Psychology Facts

▼ Fear ▼

》According to psychology research, fear is a primal emotion that involves a universal biochemical response and a high individual emotional response. Fear alerts us to the presence of danger or the threat of harm, whether that danger is physical or psychological.

》Fear is a natural emotion and a survival mechanism. When we confront a perceived threat, our bodies respond in specific ways. Physical reactions to fear include sweating, increased heart rate, and high adrenaline levels that make us extremely alert.
This physical response is also known as the "fight or flight" response, with which your body prepares itself to either enter combat or run away. This biochemical reaction is likely an evolutionary development. It's an automatic response that is crucial to our survival.

》The emotional response to fear, on the other hand, is highly personalized. Because fear involves some of the same chemical reactions in our brains that positive emotions like happiness and excitement do, feeling fear under certain circumstances can be seen as fun, like when you watch scary movies.

》Fear often involves both physical and emotional symptoms. Each person may experience fear differently, but some of the common signs and symptoms include:

Chest pain
Chills
Dry mouth
Nausea
Rapid heartbeat
Shortness of breath
Sweating
Trembling
Upset stomach

In addition to the physical symptoms of fear, people may experience psychological symptoms of being overwhelmed, upset, feeling out of control, or a sense of impending death.

》Causes of Fear
Fear is incredibly complex and there is no single, primary cause. Some fears may result from experiences or trauma, while others may represent a fear of something else entirely, such as a loss of control. Still, other fears may occur because they cause physical symptoms, such as being afraid of heights because they make you feel dizzy and sick to your stomach.

Some common fear triggers include:
Certain specific objects or situations (spiders, snakes, heights, flying, etc)
Future events
Imagined events
Real environmental dangers

》A phobia is a twisting of the normal fear response. The fear is directed toward an object or situation that does not present a real danger. Though you recognize that the fear is unreasonable, you can't help the reaction. Over time, the fear tends to worsen as the fear of fear response takes hold.

》Fearless individuals do not have normal fear responses to scary situations.
Unlike people with anxiety disorders, who have normal fear responses to scary situations, fearless people do not. Fearless people are fearless, even during scary situations. (A fearless person would be calm during a plane crash, for instance.) Why are they fearless? The answer is, we do not know. Neuroscientists are working to find the answer but, in the meantime, all we have are clues.

》Some of the different types of anxiety disorders that are characterized by fear include:
Agoraphobia
Generalized anxiety disorder
Panic disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Separation anxiety disorder
Social anxiety disorder
Specific phobia

》Virtual reality is for more than gaming.
At the Virtual Reality Medical Center (VRMC) patients with phobias and anxiety are exposed to their fears through a unique form of exposure therapy: virtual reality. Phobias, PTSD, and other anxiety disorders are treated by 3-D computer stimulations (experienced through a head-mount with small TV monitors and stereo headphone) that progressively expose the patient to the stimulus of the anxiety.

》Treatment for fear
Repeated exposure to similar situations leads to familiarity, which can dramatically reduce both the fear response. This approach forms the basis of some phobia treatments, which depend on slowly minimizing the fear response by making it feel familiar.

》There are also steps that you can take to help cope with fear in day to day life. Such strategies focus on managing the physical, emotional, and behavioral effects of fear. Some things you can do include:
Get social support. Having supportive people in your life can help you manage your feelings of fear.
Practice mindfulness. While you cannot always prevent certain emotions, being mindful can help you manage them and replace negative thoughts with more helpful ones.
Use stress management techniques such as deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and visualization.
Take care of your health. Eat well, get regular exercise, and get adequate sleep each night.