The Complexity of Fear - Henry County Public Schools

 The Complexity of FearAre you experiencing anxiety, or is it fear?As you are walking home alone, late at night, you hear the soft, crackling sound of someone or something stepping on dry leaves nearby. Your heart begins to race as you imagine who or what lurks in the shadows. Are you experiencing fear or anxiety? The differences between these emotions can be confusing. Even in the psychology literature you will frequently find the concepts used interchangeably. Fears of the unknown, a fear of death, contamination fear, a fear of flying, catastrophic fear, a fear of success, and a fear of failure are all commonly noted as a "fear" yet they are actually experienced as the emotion of anxiety. Similarly, phobias are considered to be an anxiety disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2000), even though we think of a phobia in terms of something that is feared, be it insects, enclosed spaces, heights, or contamination. Yet fear and anxiety are important to differentiate, to the extent that one can do so. These emotions can transform into behaviors that may lead you to avoid situations or into defense mechanisms that may obscure the recognition of reality, and consequently they have been understood as keys to the dynamics of emotional illness (Ohman, 2010).Fear is generally considered a reaction to something immediate that threatens your security or safety, such as being startled by someone suddenly jumping out at you from behind a bush. The emotion of fear is felt as a sense of dread, alerting you to the possibility that your physical self might be harmed, which in turn motivates you to protect yourself. Thus, the notion of "fight or flight" is considered a fear response and describes the behavior of various animals when they are threatened--either hanging around and fighting, or taking off in order to escape danger. Yet it has also been recognized that animals and people have other responses to a threat: a person or animal might play dead or just "freeze" in response to being threatened; yell or scream as a fighting response rather than get physical; or, isolate as a flight response. As a result, some researchers suggest an expanded version of the fight-or-flight response, namely, "freeze, flight, fight, or fright" (Bracha, Ralston, Matsunaga, Williams, & Bracha, 2004). Others have suggested that "tend-and-befriend" responses should also be considered, such as turning to others for help or social support, or making a situation less tense, dangerous, or uncomfortable in some way (Taylor, Klein, Lewis, Gruenewald, Gurung, & Updegraff, 2000).In contrast to fear, anxiety is a general state of distress that is longer lasting than fear and usually is triggered by something that is not specific, even though it produces physiological arousal, such as nervousness and apprehension (Lang et al., 2000). Yet both fear and anxiety emotions are triggered in response to threat. Some researchers distinguish between fear and anxiety by determining whether or not avoidance behaviors are present (Sylvers et al., 2011), or if the intended outcome has to do with avoidance or escape (Lang, et al., 2000). Thus, the presence of avoidance behaviors would indicate fear, in contrast to anxiety where a person may be very much on the alert but does not avoid the situation. However, this can be confusing since in certain anxiety disorders, particularly in phobias, the focus is specific and avoidance behaviors are present. Perhaps better clarifying the difference is the notion that where anxiety is foreboding and puts you on alert to a future threat, fear immediately leads to an urge to defend yourself with escape from an impending disaster (Ohman, 2010).There are times when a past fear might re-emerge, even though the present situation does not truly warrant the need to be afraid. Such is the case of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), where the consequence of a prior situation where you actually were in danger is re-lived in the present when those emotional memories are triggered. Although you may intellectually know that you are safe, your brain automatically prepares you for the worst to happen--a situation that it recognizes has happened before--which speaks to the power of emotional memory. A post-traumatic response can be triggered by a situation that is similar to a past trauma, the date in which a trauma occurred, a particular thought, or by a relationship that brings up an issue that is similar to a trauma that you have previously experienced. In a simple example, people who have been rear-ended in a motor vehicle accident frequently describe that, for many weeks or months, they fear being rear-ended again and, as a result, find themselves vigilantly peering into their rear view mirror in anticipation of an impact occurring. But here we are once again faced with confusion between fear and anxiety. Although a post-traumatic response may have to do with a situation in which fear was the primary emotion involved, PTSD is listed as an anxiety disorder by the American Psychiatric Association (2000). The danger is not an actual one in PTSD, but it is anticipated or expected based on a prior experience. So where the original trauma triggered fear, post-traumatic stress may trigger anxiety that anticipates fear.From an evolutionary perspective, the emotion of fear protected humans from predators and other threats to the survival of the species. So it is no wonder that certain dangers evoke that emotion, since fear helps protect you and is therefore adaptive, functional, and necessary. However, there is another important aspect of emotions to consider that, in the case of fear, may be important to decision-making as well as survival. That is, when an emotion is triggered it has an impact