The word “panic” has experienced significant change throughout its history, in a multitude of ways. Its meaning and form have developed according to changing social contexts over the years, shifting the perception and concept of the word. Originating from the 17th-century English word "Panich," panic attacks are sudden feelings of anxiety or fear often associated with stressful environments. Early usage a response to threat and fear, similar to ancient Greek mythology's depiction of Pan. By the 18th century, its meaning changed, becoming synonymous with feelings of anxiety related to finance and investment issues. This shift reflects the volatile economic landscape at that time, which was marked by periods of speculation and insecurity. Now …show more content…
The original meaning of panic took place in the 17th century, where the spelling was “panich”. An example of how it was used was “The panich soir mead the most pairt of themes flie the toun.”(Oxford University Press). Although spelled differently, this word still means a sudden feeling of alarm or fear. English spelling was a lot less standardized in the past than today, and words would often be spelled phonetically based on how they sounded when spoken aloud. When introduced into English, "panich" was written phonetically to better approximate its pronunciation and keep its correlation with Greek …show more content…
Firstly, it gives an outlook on the instincts and emotional responses seen in human nature. The concept of panic illuminates how individuals react to sudden danger or threat, shedding light on the psychological and physiological mechanisms underlying feelings such as anxiety and fear. Throughout history, psychologists and researchers have been able to study the word panic and gain valuable insight into how individuals perceive and respond to certain stressors. This gives the ability to create strategies for managing and coping with anxiety-related disorders. In addition, the word "panic" carries cultural and historical significance as it reflects constantly changing societal attitudes and contexts over time. Its evolution from ancient Greek mythology to modern-day usage details shifts in social or economic ways. By examining the historical usage of panic, historians and sociologists can track the impact of various events and phenomena, whether it’s from financial crises to anxiety-raised disasters, in a collective
Hysteria has no place in a society because it is wrong. It causes chaos and confusion and in these cases death.
The Scientific Context of the Word Chaos In a scientific context, the word chaos has a slightly different
"Culture of Fear" is a book that describes that it is our perceptions that dangers have increased, and so much the actual level of risk. Glassner explains in all of his chapters how people and organizations use our fears as a way to increase their profit. Glassner also states about the prices we pay for our panics and all the time and energy we spend worrying. Americans are afraid because of the media's broadband expose of crime, violence, drugs and diseases.
Hysteria is characterized as an uncontrollable outburst of emotion or fear, often characterized by irrationality. Wherever hysteria takes place, it seems to condone distortion of the truth, unfathomable actions, and illogical accusations causing communities to rip apart. Hysteria supplants logic and enables people to believe that their neighbors, whom they grown to trust, do things that one would normally find anomalous. People who died in the haste of fear and uncertainty were often unnecessary because fear clouds the judgment and perception of a person.
Panic disorder- sudden intense and unprovoked feelings of terror and dread. People who suffer from this disorder generally develop strong fears about when and where their next panic attack will occur, and often restrict their activities as a result.
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
Mass hysteria spreads rapidly when large numbers of people are overwhelmed with emotions, paranoia, and stress. They experience an uncontrollable panic, where abnormal
The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. It is inevitable to have ups and downs in everyday life; however, to fear or not to fear, the person is in control. In John Connolly’s novel, The Book of Lost Things, people who arrive in Elsewhere all bring their own fears, and those fears color the events for everyone who lives there. First of all, people can become a better version of themselves once they overcome their own fears. Yet fear can sometimes impact people negatively, as it is often a weed growing over the roots of kindness. However, the fear of fear is the most dangerous kind of all because it is the basis of anxiety and panic attacks. Every character in The Book of Lost Things must face their fears at some point, but how they go about it makes all the difference.
“Nervousness seeps into terror as I anticipate what is to come. I could be dead, flat-out dead, in an hour” (pg. 146). As America today many people suffer of terror because it has become very violent that people think that it’s not safe to even be outside because they are worried that their children can be kidnapped or shot, knowing that there are many drive byes everywhere.
As Elia Kazan said, “Whatever hysteria exists is inflamed by mystery, suspicion and secrecy. Hard and exact facts will cool it”. (Kazan 1) Past occurrences of hysteria have repeatedly shown that there’s typically a cause to the mob mentality. One instance of mass hysteria occurred with the outbreak of dancing in Strasbourg, France in 1518; it resulted in several deaths, and panic within the community, and an ongoing medical mystery.
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.’
If you are in a life or death situation, every decision you make stacks the odds either for or against you. Once you make a few bad decisions, you realize that your chances for survival are getting slimmer and slimmer. As this fact settles into your conscious mind, it produces panic. Panic is what happens when the brain can't handle the information it is given. Panic takes over rationality, and as a result, you do and say things that are uncharacteristic of you. Panic destroys your self confidence.
The three relationships that the article makes between elites and panic is very true. Elites fearing panic is always seen in real life and movies. They think that if the public finds out about what’s going on it will cause mass hysteria and evacuations. Such as the case in the article with Three Mile Island. The scientists and workers at the plant were trying to keep the situation under raps so not to cause mass evacuation because, also as mentioned in the article is that the panic and hysteria from the public can cause more damage and death than the actual disaster itself. The second relationship that elites can actually cause panic is also true. If there is one thing I learned from watching disaster movies and tv and seen in real life during
Such as 'ecological disaster, nuclear war or the ravaging of humainity by as yet unanticipated scourges' (Giddens, 1991. p 183). Those who spend all their time worrying about such things are not considered normal yet they are sources of anxiety (Giddens, 1991). Among other things there is awarness of high consequence risks and the notion that 'things go wrong' (Giddens, 1991. P182) are going to cause anxiety in every day life.
The moment that an individual encounters a life threatening event many people go into panic mode and don’t know what to do. John Leach is a military survival instructor and his research proved, “He (John Leach) has found that in life-threatening situations, around 75% of people are so bewildered by the situation that they are unable to think clearly or plot their escape” (Bond). With people being unable to think clearly they make mistakes when trying to escape and can lead to the downfall of others during escape. Remaining calm is an important thing to do to make sure that an individual can think of a clear route to safety. People can’t think of the concept of death and are obsessed with the fact of death which is portrayed with many news reports.