Fear: what it is, benefits and harms, causes and methods of struggle

Fear is one of the very first feelings and conditions that a person begins to experience. According to some reports, even in the womb, the fetus is able to be afraid. Then, throughout life, we experience fears, and often they are the ones that save our lives and allow us not to make big mistakes. At the same time, fear can turn into a real problem and significantly complicate a person’s life.

Fear is an internal emotional and psychological state that is caused by the presence of a real or imagined threat. Psychologists consider it a negative emotion, bright and strong, capable of influencing a person’s behavior and thinking. Physiologists agree with them, but clarify that this emotion is based not only on a dangerous change in external circumstances, but also on past negative experiencesand therefore fear is a necessary condition for the survival of the species.

It is based on the old as a world instinct of self-preservation. Fear is considered a basic emotion, innate.

Do not confuse fear with anxiety. Although both of these conditions are associated with a sense of anxiety, fear is still a reaction to the threat, even if it does not exist in reality. And anxiety is the expectation of possible dangerous events that may not occur, since it is difficult to predict them.

Fear allows you to survive, which is why people who nature has deprived of their wings are afraid of heights. Since a person does not have natural armor and the ability to survive without oxygen underground, we all, to one degree or another, are afraid of earthquakes, natural disasters and catastrophes.

Fear has evolved along with people. And today we are no longer afraid that a tiger or a bear will attack us at night, but sometimes we are afraid to be hysterical without mobile communications, electricity.

Being a protective mechanism, fear still tries to protect us from what may violate our well-being (physical and mental). However, many are still afraid of the dark, because the ancient memory suggests that an unknown threat may lurk in it. Many are afraid of depth, absolute silence, death.

Scientists who at different times tried to study the mechanisms of fear have discovered several ways in which this basic emotion tries to “reach out” to our consciousness. These are the so-called “hormones of fear and stress” (adrenaline, cortisol), these are vegetative reactions that occur when certain parts of the brain are excited, when there is a great fear.

As long as a person is afraid of real threats, this is a normal, full-fledged, saving fear, which needs to say a lot of human “thank you”.

Today, almost everyone has one or another phobia (their list is not known for certain, but scientists have already counted about 300 irrational nightmares). Phobias guide human behavior and thinking.. And although he understands that fearing a spider the size of a match head is stupid, because he does not pose a threat, a man can not do anything with his horror.

Such fears change behavior - Fob tries to avoid circumstances and situations that terrify him: a sociophobe who is afraid of society, closes in the house and lives a hermit, you won’t put the claustrophobe in the elevator, he will even go on foot to the top floor of the thirty-story building, the movie phobe will never get close to the dogs, and the kumpunophobe is so afraid of buttons that he never touches them, never buys such clothes, avoids contact with people who have large bright buttons on their clothes.

There are no completely fearless people. If a person is deprived of this emotion, he will cease to exist very quickly, because he will lose caution, prudence, and his thinking will be disturbed. To understand this, it is enough to know what are the mechanisms of fear.

Fear, fear - these are emotions that can save and kill. In extreme circumstances, when the threat to life is more than real, fear is designed to save, but in practice it often leads to the opposite effect. If a person begins to panic in extreme situations, then he loses control over the situation and external changes, which is fraught with death. Dr. Alain Bombard of France, in order to prove this, was forced to cross the Atlantic Ocean alone in a flimsy lifeboat.

The conclusions he made speak for themselves: the main cause of death of people who find themselves in open water is fear, a sense of doom. He refuted the view that the deaths of shipwreck victims are mainly due to a shortage of fresh drinking water.

Fears in large quantities can significantly harm the children's psyche. A frightened child is constantly in tension, his personality is developing with difficulty, he cannot calmly communicate with others, make contacts, empathize and sympathize.Children who for some time lived in an atmosphere of total fear, often grow up uncontrollable, aggressive.

Excessive fear in adolescents and children causes sleep disturbances, speech disorders. Thinking loses flexibility, cognitive ability decreases. Intimidated children are less curious than their more prosperous peers.

A strong panic experienced in childhood in certain circumstances and without attachment to them can be the beginning of a severe long-term phobia that will require medical attention.

But such consequences cannot be completely ruled out. If a person for a long time and often experiences a variety of fears, it is possible that not only phobias will develop, but also more severe mental illnesses - persecution mania or schizophrenia, for example.

In fairness, it should be noted that fear has a positive meaning. This condition brings the human body into “combat” readiness, the person becomes more active, and in a difficult situation it helps to overcome the dangers: muscles become stronger and more resilient, a very frightened person runs much faster than a calm one.

