop into chronic anxiety. But it also happens the other way around: increased anxiety fetters mental activity, blocks the ability to analytically assess the situation and search for the optimal way out of it.

The roots of the tendency to develop feelings of anxiety often go back to childhood.

If the family was dysfunctional, the child constantly saw adults as an unreasonable threat, but could not explain to himself the reasons for such behavior of the parents and, accordingly, predict the real danger, his psyche was oppressed. The result is the habit of seeing danger in everything, the so-called “selective anxiety.” This is the attitude of fixating on individual topics that confirm the “validity” of anxiety, while completely ignoring the sometimes obvious facts that deny it.

As a rule, it is difficult to cope with increased anxiety on your own; the help of a psychologist is required.

How to change your life yourself?

• Increase the level of personal development and self-awareness.
• Try to specify your fears, ask yourself, what exactly are you afraid of?
• Create a new picture of the world that is safe for yourself.

How to understand the feeling of fear and what it is

To understand the feeling of fear, you should adequately assess the situation and how often it worries you. If there are hints that a certain situation and its harmful or negative results are scrolling through your head from time to time, or moreover, fear appears in a dream in the form of a nightmare, it means that it has crept deep. The fear of the unknown is nothing more than a figment of the imagination.

It is impossible to avoid negative thoughts, but it is important to evaluate their constructiveness. The lack of reasoned ideas why this or that situation can develop into a negative one means that you are controlled by fear.

A constant feeling of anxiety and fear is a signal that you should reconsider your life positions and begin to control your thoughts. Stopping thinking about the negative and focusing on the positive right away won't work, but it can be a good start to reducing the number of unreasonable worries that can develop into a phobia.

Understanding it is the first step towards its eradication. Accepting its presence and the fact that it interferes leads to an understanding of its nature: under what circumstances did it apply and how long has the fear been tormenting, what exactly does it prevent one from doing and is it worth it, they are afraid.

An objective assessment of the feeling of fear already suggests certain approaches to its destruction. The sooner the understanding of the meaninglessness of its existence comes, the more effective the process of eliminating it will be.

To understand it, you first need a banal acceptance of this feeling. Acceptance means that it interferes and the person wants to get rid of it. The second suggests that this is possible. What follows is a deeper study of it, both the positive aspects of its influence and the negative. If there is more harm than good, and the mind does not provide an adequate explanation of why it is scary and whether it really is so, then the process of eradicating it has already begun.

It is much easier to get rid of it by understanding its nature, type and type of origin. The constant feeling of anxiety and fear will gradually fade into the background after the questions: “why is this bothering me so much?”, “Is it really that scary?” etc. The main thing is to understand that you don’t need to build your plans around this feeling.

Fears in their manifestations

Fear in its manifestations is the most confusing part of psychology and the greatest discrepancies exist between individual psychologists. The emotion of fear has been poorly studied from a psychological point of view, although it has been described in great detail from a physiological point of view, that is, one can find a large number of studies that reveal the physiological mechanisms of the occurrence and course of this emotion.

Fear is one of the emotions that allows you to adapt and avoid situations that threaten human life. Many different types of fear and phobias are already inherently inherent at the genetic level, and if parents constantly react to certain stimuli with fear, then there is a high probability that these stimuli will cause fear in their child.

The key emotion in the subjective experience of anxiety is fear, but other emotions, such as sadness, shame and guilt, can be involved in the anxiety experience. The phenomenology of anxiety is based on the experience of fear. Fear, like any basic emotion, can vary in its intensity; accordingly, in anxiety it can be expressed weakly, moderately or strongly. When describing anxiety, some people mention feeling shame or guilt. In our society, adults teach children, especially boys, not to show fear. Thus, the experience of fear and the fear of discovering one's fear can cause a person to feel guilty and ashamed. The combination of fear and shame in the emotional pattern of anxiety is especially harmful to a person’s mental health, since neither of these emotions can be considered at least somewhat favorable background for social interaction.

It is important to understand that in a state of anxiety, we typically experience not just one emotion, but some combination or pattern of different emotions, each of which affects our social relationships, our somatic state, our perceptions, thoughts and behavior.