on our judgments and choices in situations (Lerner and Keltner, 2001). In a study of risk taking, participants who were fearful consistently made judgments and choices that were relatively pessimistic and amplified their perception of risk in a given situation, in contrast to happy or angry participants who were more likely to disregard risk by making relatively optimistic judgments and choices (Lerner and Keltner, 2001). Similarly, individuals who are trait fearful--those who tend to have personality characteristics that are dominated by the emotion of fear--will avoid taking risks that are generally perceived by others as relatively benign (Sylvers, et al., 2011). Thus, awareness of your emotions and considering how they might influence your decision-making in a given situation is important in your approach to life, your work, and your goals. Certainly, such is the case of fear in all of its complexity.Is It Time to Face Your Biggest Fears?Fear is one of the most powerful forces in your life. It affects the decisions you make, the actions you take, and the outcomes you achieve. Who you are and what you do has at one point or another been influenced by fear. Being successful relies to a large extent on knowing how to leverage fear.Fear is critical for survival. It is a hardwired, primitive emotion that involves several parts of the brain (not just the amygdala) and creates a complex experience marked by a distinct pattern of mental and physiological activity. Fear is an internal – mostly automatic (but not entirely) – alarm system, which exists to warn against threats to survival. Survival, in the past, meant staying alive. It meant not getting killed by a predator, a disease, a rival, or a natural disaster. And threats included anything that could literally cause death or serious harm. Fear is what kept our ancestors out of harm’s way.But as the world increased in complexity and demand, the meaning of both survival and threat has changed significantly. What does survival mean nowadays and what poses the biggest threat to it?Survival in the Modern WorldAccording to author Karl Albrecht, all fears, regardless of how big or small, fall into five categories: fear of extinction, fear of mutilation, fear of losing autonomy, fear of separation, and fear of ego-death. Consequently, the role of fear is to promote survival in these five domains. To protect from anything that threatens to destroy not only our lives, but also our physical and psychological well-being, our autonomy, and our connection to others. So, what are we trying to protect in the context of our complex social, cultural, political, and technological world?Biological survival: The need to stay alive remains the highest priority. Without being alive, everything else is futile. The sound of the fear alarm is the loudest when your life is at risk.Physical health and ability: Being healthy and strong is not only a requisite for biological survival, but it is also necessary in order to meet the demands of daily life. This is why millions of people get the flu shot every year and why there is a hand sanitizer in every purse.Autonomy: We want to be able to make our own decisions, and live our lives the way we choose. We don’t like being restrained physically or metaphorically. This is what makes being trapped, whether in an elevator or in a horrible job, so scary, and why fear of imprisonment is a good deterrent for breaking the law. Social survival: We want to belong and to stay connected. To be accepted and respected by our peers. We try to steer clear of criticism and rejection from people we like or even total strangers. Being alone and feeling unwanted and irrelevant can be frightening. This is one reason why people stay in bad relationships or join gangs. Self-worth: Given how long we have to live with ourselves, we must protect our self-worth at all costs. A shattered self-esteem is a big problem in any context. The fear of feeling worthless and inadequate can be very limiting, as it stops you from thinking big, expressing yourself, and taking risks. This is why the impact of losing a job or getting a rejection letter can last for days or even weeks.What Are We Scared Of?We have eliminated many of the threats that put our ancestors’ survival at risk. But fear remains. What keeps people scared in these times?Researchers at Chapman University surveyed 1,500 people about the kinds of things they are really afraid of. The fears that made it to the top 5 list included: government corruption, cyber-terrorism, tracking of personal information by government and corporations, terrorist attacks, and bio-warfare.These are definitely scary events with devastating and long-lasting consequences. But are these the fears that keep you up at night? Are these the fears that are holding you back from achieving your goals? Is preventing government corruption or bio-terrorism your highest priority?How about things like losing your job, not having enough money to provide for your family, getting sick without healthcare, being bullied at school or harassed at work, or failing to live in line with your values? These fears may not be as explosive as terrorist attacks, but they can certainly make your day-to-day life miserable. Survival needs and what threatens them have changed over the millennia. Nonetheless, the role of fear remains the same. To warn and protect. Fear can be uncomfortable, even paralyzing at times. According to the psychiatric literature, there are over 100 documented phobias, a disorder characterized by persistent and irrational fear of objects or situations. You may already know of agoraphobia, claustrophobia and social phobia. The good news is that for the large majority of people fear is not pathological. But it can be equally crippling.The truth is you cannot eliminate fear, nor