And in situations where a person is faced with an unprecedented threat, a phenomenon unfamiliar to him, it is fear that takes all responsibility for behavioral reactions. While the individual is pondering what is ahead of him and how dangerous it can be, fear has already triggered the “run” reaction and, as the people say, the legs themselves are frightened away. It will be possible to ponder and comprehend the strange danger later. And now the main thing is to be saved.

Scientists identify several roles that fear performs. They are not bad and not good, they are just necessary:

• motivational - fear prompts you to choose a safer environment for life, for children, for yourself;
• adaptive - fear gives a negative experience and allows for the future to form a more cautious behavior;
• mobilization - the body works in the “super-hero” mode, it can jump as high and run as fast as no Olympic champion can in a calm state;
• estimated - fears contribute to the ability to assess danger and choose remedies;
• signal orientation - a danger signal arrives and immediately the brain begins to choose how to behave in order to maintain life and health;
• organizational - for fear of being beaten with a belt or put in a corner, the child is less rowdy and learns better;
• social - under the influence of fears (to be different from everyone else, to be condemned) people try to hide their negative qualities of character, criminal tendencies.

The function of fear is always only one - to protect and preserve. And all the roles ultimately come to her.

Those who wish to find the only correct classification of human fears will be greatly disappointed: such a classification does not exist, since there are many different classifications. Emotion, for example, is divided by the following parameters.

Situational fear is a feeling that naturally arises when the situation changes (a flood happened, a volcanic eruption began, a large aggressive dog attacks a person). Such fears are very contagious to others - they spread quickly and cover entire groups of people.

Personal fears are features of his character, for example, a suspicious person can be scared only because someone, in his purely personal opinion, looked at him with condemnation.

Objective fright is always caused by something specific (a snake, a spider, etc.).Thematic ones cover a wide range of circumstances and situations in which fear may arise. So, a person who perceives heights with horror will be equally afraid of a parachute jump and a climb to the observation deck of a skyscraper (the situations are different, there is one theme). Thematic ones include the fear of loneliness, ignorance, change, etc.

Pointless fear is a sudden feeling of danger in the absence of any particular object, object or theme.

Everything is pretty simple here. Rational fear is real, caused by existing danger. Irrational (irrational) fear is difficult to explain from the point of view of common sense, because there is no obvious threat. All phobias, without exception, are irrational fears.

Acute fear is both a normal, completely healthy reaction of a person to danger, and manifestations of mental disorders (panic attacks). Be that as it may, acute fear in 100% of cases is associated with a momentary situation. Chronic fear is always associated with some individual personality traits (anxious type, suspicious, shy).

Many children experience numerous fears, but they almost always pass with age (this is how the fear of the dark and a number of others “behave”). Older people are more often afraid of being robbed, getting sick - and this is also natural. The normal fear of the abnormal (pathological) is different in that it is short, reversible, not affecting life in general. If fear makes a person change their lives, adapt, if the personality itself and its actions change, then they talk about pathology.

He also tried to classify them. According to Freud, fear is real and neurotic. With the real, everything is more or less clear, and the doctor did not come up with anything new beyond what is already known about a normal reaction to danger. But he divided neurotic fears with the obligatory presence of affect into several categories:

• fearful expectation - foresight, prediction of the worst that can happen in certain situations, a neurosis of fear develops in extreme form;
• anancastic - phobias, obsessive thoughts, actions, in an extreme form, lead to the development of a hysteria of fear;
• spontaneous - These are bouts of horror for no reason, in extreme form lead to severe mental disorders.

Modern researchers add to the legacy of the classics of psychoanalysis and psychiatry special species that are the product of civilization. These are social fears.

This is a conflict situation in which a person runs the risk of losing his normal self-esteem, status, relationship.

Fear is born in the brain, and more precisely in that ancient part of it, the central region called the limbic system, and more precisely, in the amygdala, which is responsible for the ability to make decisions based on the results of evaluating emotions. Having received a dangerous real or fictitious signal, this part of the brain starts a reaction in which you need to quickly choose what to do - to run or defend. Electroencephalography, if at this point to do such a study, shows the activity of subcortical structures, as well as the cortex.

The human body begins to actively prepare for a fight or escape, in a split second it activates the necessary “military” mode: more blood goes to the muscles and heart (will have to run), because of this the skin becomes colder, the sweat glands work and appears the familiar sign of fear is cold, sticky sweat.

A large amount of adrenaline enters the bloodstream, the heartbeat accelerates, breathing becomes shallow, superficial and frequent.