The state of fear is quite typical for humans, especially in extreme activities, in the presence of unfavorable conditions and unfamiliar surroundings. In many cases, the mechanism for the appearance of fear in a person is a conditioned reflex, as a result of previously experienced pain or some unpleasant situation. We experience fear from ignorance and ignorance, which at the initial stage of “human” evolution is a consequence that instinctively manifests itself and dominates in animal forms and is “inherited” from the “animal-human” ancestors of our biological forms.

Forms of fear, their varieties and intensity of influence

We can “unfold” them in the information “space” of our Self-Consciousness as a result of lost experience when interacting with objects and circumstances of the surrounding reality. Any experience accompanies human development. The more information there is about the object that causes fear, the more adequate your reaction will be. But the problem is that if a person is scared by something, then he tries to remove information about this object from himself instead of learning more about it and destroying the conflict within himself, finding an explanation for his fears and transforming them into a logical human idea .

Emotions, including emotions of fear, externally manifest themselves differently in different people, but similar physiological changes occur in their bodies.

Here is what K. Izard, a recognized researcher of emotions, writes about this: “...sharp changes in somatic indicators when a person experiences a strong emotion indicate that almost everything is involved in this process: the neurophysiological and somatic systems of the body. These changes inevitably affect the individual's perception, thinking and behavior, and in extreme cases can lead to physical and mental disorders."

Fears can be roughly divided into three levels, according to increasing intensity:

1. Fear of events and fear of actions.
2. Fear of one's own states.
3. Fear of not being able to cope with internal states.

The first category refers to simple fears: fears of natural phenomena such as earthquakes, the end of the world, floods and other random disasters. This is a simple fear of the possibility of becoming a participant.

The second level of fear is deep. These are fears and fear of those emotions that may be uncomfortable and therefore paralyze the activity of overcoming them. A typical fear is the fear of disappointment.

The third level is the strongest. This is the level at which the strongest emotional states are produced, and in order to avoid states such as depression, we are willing to do nothing at all. The strongest fuses of our subconscious are involved here.

In appearance, fear manifests itself in different ways: in some people one sign is more pronounced, in others it is different, but in people’s bodies the same processes occur.

The emotion of fear is individual and reflects the genetic characteristics, characteristics of culture and upbringing, temperament, accentuation, and neuroticism of each individual person.

Most often, the tendency to certain types of fear is transmitted genetically (and then external factors are superimposed). Parents and children have similar genetic and often psychological characteristics. In particular, such a characteristic is temperament. The speed and stability of mental processes and their depth depend on the characteristics of temperament. Therefore, people with strong temperament feel emotions more strongly. In addition, another genetic and psychological feature is accentuation. Accentuation is extremely pronounced character traits that are on the verge of the norm. Interaction with society, people and the tendency to develop certain types of fear depend on it.

What is the difference between the manifestations of fear: is it an instinctive normal reaction of the body or is it already a pathology?

To determine the degree of pathology of fears, the parameters of adequacy (validity), intensity, duration, and degree of control by a person of the feeling of fear are used. Validity is the correspondence of the degree of expression of fear to the real danger emanating from the event or from surrounding people. The intensity is determined based on physiological reactions (intensity of sweating, heartbeat, sometimes trembling in the body, feeling of suffocation, weakness, vomiting, etc.) disorganization of the activity and well-being of the person who is possessed by this emotion. Controllability is the ability to disobey fear and overcome it. Duration is the duration of the emotion of fear.

Physiological response to the emotion of fear

Fear can be rational, justified and irrational (neurotic). The development of a feeling of fear (emotion) both rational and irrational occurs in the same way. It is established along two neural pathways located throughout the body that must function simultaneously.

The first is responsible for the development of basic emotions (self-preservation), reacts quickly (stimulus - thalamus - amygdala - hypothalamus), but is accompanied by a large number of mistakes in life. The second one reacts more accurately, but slowly (stimulus - thalamus - hippocampus - sensory cortex - amygdala - hypothalamus).

On the first path (low, short, subcortical), the emotional stimulus, reflected in the sensitive nuclei of the visual thalamus, closes on the amygdala nuclei of the visual thalamus, causing an emotional response.

