fear There is no such person in the world who would neverdid not feel fear. Even the bravest and courageous man is something, but afraid from time to time. It can be different, and therefore not always we even realize that we are afraid of something. And in order to defeat him, we must first understand what fear is and why we need it at all. In other words, only knowing what the psychology of fear is, you can find effective weapons against it.

Why are people afraid?

Fear is a natural instinctivereaction to a real or imaginary threat. We express it and perceive it as an emotional reaction to some objects or situations. This is one of the most important emotions experienced by us, as well as animals that have a highly developed nervous system. Fear is the expression of our instinct for self-preservation and is necessary in order to serve as a warning signal about the present danger and instability and to urge us to face the threat (or, preferring to save life or health, try to avoid it). In nature, intimidation is used by male animals to establish their own dominance over other individuals, subordinating them to themselves (I must say that men also use this method to establish their own dominant, even if they do not realize this). More often than not, we experience fear at the instinctive level: we manage to get frightened earlier than we realize the reason for this. The experience of suffering and pain of each person with the help of fear teaches the latter to find ways to defend against undesirable situations, as well as from the memories associated with them. We experience fear both physically (this is manifested by intermittent breathing, rapid heartbeat, cold sweat, tense muscles), and psychologically. And if we compare one with another, the psychological experience of fear is more problematic, because it can be caused by a reason that is not really existing, but only in our imagination; and in the end such a far-fetched panic causes a strong effect in our body. In a sense, the fear that arises in our minds is the primary reason for the appearance of fear, which we feel at the physiological level; that is, one fear is capable of giving rise to another, equally strong fear. Our fear mixes with other feelings and emotions in our minds so strongly that the solution of the task to combat our deep-seated fears may seem to us too complex and time-consuming. Such is the psychology of fear - we are not only afraid of something, but also afraid to even fight our own fright. fears

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, primarily aimed at self-preservation. The horror of a person before the unknown, before the dangers, and his vulnerability, if he remained alone, caused the emergence of communities and eventually led to a civilized life. In former times, various leaders and rulers ruled their subjects, using the fear of people before the authorities and before God - the most effective tool for controlling the masses. Fear of punishment and public condemnation continue to be the main deterrent factors, without which the maintenance of law and order in modern society would not be possible. Fear dominates all emotions. And indeed, everyone knows firsthand what fear is. Most of the thoughts and actions of man are dictated precisely by fear. There is no exaggeration in that we spend our entire lives trying to cope with our fears. Having set such a goal, it is easy to see that our successes and achievements, our behavior and reactions, our relationships and interactions, control the anxiety and fear hidden deep inside us. Depending on how to react to it, fear can act as a destabilizing or motivating factor in a person's life.

Manifestations of fear

Each person's fear manifests itself in different ways. He is responsible for personality disorders and deviations in people's behavior. As a rule, fear gives rise to accompanying problems: anxiety and nervousness, panic attacks, tension, uncertainty, inferiority complex, shyness, shyness, indecision, lack of initiative and so on. A constant fear of something causes a negative reaction and heavy emotions, such as low self-esteem, neurosis, inadequacy, conformism, aggression. Fearing something, people tend to avoid colliding with the problems that their fear carries with them, and they begin to lie, create delays, make all kinds of claims to others. Sometimes fear can manifest itself as aggression - it is a subconscious defensive reaction to something that causes a person emotional discomfort, fear and insecurity. Aggressive people are, as a rule, very timid, if not to say - cowardly personalities.

Types of fears

There is a simple fear that most of usexperiences in our daily lives, and there are fears more intense, which are caused by extreme conditions and situations that put us at risk or intense instability. There is another kind of fear - phobia. Phobia is a deep, persistent and irrational fear of individual objects or situations, based on our past and depending on the current reality. Some examples of phobias - fear of darkness, crowded places, heights, spiders, fear of enclosed space - you can enumerate endlessly. Our attachments can also give rise to fear. The opportunity to lose what we like, and the prospect of dealing with what we do not like, produce a sense of anxiety, fear and pain. When we are attached to our memories, we can not enjoy the present and fear the future. Anxiety, arising from our awareness of time as a linear movement, causes us fear of the permanent aging of our bodies, illnesses and death, and often there is not only the fear of our own death, but also a mad alarm for close people. Fear does not know the age limits. We experience various fears at different stages of our life. Time passes, we leave behind some fears and acquire new ones. And sometimes we come across the fact that fear takes on its extreme form - a 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 affect the appearance 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.

what is fear

How to cope with your fears

Yes, the psychology of fear is based on ourinstincts - it is a response to perceived threat, it is real or imaginary. Yes, its purpose is to be a protective mechanism for saving us from the dangers of life. At the same time, fears can intervene in our lives and to a large extent limit our ability to realize our goals. But we can learn to live confidently, by making conscious efforts to overcome fears. We can control 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 you learn how you can react to the inherent fears, help break the habitual stereotype of thinking associated with our fears. And when we again find ourselves in a situation that frightens us, we will have a choice: to give our emotions to take control over us or keep our self-control so that fears cease to have power over us. A very interesting technology for fighting fears is practiced by Tibetan monks. If we tried to translate into the language we understand the "instruction" of this technology, then we would have: "Give yourself to eat fear, and you will expel your demons from yourself." The essence of this method boils down to the following: a monk plunges into some kind of meditation, and begins to imagine what he is very much afraid of. He tries to visualize all his horror, and at the same time draws in his imagination how he gives himself to the full power of his fear. The monk imagines the worst that could happen to him. When the visualization procedure ends, he comes to his senses and ceases to be afraid of what used to terrify him. After experiencing an extreme degree of panic, he stabilizes his consciousness and releases his fears. We too can gain control over our fears by practicing this kind of visualization. For this, you do not have to walk around the cemetery, for example, if you are afraid of such places. You can do this without leaving home, right here and now. You can practice this technique in any situation, no matter what you are. Bring in the imagination bright images of objects and situations in which you experience horror, and try to build the script so that eventually everything develops in your favor. This will help you learn new ways to escape from terrible situations. You can also use visualization to change your thinking and attitude to your fears. Just draw in your imagination scenes that cause your worst fears, and imagine that you are bravely overcoming them and becoming the winner. So you will make your subconscious believe that you were able to overcome your fears. And you can really make them disappear by the power of your own thought! We advise you to read:

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