The skin becomes paler.Due to the outflow of blood from the internal organs to the muscle tissue, the stomach contracts, unpleasant sensations in the abdomen may appear. Often an attack of fear is accompanied by a feeling of nausea, and sometimes vomiting. Severe horror can lead to involuntary relaxation of the sphincters and subsequent uncontrolled urination or bowel movements.

At the time of fear, a sharp decrease in the production of sex hormones occurs in the human body (well, right - if it is in danger, not time for procreation!), The adrenal cortex intensely produces cortisol, and the adrenal medulla quickly provides the body with adrenaline.

Dries out in the mouth, there is a feeling of weakness in the legs and a coma in the throat (difficult to swallow). Heart palpitations are accompanied by tinnitus, ringing in the head. Much depends on the individual characteristics of the personality, psyche, health.

Panic attacks (panic attacks) are characteristic of people with phobias. A normal healthy psyche, even at the moment of fright, will allow a person to control his behavior and condition. With a phobia, control is impossible - fear lives its own separate life, in addition to the symptoms listed above, loss of consciousness and balance, and attempts to harm oneself are possible. Horror fetters and does not let go until the end of the attack.

As can be seen from the mechanisms of development of emotion, the main reason is the primary stimulus. It is noteworthy that not even some frightening circumstance threatening life and well-being, but also the absence of any signs of well-being can cause a fright, horror, panic (this origin, in particular, has the fear experienced by a small child whose mother is forced to to go somewhere on business).

Human psychology is designed so that, regardless of age, education, social status in society, gender and race, we are all afraid of certain things - for example, the unknown. If the event does not occur, although it was expected, or it is not at all obvious what should happen next, the person involuntarily brings his psyche to a state of "full combat readiness". And fear mobilizes him.

That is why we throughout our lives preserve and transmit to our descendants the horror of natural disasters and fires. This fear does not depend on the level of culture of society, on its awareness and technological progress. All other fears are derivatives. A child from an African village who does not have electricity and the Internet does not know the fear of being left without a mobile phone.

In a state of loneliness, all emotions are aggravated. And this is not accidental: the prospect of getting sick or getting injured alone increases the likelihood of an adverse outcome for a person.

There are both external and internal reasons for the development of fear. External ones are events, circumstances in which life puts us every second. And internal causes are key needs and personal experience (memories, premonition, correlation of external stimuli with personal experience). External causes can be imposed (people have been accustomed to fire alarms, air raids, etc.). You must admit that it is not necessary to see the fire with your own eyes in order to be frightened by hearing that a fire alarm went off in the building where you are.

Traumatic experience in childhood often leads to the formation of persistent phobia, even in adults. Often a person is afraid of dogs only because such an animal bit him in childhood or adolescence, and the fear of enclosed space comes after the child was often locked up in a dark closet and closet in childhood, put in a dark corner as a punishment for improper behavior.

Personal experience can be non-traumatic, based on culture, education, copying. If a child’s parents are afraid of a thunderstorm and every time a thunder rattles and lightnings sparkle, they close windows and doors tightly and show fear, then the child begins to fear a thunderstorm, although there has never been any physical harm directly from thunder and lightning. So people “broadcast” to each other the fear of snakes (although most of them have never even met in their lives), the fear of contracting a dangerous disease (none of them was ill with it).

The experience that we consider our own is not always the case in reality. Sometimes we perceive statements that are imposed on us from the outside - television, cinema, writers and journalists, neighbors and acquaintances. This is how specific fears appear: an impressionable person watched a film about poisonous jellyfish, and something in them impressed him so much that he would now go into the sea with great apprehension, if at all.

Horror films, thrillers, as well as news releases about terrorist attacks, attacks, wars, medical errors - all this forms certain fears in us. We ourselves do not have personal experience of relevant topics, but we have a fear of killer doctors, terrorists, bandits and ghosts. To one degree or another, everyone is afraid of this.

People with a fine mental organization are more susceptible to fears (in the language of doctors this is called the high excitability of the central nervous system). They even have an insignificant circumstance that can cause not only a strong panic, but also a persistent phobia.

Healthy fear quickly disappears, does not leave “scars” in the soul, and does not return later in nightmares. A normal reaction is to remember the traumatic situation, draw conclusions (learn something), laugh at your reaction and calm down.

But the line between normal fear and pathological is very thin, especially in children and adolescents. If there are personal characteristics of the character, such as secrecy, shyness, timidity, then a prolonged or severe fright can provoke the formation of phobias, impaired speech (stuttering, lack of speech), delayed psychomotor development.

