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Recommended: On the Concepts of Fear
Fear is a physiological response to perceived danger. The perception of danger may be conditioned by genetics and a person’s previous experiences. In a life or death situation it can be an essential response to overcome extreme conditions when there is no time for rationalisation. However, in an advanced society, for adults under most circumstances the fear response is not beneficial. More so it can be detrimental, as in fear of dogs, fear of public speaking, or fear of falling for example. An initial bad experience or the bad experience of others can lead to an association of fear with all instances of a particular situation or entity. Fear of falling reduces the quality of life for elderly people. Recent studies have separately investigated …show more content…
In this case it may be worth making a pharmacologic intervention to help them overcome their fear. Merel Kindt and Marieke Soeter from Biomedical Science centers in The Netherlands conducted a human trial of the β-blocker propranolol to determine whether it could prevent the recall of a fear memory. Thirty equal ratio male and female participants were trained to fear a specific stimulus by showing them the stimulus and then applying an electric shock. The control group received the stimulus but no electric shock. One day later the participants received 40mg of either propranolol (can pass through the blood-brain barrier) or nadolol (cannot pass through the blood brain barrier). The participants were then presented with the fear stimulus and followed by eye-blink startle reflex to a loud noise by electromyography (EMG). The group of people who received propranolol but not nadolol showed a significant decrease in startle fear responses to the stimulus. It is possible that this protocol could be applied to elderly people extremely limited by fear of falling. For example, they could take propranolol the night to reduce their fear of falling before going out the next day. This would require additional human trials in order to
Fear is an everyday emotion that the human race must face, and it can bring out the best and worst of us, but its how we choose to deal with it that truly defines us.
Through a lifespan, people will endure many stressful events and experiences. The severity of these events easily overwhelm them and as a result they will let their emotions overshadow sensible decisions. When in such an emotional state, it is common that people make impulsive decisions based off their feelings, but, this could lead to permanent consequences. Of the numerous emotions, fear predominantly is seen in times of crisis. Fear can be defined as, “An emotion of uneasiness that arises as a normal response to perceived threat that may be real or imagined” (Adamec). Fear may arise from a confrontation or from avoiding a threat, or it may come in the form of a discovery. Fear is often a direct result of one being scared due to a crisis
Pitman, R. K., Milad, M. R., Igoe, S. A., Vangel, M. G., Orr, S. P., Tsareva, A., & ... Nader, K. (2011). Systemic mifepristone blocks reconsolidation of cue-conditioned fear; Propranolol prevents this effect. Behavioral Neuroscience, 125(4), 632-638. doi:10.1037/a0024364
Change your response to the fear as you confront it. You can, for instance, learn to laugh at your fear. This is what comedian Kevin Hart learned to do, and he became
Fear has become omnipresent in society generating conflicts such as anxiety. Professor of clinical psychiatry and director of the psychopharmacology clinic, Richard A. Friedman, in his article, “A Drug to Cure Fear”, argues that the elimination of pathological anxiety with the use of drugs is possible by altering painful emotional memories. He builds his credibility with reputable sources, citing statistics, researches and conveying his knowledge of the subject. He adopts an erudite tone in order to appear optimistic and informed about the possibility that a single drug could cure fear for individuals with fear or neuroscience specialist’s readers. Friedman’s purpose is to persuade and prove his claim through ethos, pathos and logos.
This has been going on from the start of humanity. Fear comes from within the conscious and that is inevitable; there are many things that are frightening to us humans. A lot of these fears are learned through experiences growing up. I’ve always wondered what happened to someone to have such a strong irrational fear. The number of phobias are highly increasing, 2017 has been recorded as the highest amount of phobias diagnosis(Phobias 1). We teach ourselves these things without even realizing it, until we have already encrypted the phobia into our minds. There are many studies today trying to understand the development of these phobias. Having phobias can have a massive interruption of daily routines, limit productiveness, create low self-esteem, and place a strain on relationships with families or friends because people will avoid the
...6. Generalization from the original phobic stimulus to stimuli of a similar nature will occur; 7. Noxious experiences which occur under conditions of excessive confinement are more likely to produce phobic reactions; 8. Neutral stimuli which are associated with a noxious experience, may develop motivating properties. This acquired drive is termed the fear drive; 9. Responses (such as avoidance) which reduce the fear drive are reinforced; 10. Phobic reactions can be acquired vicariously (Rachman 31). These theories are used to identify how people obtain phobias and other situations that may occur with phobias.