On the second path (high, long, cortical), the emotional stimulus, reflected in the sensitive nuclei of the visual thalamus, ascends to the sensory parts of the cerebral cortex and from them is sent to the nuclei of the amygdala (almond-shaped) complex, forming an emotional response.

The first way allows us to quickly respond to danger signs, but often triggers as a false alarm. The second way allows us to more accurately assess the situation and respond to the danger more accurately. In this case, the feeling of fear initiated by the first pathway is blocked by the functioning of the second pathway, which evaluates certain signs of danger as non-existent.

Neuroscientists have found that in anxious people, the prefrontal cortex of the brain becomes increasingly denser than in calm people.

The prefrontal cortex (a collection of several areas of the frontal lobes directly connected to parts of the limbic system) reduces the strength of the impulses of the amygdala and acts like an absorbent, “soaking up” emotional stress. If a person's amygdala is naturally overactive, the body compensates by thickening the prefrontal cortex.

In humans and animals, this subcortical brain structure is involved in the formation of both negative (fear, defensive and aggressive behavior) and positive emotions (experience of pleasure, pleasure from food, sex, attention, viewing, etc.). Moreover, its size correlates with aggressive behavior: in less developed “personalities” the prefrontal cortex is always larger. Conditions such as anxiety, autism, depression, post-traumatic shock and phobias are associated with the presence (initial programming of such conditions) of functional inconsistency and dominance of “animal programs”, which physiologically manifests itself as abnormal functioning of the amygdala with the ensuing mental and physiological consequences.”

The experience of fear is accompanied by a feeling of uncertainty, insecurity, and inability to control the situation. The primary function of fear is to motivate specific cognitive and behavioral acts that promote security and a sense of confidence. Let's imagine a situation: a person is in danger, the brain first receives an impulse received by the amygdala, which in turn gives a signal to other systems. The autonomic system, which is responsible for breathing, comes into motion, and within a few seconds the physical body is ready to defend itself. A flood of chemicals released by the endocrine system rushes into the bloodstream, and the released hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, speed up the heart, which causes blood to flow to the muscles to act quickly. In this state, the perception of time changes: everything in space seems slowed down and the person freezes in horror, but in fact, all of the above processes in the brain occur in just a few seconds.

At this time, information is collected to make a decision: the first instinctive impulse calls for defense, but in the process the hippocampus becomes active.

The hippocampus takes longer to react, sometimes too much time to be of any use in assessing the situation, since the amygdala acts instantly on the emotional level. The reaction of instinctive fear after the moment of fixation of danger very quickly reaches the brain, and the received information is “stopped” in order to create greater opportunities for the implementation of corresponding animal programs in humans. As a result of this, the reverse process occurs: a conscious assessment of the situation and making a decision about the presence of a real danger, it takes much longer in the human mind, and during this time he manages to do a lot of stupid things, the further correction of which allows him to accumulate additional life experience. To ensure the ability to quickly escape from particularly dangerous situations, a kind of “relay” fear switch is provided in the brain, working on the “on-off” principle, which helps to keep under control too violent emotions that can destroy the brain or even the entire body when going through such stress , such as heart attack, stroke and others.

There are many hormones and neurotransmitters associated with the emotion of fear. They act on the body in a complex, causing a reaction in the body, constriction of blood vessels, increased muscle tension; the work of the whole organism slows down. The most important hormones produced during fear are adrenaline and norepinephrine.

When you are afraid, adrenaline is pumped into your blood. It is secreted by the adrenal glands, causing the fight or flight response; its secretion increases sharply during stress, danger, borderline situations, and pain. Its effect accelerates the breakdown of glycogen, which causes an increase in blood glucose levels. Adrenaline acts in extreme situations, it affects the concentration of glucose in the blood, at a time when a person experiences anger or fear. The human body needs a lot of glucose immediately in order to supply energy to the muscles to carry out the fight or flight response. Adrenaline promotes the breakdown of glycogen in the muscles, which they then use. It increases blood pressure (in fact, it is for this reason that adrenaline was discovered) and increases the heart rate and breathing.