A person himself may not remember what happened many years ago at a tender age, but his brain remembers and uses perfectly the then-formed link between the object and the occurrence of panic.

From the point of view of psychosomatics, fear is a destructive emotion, especially if it is chronic. It is he who becomes the true cause of a variety of diseases. Fears are most often associated with diseases of the heart and blood vessels, musculoskeletal system, dermatological diseases, autoimmune diseases. How can fear cause a real illness? Yes, very simple.

The mechanism of fear at the physiological level has been described above. If the fear is healthy, then the psychological state quickly stabilizes, adrenaline is eliminated from the body, blood circulation is restored and evenly distributed between the internal organs, skin, and muscles.

Adrenaline does not have time to leave the body, its new emissions provoke high levels of stress hormones. This causes problems with the production of sex hormones (the relationship between them has been proven and is not in doubt). For a child, this is fraught with disorders of puberty, growth, development. For adult men and women - psychogenic infertility and a variety of reproductive health problems.

Chronic fear causes muscle constriction. We remember that in a fright, blood rushes to muscle tissue and casts off internal organs, the distribution of blood flow changes. If this happens constantly, the muscles are in tension. This leads to a variety of diseases of the musculoskeletal system, nervous system, and insufficient blood supply to internal organs during periods of fear lead to the development of chronic diseases.

But without correction of the psychological background neither pills, nor potions, nor operations will give the desired effect. Psychosomatic illness will persistently return.

The risks of getting a serious psychiatric diagnosis in fearful people are always many times higher. Fear, which a person cannot control, leads to neurosis, phobias at any unfavorable moment can progress and transform into schizophrenia, a manic disorder. People who are habitually afraid of something more often than others suffer from clinical depression.

For fear of crossing the streets, people build routes to avoid this action. If such routes are not found, they may refuse to hike somewhere. Agoraphobes often cannot make purchases in large stores, with phobias of sharp objects people avoid using knives and forks, with social phobia they often refuse to attend work, public transport, leaving home, and when they are afraid of water, people begin to avoid hygienic procedures and what’s it for may lead, no need to explain.

It is fears that do not allow us to become what we want, to do what we love, to travel, to communicate with a large number of people, to get animals, to reach heights in creativity, to become smarter, more beautiful, better, more successful. They do not allow us to live in such a way that in old age there is nothing to regret. And is this not a reason to think about how to get rid of your own fears?

You can fight fear on your own only if it is not pathological. In all other cases, you cannot do without the help of a therapist. Since there are many reasons that can cause fear in a person, there are enough ways to deal with the problem.

Teachers, educators and parents have a more preventive mission, but it is with it that everything should begin. If adults create an environment for the child in which everything is clear and simple, then the likelihood of an irrational panic fear is minimal. Whatever the child does, he must be prepared for this, this applies to both games and learning. New requirements, new information, if there was no preparation, can provoke fear.

In both cases, a very fertile ground is created for the development of not only anxiety disorder, but also a more serious mental illness.

Russian scientist Ivan Sechenov pointed out the need from an early age to educate children in the will. It is she, according to the physiologist, who will give the opportunity to "perform feats, despite fears." And Ivan Turgenev argued that, apart from the will, the main means of combating cowardice is a sense of duty.

And then it’s important to discover the truth and report that there was no insurance and everything was done independently. So kids are taught to ride a bike. While the parental hands hold the vehicle, the child is riding quite confidently. But if he finds out that the bicycle is no longer held, he invariably falls or gets scared. And this is the best time to inform that they had not kept him before either, and he rode all this time himself. This approach can be applied at any age in any situation.

You are an adult or a child, but your psyche is designed in such a way that it can adapt to any circumstances. Please note that children living in a war zone or in border areas are not at all afraid of the sounds of gunfire, the roar of airplanes, and adults in this environment get used to living more or less adequately.

In practice, this means that for any fear, you can pick up your key. If the child is desperately afraid of swimming, give him to the section where the experienced trainer works - with insurance, and then without it your child will surely swim, and the feeling of fear with each subsequent training will decrease, become dull, less perceived by the brain. But do not throw the child into the water from the boat on the principle - "if you want to live, you will swim out."

With a strong fear of darkness, you can practice drawing with a light pen (in the light of a drawing it will not work), and gradually the darkness from the enemy for you or your child will turn into an ally and like-minded person. For fear of heights, visit the amusement park more often and ride those that involve a high rise, this will help to adapt faster and the height will cease to cause horror.