should you try. But you can still be fearless.Being fearless is not the same as eliminating fear. Being fearless means knowing how to leverage fear. And the first step to leveraging fear is to identify what scares you.7 Things You Need to Know About FearFear can be uncomfortable and crippling. But eliminating it would be the equivalent of taking down your home alarm system because it sometimes makes loud and irritating sounds.Being fearless doesn’t mean eliminating fear. Being fearless means knowing how to leverage fear. And to do that, you need to know a few things about what you are dealing with. 1. Fear is healthy.Fear is hardwired in your brain, and for good reason: Neuroscientists have identified distinct networks that run from the depths of the limbic system all the way to the prefrontal cortex and back. When these networks are electrically or chemically stimulated, they produce fear, even in the absence of a fearful stimulus. Feeling fear is neither abnormal nor a sign of weakness: The capacity to be afraid is part of normal brain function. In fact, a lack of fear may be a sign of serious brain damage.2. Fear comes in many shades.Fear is an inherently unpleasant experience that can range from mild to paralyzing—from anticipating the results of a medical checkup, to hearing news of a deadly terrorist attack. Horrifying events can leave a permanent mark on your brain circuitry, which may require professional help. However, chronic stress, the low-intensity variety of fear expressed as free-floating anxiety, constant worry, and daily insecurity, can quietly but seriously harm your physical and mental health over time. 3. Fear is not as automatic as you think.Fear is part instinct, part learned, part taught. Some fears are instinctive: Pain, for example, causes fear instinctively because of its implications for survival. Other fears are learned: We learn to be afraid of certain people, places, or situations because of negative associations and past experiences. A near-drowning incident, for example, may cause fear each time you get close to a body of water. Other fears are taught: Cultural norms often dictate whether something should be feared or not. Think, for example, about how certain social groups are feared and persecuted because of a societally-created impression that they are dangerous.4. You don’t need to be in danger to be scared.Fear is also part imagined, and so it can arise in the absence of something scary. In fact, because our brains are so efficient, we begin to fear a range of stimuli that are not scary (conditioned fear) or not even present (anticipatory anxiety). We get scared because of what we imagine could happen. Some neuroscientists claim that humans are the most fearful creatures on the planet because of our ability to learn, think, and create fear in our minds. But this low-grade, objectless fear can turn into chronic anxiety about nothing specific, and become debilitating.5. The more scared you feel, the scarier things will seem.Through a process called potentiation, your fear response is amplified if you are already in a state of fear. When you are primed for fear, even harmless events seem scary. If you are watching a documentary about venomous spiders, a tickle on your neck (caused by, say, a loose thread in your sweater) will startle you and make you jump out of your seat in terror. If you are afraid of flying, even the slightest turbulence will push your blood pressure through the roof of the plane. And the more worried you are about your job security, the more you will sweat it when your boss calls you in for even an uneventful meeting.6. Fear dictates the actions you take.Actions motivated by fear fall into four types—freeze, fight, flight, or fright. Freeze means you stop what you are doing and focus on the fearful stimulus to decide what to do next (e.g., you read a memo that your company will be laying off people). Next, you choose either fight or flight. You decide whether to deal with the threat directly (tell your boss why you shouldn’t be laid off) or work around it (start looking for another job). When the fear is overwhelming, you experience fright: You neither fight nor flee; in fact, you do nothing—well, you obsess about the layoffs, ruminate, complain, but you take no action. Being continuously in fright mode can lead to hopelessness and depression.7. The more real the threat, the more heroic your actions.We react differently to real and imagined threats. Imagined threats cause paralysis. Being scared about all the bad things that may or may not happen in the future makes you worry a lot but take little action. You are stuck in a state of fear, overwhelmed but not knowing what to do. Real threats, on the other hand, cause frenzy. When the threat is imminent and identifiable, you jump to action immediately and without flinching. This is why people are much more likely to change their eating habits after a serious health scare (e.g., a heart attack) than after just reading statistics about the deleterious effect of a diet based on fried foods. If you want to mobilize your troops, you have to put yourself in danger.1. What is fear?2. Describe "fight or flight" response.3. What is anxiety?4. What is the key difference between fear and anxiety?5. What role does fear play in human evolution?6. What are 5 possible categories of fear?7. What explains the top five fears found by Chapman University?8. How can the amount of fear someone has indicate brain damage?9. What is potentiation?10. Short answer (2 paragraphs) Looking at the top fears do you think that they are truly life threatening for you or those who live in this area? Explain your response and give the things that should be feared if you thought those given do not apply. ................
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