Topic Tuesday / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid? **Closed**

[NikNik]

 Hi everyone,

There have been a lot of discussion about ‘fear’ in the Forums lately; what impacts, good or bad, it’s had on our lives and questions about how to manage it. So what better way to bring together our collective tips and advice for each other than to revolve tonight's topic around the emotion?!

Tonight we are focusing on ‘Fear’. There is a wide spectrum of different types of fear – so we may not get to everything tonight, but what I’m hoping we can get to tonight is giving a brief overview of ‘fear’, talk about our own individual experiences with fear, talk about some strategies to manage ‘fear’ and try and apply it to our own individual situations.

So to start off lets look at what fear is from a physiological and psychological perspective.

Fear is a primal instinct that served us as cave dwellers and today.  It keeps us alive, because if we survive a bad experience, we never forget how to avoid it in the future. 

Our most vivid memories are born in Fear. Adrenaline embeds them into our brains. 

Today, fear still hovers around us, silently monitoring our environments. As sensory information enters the brain, it splits into two paths. One feeds into consciousness, where we can observe and remember it. The other flows through the subconscious, where a region in the brain called the amygdala filters it for signs of danger. When a match is found, the amygdala can trigger an automatic response so quickly that we might respond before we're consciously aware that there's a problem.

So back in day fear kept us safe, gave us almost 'super human' skills to fight or flee, to manage threats like lions, tigers and bears (oh my!).

But now, those threats mostly don't exist... so we have to find a way to recognise what fear is and create strategies to manage our physical and psychological responses.

[NikNik]

Like any other emotion, there is a spectrum of the intensity of fear.

Healthy fear – You’re driving and a child steps out in front of you. Fear will help your physical reaction.

Nerves – Typically described as ‘butterflies’ can help you focus in on what you’re trying to do – ie: public speaking – the nerves can help you hone in and focus on what you’re trying to do and typically disappear when you’re under taking the task

Then there is a leavel of intense fear which prevents us from doing things that we want to do. When you notice this, it’s important to speak to someone about it. Some of the conditions could be:

Panic disorder

Phobias (eg: social, agoraphobia)

General Anxiety Disorder

Post traumatic stress

Tonight we are going to keep things quite general and won’t be delving specifically into diagnosis, but you are welcome to share your experiences with these specific conditions.

[NikNik]

So lets look at the physiological response we have to fear –

(resource:

• Blood and oxygen is directed to the big muscles in the arms and legs to mobilize a person to fight or flee.

• Oxygen is needed to prepare a person to move and increases respiration so the heart pumps faster to get the oxygen to the major limbs.

• Since blood is going more to the arms and legs, other areas not needed for immediate survival, like the skin, hands, feet, and the gastrointestinal system, shut down.

• When there is less blood flow to these areas cold, tingles in the extremities, and numbness may be experienced (even chills or hot flashes in some people). Since the stomach shuts down, stomach problems involving digestion and stomach acid are very common.

• As a person heats up due to increased oxygen and heart rate, sweating occurs

• Pupils dilate to increase the visual field, producing visual changes that some people misinterpret as a sign of something wrong.

• As the body gears up to fight or flee (or to engage in high activity) an imbalance is created when the high activity does not take place. The oxygen is in excess of what is really needed, producing symptoms of lightheadedness, dizziness, feeling unreal, and blurred vision.

• When the moment of truth arrives, emotion vanishes. It's only later, when the threat has passed, that the knees go weak and the trembling begins.

(reference: psychcentral.com/)

What physical reactions do you notice in yourself?

[soul]

I have experienced chest pain. I thought I was having heart problems until I realised it was because of anxiety.

[simply_me]

Just to clarify - what is the difference between fear and anxiety.  The reason I ask this is that all of the symptoms you have outlined here - are virtually the same as those which I experience when my anxiety levels are rising.

[Eagle]

The way my body reacts is the first big red flashing warning light!

Sometimes I'm not even aware of it though.. I go RED! and not just flush... I literally look like the big red flashing warning light...

[Eagle]

Hi @simply_me

All those symptoms are a normal reaction to a threat. I would be concerned if you found that your fear was preventing you from enjoying life - doing every day things and/or interfering with basic functioning.

So some people will have a HUGE phobia of spiders, for example, which is a form of anxiety, but they choose to not get it treated or seek professional advice because it's not interfering with their every day life (until a spider is found on the wall!) but it's not interfering with their quality of life.

Does that help?

[simply_me]

Sorry - I've just noticed your previous post NikNik

[happygirl]

If I weren't afraid I'd stand up to my mother when she judges me and puts me down. I would not clam up or run in fright. I would find it easier to set boundaries with her and have her stick to them.

[greenspace]

I sometimes feel nausea and think I might throw up if I'm really freaking out about something - even something like sending an email that I am worried about