It should be understood that courage in a person cannot be developed either by this method or by another. But to make the perception of fear less tangible is quite possible.

People with irrational and prolonged fears, with panic attacks and uncontrolled attacks of horror also need a treatment from a psychotherapist or psychiatrist. The doctor helps the patient to get rid of improper attitudes that lead to non-existent, imaginary fears. The method of cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy helps well in this. It includes the identification of all traumatic circumstances and objects, the work of changing attitudes (sometimes NLP and hypnosis are used), and then the person is gradually adapted to circumstances that previously frightened him.

Among therapeutic approaches for unreleased and shallow phobias, the desensitization method can be used. With him, a person immediately begins to gradually accustom to what he is afraid of. If there is a fear of riding a bus, first they ask to come to a stop and sit there. Realizing that this is not scary, you can go into the bus lounge and get off right away, and the next day, go in and drive over the stop.In most cases, the method requires constant monitoring of the patient at the very beginning of therapy - someone whom he trusts, or the doctor should do everything together with him, and then discuss the situation together, focusing on the fact that nothing bad happened.

The therapist creates a “dangerous situation” (sometimes under hypnosis). Describes her, asks the patient to tell what is happening to him. And when a person’s emotions reach a peak, the doctor asks to see who is standing next to him in the created illusion (in the bus, for example). If this is a woman, what is she wearing? Is she beautiful? What is in her hands? If this is a man, does he inspire confidence? Is he young? Does he have a beard? Distraction allows you to focus your attention from panic to a new object. Even if this does not work out right away, gradually the results appear.

Subsequently, people can use this technique themselves, without hypnotic effects. Began to worry, worry - pay attention to the small details of something that is not related to the object of fright.

Sometimes, if the condition is complicated by concomitant mental problems, medical support may be required.

But there is no cure for fear. He is simply not there. Tranquilizers, which were not so long ago considered effective, cause chemical dependence, in addition, they only mask manifestations of fear, dulling the perception of everything as a whole, and do not solve the problem. After the withdrawal of tranquilizers, phobias usually return.

Significantly better results are shown by antidepressants, which can be prescribed simultaneously with psychotherapy (apart from them, there will also be no effect). In case of sleep disturbance, hypnotics are recommended, and in case of a neurosis or neurotic state - sedatives, sedatives.

The main thing in the treatment is diligence, diligence, great and strong motivation. Without cooperation with the doctor, without following all his recommendations, the desired effect cannot be achieved.

Prevention of the development of pathological fears should be dealt with since childhood. If you want to raise a person who does not become a hostage to phobias, use the advice of psychologists:

• if the child is afraid of something, don’t laugh at it, even if it’s a really ridiculous fear, treat your feelings with respect and be prepared to listen seriously and make out the frightening situation together;
• devote more time to the child, warmth, affection - this will be his "insurance", with which it is easier to survive frightening situations;
• build relationships with the child so that the child trusts you, he can come and tell his nightmare, share his fear at any time, even in the middle of the night;
• do not artificially create situations in which the child may experience a panic attack (do not teach him to swim, throwing into the water in spite of protests, do not force to stroke the hamster if rodents scare him);
• constantly overcome your fears, do it so that the child sees the result - this is a great clear example and the correct attitude of the child for the future - “I can do anything”.

It is strictly forbidden:

• blame the child for his fears, call him a coward, a weakling, provoke him to some actions, scold and punish the child for his fear;
• to pretend that nothing happened - ignoring children's fear does not solve the problem, but drives it deeper, which then almost always results in the formation of a stable phobia;
• cite as an example “I’m not afraid, dad is not afraid, and you should not be afraid!” - it does not work at all;
• to say that someone died due to an illness, the child’s psyche quickly connects the concept of “getting sick” and “death”, which leads to the development of an anxiety state in situations when someone is sick or sick himself, as well as outside of the disease for fear of becoming infected with something;
• take a child goodbye to the dead, at funeral ceremonies until adolescence;
• to invent “horror stories” - Babai will come, if you don’t eat, you die from exhaustion, you don’t go to bed, the Gray Wolf takes it, etc .;
• excessively patronize the child, prohibit him from contacts with the world, limit his independence;
• Watch horror movies before reaching the age of 16-17.

There are a great many methods - from art therapy to physiotherapy exercises that will help, under the supervision of an experienced psychologist or psychotherapist, defeat any nightmares. If you do not consult a specialist in a timely manner, the consequences of advanced anxiety disorder will be very negative.

About what fear is, see below.