These two effects are realized in close interaction with the nervous system; chemical (hormonal) and electrical (nervous) regulation of body functions are not independent, but are closely intertwined with one another: norepinephrine, hormone, and neurotransmitter (neurotransmitters transmit electrical impulses between neurons). The level of norepinephrine also increases with stress, shock, trauma, anxiety, fear, and nervous tension. Its main effect during the emotion of fear is aimed exclusively at narrowing blood vessels and increasing blood pressure. It is believed that norepinephrine is the rage hormone, and adrenaline is the fear hormone. Norepinephrine excites in a person a feeling of malice, anger, rage, and permissiveness. Adrenaline and norepinephrine are closely related. In the adrenal glands, adrenaline is synthesized from norepinephrine. This confirms the assumption that the emotions of fear and hatred are close, they are generated from one another.

How can you work through your fears thoughtfully?

Dangerous situations can cause anxiety in a person and develop into fear of varying degrees of severity (from timidity to horror and panic), that is, accompanied by feelings, but can be perceived without worries, when a person is limited to only stating the danger itself. For example, when he says that he is afraid of snakes, this does not mean that he is experiencing the emotion of fear (at the moment there is no threat, a snake, nearby). The latter means that a person has developed an emotional attitude towards a particular object.

The solution to a problem may be just around the corner, and often lies in the problem itself. Many people don't even realize they are afraid. In such cases, we need to try to realize that we experience fear quite often. And after awareness, we need to learn to control it. When we overcome fear, the moment of truth comes that nothing can happen to us. If you force yourself to meet your fear, different types of fears are transformed, and a specific fear may not be repeated. But the mind can fail; If you do not change your thoughts and ideas about imaginary fear, then you can remain in your previous position in relation to this problem situation.

And methods have been developed to solve this issue; here are some ways to overcome fear, suggested by Dr. Zane.

Switch negative thoughts to positive thoughts. In a state of phobia, a person experiences unpleasant thoughts and scary images in the imagination, which in turn trigger physical symptoms. You have to assume that you will feel scared, but try to move from negative thoughts like, “This dog is going to bite me,” to something actually positive, like, “This dog is tightly attached and can’t break free.”

Face your fear head on. Avoiding what you fear means not overcoming your fear. Instead, you can achieve the desired control through a procedure called “exposure treatment,” in which you are gradually exposed to the object of your fear and become convinced that what you imagined and expected does not actually happen. This measured exposure can help you get used to the subject.

For example, your phobia is spiders. During the exposure treatment hour, you may first face your fear, usually in the presence of another person, such as a picture of spiders. Once you learn to cope with this, you can move on to looking at a dead spider, then at a live one, and even holding one in your hand. You may still feel some fear each time, but with this exposure you will learn that the terrible things you imagined are not actually happening to you and the spider.

The first step on the path to change is to recognize your fear, acknowledge its presence, find out why you needed it vitally in childhood, how it can be useful to you now, and when it interferes with you and needs to be overcome.

Intuitively knowing about the potential possibility of some negative consequences, you can prudently model the circumstances in such a way as to eliminate some adverse consequences. Prudence in this case does not mean fear, but common sense, not the expectation of something bad and dangerous, but the confidence that all precautions have been taken and we are not in danger, and if danger arises, we will be ready to meet it in advance . Such reinsurance behavior is also not absolutely positive, but it is more balanced and less destructive than the fear and horror of waiting for something unknown and life-threatening. Reinsurance is evidence that a person already has experience in his self-awareness, but at the same time it is a clear sign of insufficient experience in passing such situations (full-fledged experience would not allow one to focus on expecting something dangerous).

The process of our consistent acquisition of any experience contributes to the resolution of a particular situation. At first, everything is understood through a large number of trials and errors, and when the results obtained are collected, analyzed and compared with each other, it becomes possible to consciously perform controlled actions, foreseeing in advance most of their possible consequences. And if in our self-awareness there are many gaps of under-received life experience, then every time it will be difficult to understand our “internal” states and decide on any specific choice.

As for my work with one of the types of fear - public speaking - I determined for myself that this fear was based not only on the unknown and uncertainty about what the result of the speech would be. This fear once meant a lack of experience and understanding of the underlying reasons that stimulate fear of the public. They were pride and another fear - to be misunderstood by people around. The fear of the public was formed by a rich imagination: I began to think about what others would say about me, to complete in my fantasies the negative reaction of others to my words. And thus she brought herself to the point of stress, which resulted in panic, uncontrollable tears and a reluctance to perform, which led to withdrawal.

