Emotions play an important part in
our daily lives. Fear is one such emotion that is pre-programmed into all
animals and people as an instinctual
response to potential danger. As for what is fear biologically dialogue, when a person experiences
fear, certain areas of their brain such as the “amygdale” and the “hypothalamus”
are immediately activated and appear to control the first physical response to
fear. Chemicals such as adrenaline
and the stress hormone “cortisol” are released into the blood stream causing
certain bodily reactions such as rapid heart rate, increased blood pressure, tightening
of muscles, Sharpened or redirected senses, dilation of the pupils, increased
sweating. People who have experienced this will often remember the moment when
action took place and how time seemed to slow down mentally. They knew exactly
what to do without consciously thinking about it, they had great strength.
Researchers say some have even been able to lift a car to save their trapped
child and they felt no pain. All
these are protective mechanisms to increase our chances of
survival.
While it is important
to be aware of potential and real threats, it is just as important to react
correctly to them. For most of us, our initial alarm response subsides as soon
as we realize that there is no actual threat or danger. However, this is not
always the case. There are many people for
whom fear becomes maladaptive, as they struggle with anxiety,
phobias and panic attacks. Children are also at risk of overactive fear, as
they are not always able to rationalize fears that are unrealistic or
unfounded. Children experiencing fears and phobias feel very real threats and
parents often have difficulty consoling or reassuring their child that there is
actually nothing to fear. Childhood anxiety can have
a negative impact on their healthy development and
may influence them to bigger problems in later life. Thus meaning “Fear” has
its positives and negatives.
Fear is an emotional response to a perceived threat. It
is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus,
such aspain or the threat of danger. Some psychologists such as John B. Watson, Robert Plutchik, and Paul Ekman have suggested that fear is one of
a small set of basic or innate emotions. This set also includes such
emotions as joy, sadness, and anger. Fear should be distinguished from
the related emotional state of anxiety, which typically occurs without
any external threat.
Additionally, fear is
related to the specific behaviors of escape and avoidance, whereas anxiety is
the result of threats which are perceived to be uncontrollable or unavoidable.
Worth noting is that fear almost always relates to future events, such as
worsening of a situation, or continuation of a situation that is unacceptable.
Fear could also be an instant reaction, to something presently happening.
Fear is not always adaptive. A
small amount of fear before an important speech serves a purpose. This purpose
is to encourage you to focus on your topic and avoid making a fool of yourself
by making simple little mistakes. This is one of the types of fear that can be useful to sharpen our
minds. However, some types of fear that are excessive can become crippling,
or even make you feel like escaping when it is not appropriate to do so. When
fear gets out of control, or when we fear something that cannot actually harm
us, it can escalate to a point where it effects our daily
functioning. Fear is no longer adaptive if we find we are
constantly afraid of events that haven’t happened yet. Future orientated fear
is known as anxiety. While fear happens at the moment danger arises, anxiety is
characterized by apprehension because we don’t know what’s going to happen
next, and we cannot control upcoming events. Experiencing an alarm response
when there is in fact nothing to be afraid of is known as panic. Many people
are familiar with this type of fear and it is often accompanied by a phobia. There are numerous causes of fear. Some are better
known than others such as fear of flying or Aviophobia, or fear of spiders,
which is Arachnophobia, and fear of confined spaces by which is also called Claustrophobia.
Others types of fear not
so well known are fear of mirror Catoptrophobia, and fear of hair-Chaetophobia.
Fear of being tickled by feathers Pteronophobia, and Papyrophobia or fear of
paper are yet other not so well known causes of fear. Still new causes
of fear are being diagnosed.
Panic is an immediate
physical response to unrealistic and irrational fears. This
can have a huge affect on both your emotional and physical well-being – as well
as your ability to reach your full potential.
Fear can affect
a lot of things. Fear can affect things such as the way people go about their daily
lives, the way they react to certain things, and also their state of mind. Fear
can also affect someone’s performance. Fear can also persuade you to set easier
goals and do less than your are capable of, by which sets your performance
level at an all time “low”. Fear can trigger internal defense systems and fools
people into thinking that you have perfectly good reasons not to change. The fear
of failure or disappointment reduces the number of available alternatives and
keeps people from pursuing them. One the important forms of fear that can
affect a person’s performance is the fear of making mistakes. It causes
indecisiveness and confusion. For example, whenever I was put into the game
during my high school basketball games, I developed the fear of making
mistakes, due to the fact that in practice whenever a person make a mistake
they have to either run or be substituted for another player. Fear stops people
from knowing what they really want. Fear warps people’s whole perception of their
life and what they can do to make it better. Fear keeps a person from asking
for help when they really need it or benefiting from the emotional support that
was offered to them. Fear also keeps them from asserting themselves and
persuades them to settle for what they must settle for instead of going after
what they really want. To calm their fears, they develop unhealthy habits and
behavior problems. Fear often makes them give up just one step short of their goal
at hand. Fear keeps people from taking risks.
There are a number of
natural herbal and homeopathic remedies that can help with overcoming fears. Fear becomes a problem that needs to
be addressed when it turns into anxiety, panic or phobias. Herbs such as
Melissa Officinalis, Lavandula Augustifolia, Chamomile and Passiflora Incarnata
and
certain types of marijuana (GO WEED) are just a few examples of a
natural approach to overcoming fears by
reducing stress, calming the nervous system
and relaxing a fearful mind. Many natural remedies for fear and
anxiety combine a number of calming herbs to achieve the best results for overcoming fears and addressing all the different
symptoms of a panicked response. The most affective and best way to achieve your goals while dealing
with fear is to face your fear with positive fear. For example, even though I
was scared and nervous when I was put into the game, I used it to my
advantage. What I did was, I took my
fear of making mistakes and I turned them into anger motivation. I got angry at
the fact that I become nervous and scared, so I used my anger to developed an “attack
mode” to whereas though I played with anger and attacked the rim with no fear
at all.
In conclusion,
I feel that in order to still achieve your goals while dealing with fear,
people have to use their fear and turn it into what I call “positive fear”. By
which this type of fear is used to the person’s own advantage, and can be used
to ultimately defeat all kinds of fear. Thus, making the person that was first tormented
by fear, into some who is so full of bravery and valor that they have become
fearless. After all, fear is a mind killer………….
www.Listen2Diamond.com
