There is no person in the world who wouldnever experienced fear. Even the bravest and most courageous person is afraid of something from time to time. It can be different, and therefore we do not always even realize that we are afraid of something. And in order to overcome it, we must first understand what fear is and why we need it at all. In other words, only by knowing the psychology of fear can we find an effective weapon against it.

Why are people afraid?

Fear is a natural instincta reaction to a real or imaginary threat. We express and perceive it as an emotional reaction to some objects or situations. It is one of the most important emotions experienced by us, as well as by animals with a highly developed nervous system. Fear is an expression of our instinct for self-preservation and is necessary to serve as a warning signal about existing danger and instability and to encourage us to meet the threat face to face (or, which is preferable for the purpose of preserving life or health, to try to avoid it). In nature, intimidation is also used by male animals to establish their own dominance over other individuals, subordinating them to themselves (it must be said that men also use this method to establish their own dominance, even if they are not aware of it). Most often, we experience fear on an instinctive level: we manage to get scared before we realize the reason for it. The experience of suffering and pain of each person, with the help of fear, teaches the latter to find ways to defend themselves from unwanted situations, as well as from the memories associated with them. We experience fear both physically (shown by shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, cold sweat, tense muscles) and psychologically. And if we compare the two, the psychological experience of fear is more problematic, since it may not be caused by a real cause, but by one that is only in our imagination; and as a result, such an imaginary panic causes a strong effect in our body as well. In a sense, the fear that arises in our minds is the root cause of the fear that we feel on a physiological level; that is, one fear can give rise to another, no less powerful fear. Our fear mixes with other feelings and emotions in our minds so strongly that the task of fighting our deep-rooted fears may seem too difficult and time-consuming. Such is the psychology of fear - we are not only afraid of something, but also afraid to even fight our own fear.

Fear as the driving force of human evolution

Fear is perhaps the most important factor,responsible for the development of our civilization. Modern human society is the product of our collective efforts, aimed above all at self-preservation. Man's fear of the unknown, of danger, and his vulnerability if left alone, gave rise to communities and eventually led to civilized life. In earlier times, all sorts of leaders and rulers ruled their subjects using people's fear of authority and of God - the most effective instrument for controlling the masses. Fear of punishment and public condemnation continue to be the main restraining factors without which the maintenance of law and order in modern society would not be possible. Fear dominates all emotions. Indeed, everyone knows firsthand what fear is. Most of a person's thoughts and actions are dictated by fear. It is no exaggeration to say that we spend our entire lives trying to cope with our fears. Having set such a goal, it is easy to trace that our successes and achievements, our behavior and reactions, our relationships and interactions are connected and controlled by anxiety and fear hidden deep within us. Depending on how we react to it, fear can act as a destabilizing or motivating factor in a person’s life.

Manifestations of fear

Each person experiences fear differently.It is responsible for personality disorders and deviations in human behavior. As a rule, fear gives rise to related problems: anxiety and nervousness, panic attacks, tension, lack of confidence, inferiority complex, timidity, shyness, indecisiveness, lack of initiative, and so on. Constant fear of something causes a negative reaction and difficult emotions, such as low self-esteem, neurosis, inadequacy, conformism, aggression. When people are afraid of something, they usually try to avoid facing the problems that their fear brings with them, and they begin to lie, create delays, and make all sorts of claims to others. Sometimes fear can manifest itself as aggression - this is a subconscious defensive reaction to something that causes emotional discomfort, fear, and insecurity in a person. Aggressive people are, as a rule, very timid, if not to say cowardly individuals.

Types of fears

There is a simple fear that most ofWe experience fears in our daily lives, and there are more intense fears that are caused by extreme conditions and situations that expose us to danger or intense instability. There is another type of fear - phobias. A phobia is a deep, persistent and irrational fear of specific objects or situations, based on our past and dependent on current reality. Some examples of phobias are fear of the dark, crowded places, heights, spiders, fear of enclosed spaces - the list is endless. Our attachments can also generate fear. The possibility of losing what we like and the prospect of having to deal with what we do not like produce a feeling of anxiety, fear and pain. When we are attached to our memories, we cannot enjoy the present and experience fear of the future. Anxiety, arising from our awareness of time as a linear movement, makes us fear the constant aging of our bodies, illness and death, and often there is not only a fear of our own death, but also a crazy anxiety for loved ones. Fear knows no age limits. We experience different fears at different stages of our lives. Time goes by, we leave behind some fears and acquire new ones. And sometimes we face the fact that fear takes its extreme form - the form of terror, when emotions are used by some people to coerce and control others.

Causes of our fears

While phobias are based on some of our past experiences, the following factors influence the emergence of common fears:

• Extreme situations. People suffer from fear and anxiety when they are exposed to extreme physical irritants, such as severe cold, flood or hostile environments; something that carries with it a danger and a threat to life.
• Ignorance. As a rule, we are worried and do not trust what we do not have any preliminary information about. People are usually afraid of the unknown, inexplicable and unfamiliar.
• Lack of information. When we do not have enough information about an event or situation, we suffer from feelings of anxiety and fear as much as this information is important to us.
• Uncertainty. People who are familiar with the stock market know how much uncertainty affects the volatility of stock prices. Uncertainty causes anxiety and fears, and this is the reason why so many of our contemporaries aspire to all kinds of astrologers and fortunetellers - they just want to feel more comfortable, "knowing" about their future.
• Past experience. Many of our fears are born from experience - our own or other people. If we find ourselves in a situation where we have experienced fear and have not found a way out, then in the future we will repeatedly feel fear in such situations.

How to cope with your fears

Yes, the psychology of fear is based on ourinstincts - it is a response to a perceived threat, whether it is real or imaginary. Yes, its purpose is to be a defense mechanism to save us from the dangers of life. At the same time, fears can interfere with our lives and significantly limit our ability to realize our goals. But we can learn to live confidently by making a conscious effort to overcome fears. We can manage most of them through self-knowledge. We just need to listen to ourselves and understand in what situations our fears arise and what activates them. This knowledge will help us learn how to respond to our inherent fears, will help break the habitual stereotype of thinking associated with our fears. And when we again find ourselves in a situation that scares us, we will have a choice: to let our emotions take control of us or to maintain self-control so that fears cease to have power over us. Tibetan monks practice a very interesting technology for dealing with fears. If we tried to translate the “instructions” of this technology into a language we could understand, we would get: “Give yourself up to fear, and you will drive out its demons.” The essence of this method is as follows: a monk immerses himself in some kind of meditation and begins to imagine what he is very afraid of. He tries to visualize all his horror, and at the same time draws in his imagination how he gives himself up to the complete power of his fear. The monk imagines the worst thing that could happen to him. When the visualization procedure is over, he comes to his senses and stops being afraid of what used to terrify him. Having experienced extreme panic, he stabilizes his consciousness and lets go of his fears. We can also gain control over our fears by practicing similar visualization. To do this, you do not need to walk through a cemetery, for example, if you are afraid of such places. You can do this without leaving your home, right here and now. You can practice this technique in any situation you find yourself in. Visualize vivid images of things and situations that make you feel terrified, and try to build a scenario so that everything works out in your favor. This will help you learn new ways to get out of scary situations. You can also use visualization to change your thinking and attitude toward your fears. Simply picture in your mind the scenes that make you feel your worst fears, and imagine yourself courageously overcoming them and emerging victorious. This will make your subconscious believe that you have overcome your fears. And you can actually make them disappear with the power of your own thought! Recommended reading:

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