Having started working with this type of fear, I stopped perceiving everything only from the perspective of my own feelings, my own interests, my own problems, and looked at the world from a different perspective using the methods and explanations of issiidiology. Through trial and error in practice, I found motivation for speaking and ways out of uncomfortable situations that arose in the process. Gradually transforming fear, I found joy in participating and communicating with other people. Step by step, the field of awareness of the safety and joy of public communication expanded, the intensity of fear decreased and a feeling of stability and order appeared in one’s life. When I recalled the events of my past and traced how I attracted them into my life, “created” them, it became clear to me that I create all the opportunities and conditions of my life myself, both joyful and stressful.

Answering myself questions about how I can create my own life joyful, conscious, responsible, free from fears, I realized the following. The prospect of conscious existence and responsibility for every choice is completely unattainable for a person until he gets rid of one of his main fears - the fear of death .

The mechanism of realization and transformation of the emotion of fear of death is described in detail in Iissiidiology (the cycle “Immortality is available to everyone,” volume 13). And here is how Iissiidiology defines the concept of death: “Death” is the subjective result of our egoistic self-perception, the degree of drama or favorability of which in relation to each individual depends entirely on the degree of quality of the state of his Self-Knowledge” (BDK volume 13, paragraph 13.15081).

In conclusion, I would like to say: in order to overcome the barrier of fear, it is necessary to more deeply understand the true mechanisms of this process, to get rid of millennia-old ideas that instill in people instinctive horror and an unaccountable fear of complete disappearance from life. Without understanding important details and details, without understanding the meaning of our existence, we continue to cling to what we see in front of us in the mirror. And when we figure out what “death” is, we will be freed not only from the fear of death, but also from the fear of any troubles, which are only necessary attributes for us to gain the missing experience.

Fear of physical and mental pain

Since fears are divided into subtypes, this means that their nature and methods of destruction differ. Fear of physical pain is not characteristic from birth; it is innate, as it is directly related to the central nervous system. The pain that our body feels is one of the incentives for self-preservation. An individual who does not feel pain is less susceptible to the fear of its existence, which means that his instinct of self-preservation is less pronounced.

Fear of mental pain can only appear as a result of a negative experience. People's fears and fears are often just a figment of their imagination. A sad story conveyed through literature or spoken word is nothing more than someone's bad experience. Such experience does not always mean absolute defeat in certain situations (due to the risk of investing finances in some business or in a love story).

In most cases, this means that the person was either not competent enough in his actions or did not fully understand certain risks.

Scary stories about evil wolves that are told to children from childhood carry not only a negative semantic load: they are afraid of wolves and should not go into the forest, but they also teach them to be careful. But often this can simply cause natural fear, which in turn develops into panic.

Mental fears are more dangerous than physical ones, as they are formed under emotionally oversaturated impressions, often even those of others. They are classified as acquired existential fears.

As they progress, they often suppress the psyche and negatively affect the individual’s body. The mobility of human reaction processes only worsens, which can lead to neuroses.

“Mental pain” is a process when depression, depression and melancholy begin to dominate a person’s life. Their severity is equated to physical pain, so mental pain sometimes torments much more than physical pain.

The fear of experiencing such feelings reinforces their very essence.

What does panic lead to?

The moment society begins to put too much pressure on us, panic . Under the influence of negative information, under general pressure, external fear turns into panic, which affects our instinct of self-preservation - physical fear for our body. Panic triggers physiological processes in our body that literally force us to flee from the threat of the outside world.

But we cannot run away anywhere, because fear is within ourselves. And therefore we turn on super control, which puts even more pressure on us. Instead of washing their hands after going outside, regularly purchasing groceries, or finding something interesting to do at home, most people use liters of antiseptic in ten minutes, frantically stock up shelves of groceries, or chaotically search for information on the Internet. That is, instead of the instinct of self-preservation, we turn on the “emergency evacuation mode,” which is based on a distorted perception of reality and our actions.