In the words of Bertrand Russell, “Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom” (Russell). Fear causes many problems in our lives. Fear influences many of a person’s actions and decisions. However, people usually regret the decisions or actions they made out of fear. Also, these actions and decisions can cause problems for those people in their future. Fear is a harmful emotion, for it clouds people’s judgement, disables them from taking action, and causes them to make decisions that they will regret later.
In order to treat the fear you must treat it with relaxation while in the presence of the feared situation. The first step in Wolpe’s study was to focus on relaxing your body. He recommended a process that involves tensing and relaxing various groups of muscles until a deep state of relaxation is achieved (Wolpe,264). The second stage was to develop a list of anxiety-producing situations that are associated with the phobia. The list would descend with from the least uncomfortable situation to the most anxiety producing event you can imagine. The number of events can vary from 5 to 20 or more. The final step is to desensitize, which is the actual “unlearning” of the phobia. Wolpe told his patients that no actual contact with the fear is necessary, and that the same effectiveness can be accomplished through descriptions and visualizations(Wolpe,265). Wolpe’s participants are told to put themselves in a state of relaxation which they are taught. Then, the therapist begins reading the first situation on the hierarchy they have made up. If the patient stays relaxed through the first situation the therapist continues to the next until the state of relaxation is broken. If they feel a slight moment of anxiety they are to raise their index finger until the state of relaxation is restored. The average number
One of the characteristics of a phobia is a feeling that is greater than the fear of a situation or object with an exaggeration of the danger associated with the said situation or even object. This persistent fear often leads to an anxiety disorder that leads an individual to develop mechanisms that ensure one avoids the object or situation that triggers the occurrence of the phobia. Phobias can have highly debilitating effects on an individual including the development of depression, isolation, substance abuse, and even suicide. Many people take phobia for granted however, it is clear that it has the potential to impair the quality of life for both the affected and the people around them. The fact that many of the phobias are manageable using
One method is to first, acknowledge what your fear is. Sometimes, a stimulus can make a person feel fear but they are not sure what they are afraid of. Then, a person should define its contours. This means to know things like when the fear began, what triggers your fear, how the fear affects you, is the source of your fear actually dangerous, and so much more. Last, a person should imagine the outcome they desire with their fear.
This paper is focused on how fear as a subject is being perceived by many as a dominant and primitive human emotion. An uncontrollable energy that’s exists and created within every individual, which is directed towards an object or a given situation that does not present an actual danger. The individual then analyzes that the fear is contradictory and thus cannot help the reaction. Gradually, the phobia aims to build up and aggravate as the fear of fear response takes hold. Eventually they distinguish their fear responses as negative, and go out of their way to avoid those reactions. ‘Fear is derived as a basic feeling and therefore created by us – it is not something we have, but something we do. The principle of fear is to keep us safe.’
From a younger age to now, many people continue to suffer from different fears, phobias, and anxiety disorders but most hide their darkest fears with their unshareable secrets to refrain from the unavoidable comments. Fear is a human feeling that is activated by an apparent danger; it is a fundamental survival system that flags our bodies to react to fear with a battle or flight reaction. Sights, sounds and other logical subtle elements of fear occasionally may bring back the memory, similar to a triggering effect. These may be triggered by a past event, so the brain may consider the sounds to be an indicator of danger.
In addition, an unfamiliar environment is also one of the reason for fear to arise as the fear of strangeness is part of human’s nature. The reaction of people respond to the fear with the physiological reactions such as shaking, acceleration of heartbeat rate or tension of muscles is called the Fight-or-Flight response (Humphrey, 2003). In the studies of fear, phycologist has pointed out a few efficient ways to overcome the emotion of fear. The very common way to overcome the fear is to have courage and face the fear (Rachman, 1984). Most of the people tends to behave timidly and try their best to avoid the things that they fear because they do not have the courage to face it or even think of a way to overcome it.
We all have our fears, rather it be flying or driving. However, when a phobia is present the individual has extreme irrational fears that interfere with their quality of life. For example a fear of heights may limit an individuals living or employment choices. If this individual is offered the job of a lifetime, however, the office is located on the twentieth floor; they will refuse the job due to the fear of heights.