In order to better understand one’s fears, a look back into human developmental history helps: fear is a biologically meaningful reaction to a threat or threats, which mobilises energy for battle or flight, and we avoid situations that seem risky to us. During evolution, fears of certain animals such as poisonous snakes have proved to be a survival instinct. Therefore, humans are still prone to be more afraid of these animals than weapons.
However, if fears relate to situations or objects that do not cause any danger (such as spiders, bus driving (agoraphobia) or strange people (social phobia), and if they overstate everyday life or the quality of life, they are known as anxiety disorder. About 15% of the population suffer from such a disease once in a lifetime. It usually consists of a physical reaction, such as cardiac tears, trembling and sweating (panic attacks), an expectation or mental assessment of the situation (“I might get a heart attack”, “I will embarrass myself”) as well as the tendency to avoid certain objects or situations whenever possible.
The disorder is self-sustaining: the fear vanishes as soon as the person leaves the situation and therefore he chooses this solution again and again. The expectation further also increases in the sense of a self-fulfilling prophecy, the likelihood that they will reappear.
Causes of Fear
The fears we feel are of many types: fear of the future, fear of failure, fear of making mistakes, fear of rejection, fear of ridicule, fear of change, fear of the unknown and much more.
These fears appear, above all, when we enter an unknown territory. When everything is new. However, to achieve what we want we must leave our comfort zone. Then, we are assaulted by negative thoughts like: “I lack experience”, “I do not know enough”.
Fears often mask problems of excessive doubt or lack of information. To not fill the lack of information with negative images and predictions, the best way to know how to overcome fear is to get the information we need to feel more secure.
When we go beyond the comfort zone and get results, it will increase the sense of self-esteem and the confidence of repeated experiences.
How does fear help us?
Fear is an emotion that arises as a natural physiological response to a threatening situation of danger. In the history of humanity, fear has consisted of an adaptive mechanism that has allowed the survival of the species.
Fear is, therefore, necessary because it is a mechanism of protection against danger, and warns us to take precautions in situations of risk.
However, specific irrational fears get unleashed and later produces isolation.
How does fear limit us?
For most, it is normal to believe that a certain degree of fear is reasonable because it helps to progress and to fulfil the duties and obligations of daily life. However, in reality, it is not true. The fear paralyses your thoughts, preventing you from being able to lead a healthy life. Fear is not at all a healthy emotion.
Fear coerces life, so fear does not arise knowledge. Fear takes people away from reality into an unreal, paralysing, uncontrollable world.
Fear takes away freedom because it allows others to have power over our lives and behaviours, creating doubts and insecurity.
What helps against fear and panic?
Sometimes self-help tips are enough to unleash an exaggerated fear. In more severe cases, psychotherapy is required. It is based on the components of anxiety, according to the following four basic principles.
#1 Keep moving
Regular athletic activities and relaxation exercises can reduce fear symptoms in the long term. They also help in many acute cases, where other things cannot help because physical relaxation and exhaustion cannot be reconciled physiologically with an angst reaction. During a panic attack, however, the effect may get reversed!
If there is a panic-induced hyperventilation (strong air-tightness due to dyspnea), then doctors recommend breathing in a bag, so that the ratio of oxygen to carbon dioxide in the blood normalises again.
#2 Confronting Fear
The way out of fear leads directly through it! Anyone who avoids a situation or an object because of exaggerated fears will get rid of fear the quickest when confronted with it instead. The affected person learns in this way that the situation or the object is harmless. This costs much overcoming and destroy not only fears but also strengthens the self-consciousness that is usually attacked. One should choose either of the two strategies mentioned below.
- Either one chooses to manage the fear, for example, by distraction. Although this is the easiest way, less efficient.
- Or one concentrates entirely on feelings and leaves them without fleeing mentally
Here one can look for dreaded situations with increasing difficulty – therapists speak here of systematic desensitisation. However, the confrontation often works best when one considers the worst conceivable scenario. Sometimes a single pass is sufficient. Most of the exercises have to be repeated over a more extended period to maintain success.
#3 Talk about your fears and worries
Fears and catastrophic thoughts put the body in alarm. Affected persons should explore these so-called cognitions as detailed as possible: What exactly are they afraid of? How realistic is it that their fears are true? What else could happen – and how likely would that be? As far as possible, these considerations should be tested in reality or be examined in conversation with others. The constant weighing up of probabilities helps to address inappropriate and exaggerated fears. The goal: to transform the idea “I fall faint” into a soothing self-instruction! For example, “At the last Panic attack, I had the same symptoms and but nothing disastrous happened, so this time nothing will happen again. I will not feel the fear, and then the feelings will disappear.”
#4 Practice in serenity
The fears are fueled by the fact that the person concerned, in addition to his anxiety about a concrete situation, also develops a fear of the FEAR: “If I go shopping, maybe I will again experience the panic attack, and it will not go easily.” These expectations and thoughts maintain the disturbance. The constant fear of the “NEXT TIME” increases the likelihood of another panic attack because those affected, are always tense and pay more attention to possible symptoms.
Acceptance-oriented procedures teach not to fight against fear but to observe all symptoms without value. Meditation and mindfulness can help to practice this inner composure.
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