The moment a person experiences a panic attack, he loses trust in himself and in the world . He loses his internal guidelines, replacing them with information from the outside, which he pictures in his imagination in a distorted, often exaggerated form.

Due to information from the outside world, into which a person is immersed more and more, his thinking becomes negative

Due to information from the outside world, into which a person is immersed more and more (media, opinion of “experts,” forecasts, rumors), his thinking becomes negative . We experience a general panic, and thus our negative thinking begins to be reflected in our physiology. The hormonal system begins to malfunction and produce stress hormones.

Through control, we try to regain trust in ourselves and in the world. We experience internal conflicts, struggles and are constantly in tension. Neither our body nor our mind rests, and we spend all our energy on fear and panic.

These are the consequences of panic. Right at this moment, you can literally feel these symptoms, which are reflected in our sensations, in our body. But don't panic ! You can find a way out of every condition.

How to overcome panic fear

The meaning of the word panic from Greek is “sudden”, “senseless”. Hence - panic fear - something like a phobia, which was initially in the form of fear, but then grew into a strongly reinforced feeling of fear.

If natural - mobilizes a person’s abilities, during which it becomes easier to avoid some unpleasant or harmful processes, then panic, in turn, suppresses the state of the psyche. A decrease in capacity can be caused due to a discrepancy between the conditions of reaction to a particular situation. As a rule, sensitive individuals are subject to panic fear.

Scary stories give rise to fear of heights, childbirth, death, etc. I work in fear rooms in such a way that the unknown is often frightening. Anything can happen in the unknown, and especially impressionable people can even get a heart break (one of the extreme cases).

In this regard, neuroses may arise, which lead to a series of somatic symptoms, such as suffocation, rush of blood to the head, chest pain, until loss of consciousness. Sleep disturbances and persistent nightmares and insomnia may begin.

Sudden panic fear complicates life and can appear completely unexpectedly.

If the process is started and it turns into panic, then the root of the problem should be sought immediately. But, if a person cannot overcome it on his own, which can be extremely difficult, then he should contact a specialist.

Neurotic symptoms are treated with both psychotropic drugs and psychotherapy.

The first method comes down to taking benzodiazepines, which are the most effective. The process of using them should be short-lived, as this can lead to addiction and complications.

The second method is based on psychotherapist sessions and long-term psychoanalysis, which can help both the patient and the doctor deal with the problem. Sometimes both methods go hand in hand to solve a problem faster.

This means that if panic takes hold of you from time to time, then you should immediately solve this problem, as this can lead to a number of somatic symptoms that not only reduce capacity, but also suppress a person’s mental health.

List of the most common phobias

It is impossible to make a complete and definitive list of all phobias. Today, psychiatrists and psychologists around the world know about more than 500 phobias. But their number is constantly growing.

The most common:

• arachnophobia – fear of spiders;
• ophidiophobia – fear of snakes;
• acrophobia – fear of heights;
• agoraphobia – fear of open space;
• nyctophobia – fear of the dark;
• gerontophobia – panic at the thought of old age;
• glossophobia – fear of public speaking;
• astraphobia - fear of thunderstorms with lightning and thunder;
• trypanophobia – fear of injections;
• pteromerchanophobia – fear of flying;
• claustrophobia - fear of small rooms, elevators, and even tight clothing;
• mysophobia – fear of germs and dirt;
• Thanatophobia – panicky fear of death;
• monophobia (autophobia) – fear of loneliness;
• kakorraphiophobia – fear of failure;
• acoustic phobia – panic caused by loud sounds;
• algophobia – fear of pain;
• hemophobia – fear of blood;
• Gephyrophobia – fear of bridges;
• Hylophobia – panic caused by the forest.

Treatment of fears

To treat fear, a specialist diagnosis should be performed. From the above, we can conclude that it is divided into congenital and acquired. If the problem is not natural, but social or existential fear, then it can be eliminated using several methods.

Ways to eliminate it:

1. Psychotropic drugs
2. Psychotherapy (specialist help)
3. Breathing techniques
4. Imagination control
5. Meditation and other practices
6. Face your fear

The first method is most often used for neuroses, the affect of fear (with strong excitement and loss of self-control). Such cases are extreme, so treatment should be immediate.

Psychotherapy is used for the ability to understand and recognize one’s fears, the concept of their original source and eradicate them in the future.

It is important to maintain deep breathing to calm yourself down. It is rapid breathing that precedes fear, so bringing it into the right direction will help you calm down.

“7/11 Technique” is called that because of the score. Its essence is this: take a deep breath, counting to seven, and exhale deeply, counting to 11. It is not necessary to use these exact numbers, the main goal is to increase the time for exhalation, in comparison with inhalation.

The first thing that gives rise to fears is the limitless possibilities of our imagination. On the one hand, its immense possibilities can benefit people of certain professions, but on the other hand, their reinforcement comes precisely from these same opportunities.

Controlling the imagination is the path to exploring oneself and understanding whether what it seems is as scary as it seems. Of course, it is impossible to completely control your thoughts, but you can limit their negative flow by surrounding yourself with positive information and limiting access to negative information.

Meditation is a more extensive practice than controlling the imagination and is one of the auxiliary techniques for achieving this goal.

The Austrian psychologist and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl proposed a direct meeting with them as a treatment. Fear of closed spaces means you need to be there more often, arachnophobia means holding a spider and repeating the procedure several times. Of course, all this should happen gradually and under the supervision of a specialist with his recommendations, but this should already give positive results the second and third time.

How can I get rid of it once and for all?

Looking fear in the eye is what you need to do to begin the process of eradicating it. To avoid its aggravation, it is worth thinking about their origin and influence on your life.

Fear has big eyes - something that is always worth remembering. It is not he who rules you, but your imagination. The more you think about it, the more it affects your life, and at the same time you feed it.

Scary stories are partly interesting, but they frighten those who are especially impressionable. Psychology will tell you how to deal with it.

The study of neurochemistry and physiology shows that it has much more negative effects on the human body, since social and cultural attitudes towards humans have increased, which has contributed to the generation of new fears. They began not only to dull some reactions, but also to make a person unsure of himself, nervous, etc.

Natural fear prevailed among our ancestors, therefore, when they saw it, the work of the muscular system predominated: they either fought the enemy or fled.

Nowadays, human fear is of a nature that is less pronounced in animals; this includes fears such as: losing loved ones, loneliness, losing social status, which suggest that the primary needs of a person are not only the ability to sleep, eat and breathe. The range of human needs has increased, and with it the number of related problems.

Since this feeling is one of the basic emotions, its harm should be noted if there are groundless reasons for concern.

Try to comprehend its harm and panic (senseless) nature, if any. Accepting this will prompt treatment measures. If there is no way to fight it except medically and the body is not able to overcome it on its own, you should resort to the help of a psychotherapist and psychotropic drugs. The second will help to dull this feeling at least for a while.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help, because he drives you into certain limits and does not give you the opportunity to live in peace. Its effect on the body is much stronger than it seems.

How to overcome feelings of fear

Fear itself is an unpleasant feeling that takes away excess energy. To understand how to deal with it, you need to determine its original source.

If the nature of fear is sudden in a certain situation, and does not accompany you constantly (fear of heights or darkness, fear during childbirth), then there are certain ways to eliminate or neutralize it for a while.

Psychologists often recommend getting rid of the negativity around you by limiting the following information:

• Unsubscribe from negative mailings, channels and groups (on social networks, etc.)
• Limit your ability to communicate with people who fuel it (if there are any).
• Try to eradicate bad thoughts in the bud. As soon as they are born, drive them away.
• Try to read more positive information.
• Keep conversations about good things with your interlocutors.
• Surround yourself only with good emotions, pleasant words, and kind deeds.

Observe fear to understand what it does to your body at that fateful moment. Consider its negative impact on your body and accept the fact that it is bothering you.

Try to act as if you are not afraid. Feel this for yourself and think about which position you look more advantageous in: the first or the second. Try to convince yourself that there is no reason for fear, it was once invented by your imagination. Tune in to positive emotions and believe that the steps listed above will help you in the fight against it.

Remember what fears you were able to overcome earlier in order to feel the positive emotions that you experienced. Realize their significance in your life, because every step to fight it is an approach to a small victory

Fighting it by directly interacting with it will be much more successful than trying to escape from your thoughts. The more we run from ourselves, the more phobias can overtake us.

To be afraid or not is my choice!

Today's world is divided - quarantine zones, people locked in their houses, closed establishments, empty store shelves. In such an environment, it is difficult not to succumb to the general mood - despondency, hopelessness, anxiety. We all really lack positive energy, which helps cope with stress and gives hope for the best. Most of the information that comes to us comes down to statistics, news, opinions of real and armchair experts. Let's digress a little and talk about what worries each of us - how to understand our own fears, so as not to be afraid of our own shadow and try to succumb to general panic as little as possible.

It all depends on our perception

Why you shouldn't be afraid when you're scared

The concept of fear and its essence is innate for us and grows with us, but the types of this feeling that affect a person’s life often differ depending on the methods of their acquisition.

It is most difficult for more sentimental individuals, since the role of influence on them increases due to the peculiarities of their psyche. Perceiving everything at least at the level of feelings, they are less aware of the objective influence of fear on their lives.

It can be divided into several types, depending on the approach to studying them:

• According to the degree of their constructiveness - those that pose a real or imagined threat.
• Natural, social and existential. The first type was inherent in our ancestors - fear, which is directly related to natural processes in the external environment that can adversely affect a person (earthquake, poisonous animals, etc.). Social is associated with the fear of losing a certain social status in someone’s eyes. The mechanism of existential fears behind Franklin is simple: what a person fears, the person begins to be afraid and it begins to torment him.

In the fight against them, you can resort to various methods, but the main thing is to look your fear in the face. The more you accept it and consider its negative effects, the more likely you are to eradicate it.

If understanding fear is possible without receiving outside help, you should use this opportunity. Otherwise, there is the help of a psychotherapist , psychotropic drugs , breathing techniques , control of the imagination , meditation and other practices.

The ability to overcome your fear is based on the ability to directly pretend that there is no reason for concern.

You should also resort to surrounding yourself with all kinds of positive information and exclude receiving negative information through the media, your relatives, friends, etc.

Constant feelings of anxiety and fear can be overcome. If you are not afraid to admit its presence and adequately assess its harm. A long-term analysis of your fears will help you look at them from a different angle, then there will be many more opportunities to get rid of them.

Don't be afraid to face your fears, and you will feel much better after getting rid of what has been controlling you for a long time.

When to see a doctor?

Fear is not always useful, and in some cases it is recommended to seek help from a specialist. Reasons for seeking medical help may include:

• Panic attacks, especially those that occur for no apparent reason.
• Inability to engage in work or household activities and other daily activities due to fear and phobias.
• Constantly being in a state of fear for no apparent reason.
• Severe deterioration in physical condition due to fear.
• The appearance of fear against the background of other somatic (for example, bronchial asthma) or mental (schizophrenia) diseases.
• Sleep disorders.

If you have phobias, fears of specific things or circumstances, you should seek help from a psychologist or psychotherapist. It is also recommended to consult a specialist in this profile if you have groundless but controllable fears.

Before visiting a doctor, certain preparation and analysis of your condition is recommended. They will simplify the process of diagnosis and choice of treatment tactics. It is useful to prepare the following data in advance:

• All the symptoms that accompany the feeling of fear, even if they seem unrelated to the emotions experienced.
• Triggers are things, people, factors or external circumstances that provoke feelings of fear and anxiety.
• Reactions and methods of counteracting fears and phobias, including the results of their use.
• Previously experienced severe emotional shocks or stressful periods.
• A list of all medications, nutritional supplements and vitamins that are taken, as well as their doses.

Summarizing

When you understand the essence of fear, you come to the realization that it is very dangerous to be in such a state. If you are constantly afraid, or you have constant phobias, then you urgently need to stop your suffering. Why are some people afraid and others not?

Because they have a different degree of perception. To overcome your short-term or permanent fears, you need to undergo a course of psychotherapy. But first you need to consult with a psychologist and conduct a basic diagnosis.

You need to look fear in the eyes and overcome this feeling within yourself. For this to happen, all it takes is a little desire and readiness for self-development.