Fear: A Human Experience of Terror, Distress, & Paralysis - Essay Sample

Introduction

Fear is a complex phenomenon considering the uniqueness of the human being and the infinity of psychological factors capable of triggering it. The relevance of this essay is because it covers a topic that emerges in conversation circles in all age groups and can, in a way, negatively imply social interaction (Curby et al., 2019). Fear is an emotion that terrifies, paralyzes, prevents, and distresses, often presenting itself as a complaint in the offices of psychologists and psychoanalysts.

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There are several forms of fear; unusual, declared, and hidden, which exist and are increasingly being addressed in studies and research. The most common include the fear of driving, fear of dying, fear of cockroaches, fear of haunting, fear of aging, etc. This paper addresses the theme of fear, its implications, psychic consequences in people’s daily lives and their psychological implications. Based on this aspect, bibliographic collections and published scientific articles were reviewed for data that will corroborate and enrich the studies on fear. The psychological view will also be emphasized with a psychoanalytical approach to unconscious issues that trigger signs and symptoms of fear from simple to pathological.

Understanding the Concept of Fear

Fear is a normal, universal, necessary and adaptive emotion that all individuals experience when faced with certain stimuli, both real and imaginary. Children throughout their development suffer and experience numerous fears: of separation, strangers, loud noises, darkness, being alone, animals, school etc. Most of these fears will be passive and will not represent any problem; they will go appearing and disappearing depending on age and psychoneurological development. These fears, through learning, will be very useful on many occasions because they can help cope appropriately and adaptively to difficult, complicated, and dangerous or threatening situations that may arise throughout their lives.

The fundamental function of fear is to protect individuals of possible damages generating emotions that will be part of its continuous evolution and development. For instance, the child should not be afraid of the slides, for example, but they should be cautious when lowering them and playing on them. Therefore, it will be not only normal but also necessary for children to experience specific and real fears in situations, objects and thoughts that imply danger or real threat, thus avoiding taking potential unnecessary risks that could jeopardize their life, health or their physical or psychological well-being (Levine et al., 2018).

According to You and Li (2016), fear presents itself in scales until its inactivation, that is, it gradually takes on a proportion until the individual has his feelings and emotions stabilized, dividing into five phases according to the degree of extension and immensity, they are Panic; Inertia; Striving; Coping and Actualization (Tannenbaum et al., 2015). According to Callaghan et al. (2019), fear is not a pathological emotion, but something universal for superior animals and man. Fear is a state of progressive insecurity and anguish, growing impotence and disability, in the face of the imminent impression that something will happen that we wanted to avoid and that we progressively consider ourselves less able to do (Callaghan et al. 2019).

The Biopsychological Understanding of the Emotion of Fear

Neuroscientific studies reveal that there is a part of the brain devoted almost exclusively to fear. The neocortex evaluates the messages that come to it from the other two areas of the brain (the brainstem and the amygdala) and “calms” the body’s most primitive responses. This biology of fear forms a psychobiological framework in which the mind and body are united through the emotional history that shapes and accompanies people’s lives (Mobbs et al., 2019).

The biological framework through which fears runs is the most primitive, the brain stem. This entity is the oldest, the first to form, and the first part of the brain that evolved in animals, a hundred million years ago. This brain, called the reptilian brain, contains and relates to the most primitive, most instinctual fears, incapable of higher thinking. Therefore it is not capable of processing complex emotions, nor can it have glimpses of a more elaborate and so much more complete. This more ancient system is related to the most primitive fear, with simple emotions such as the fear-flight reaction, the most visceral and therefore less complex reaction.

Accompanying this system is an area where fear is stored; the amygdala. This zone is located in the second zone of the brain to evolve, the mammalian brain. The amygdala is like a memory center of fear; it stores the memories of all the painful experiences lived, of threat or danger. It becomes an authentic abode of memories that are updated almost constantly by human experiences that connect directly with the amygdala, from where the emotion to individual experiences is printed. Tonsil reactions directly connect with the action part of the fear system, the endocrine glands, which produce hormones whose functions, among others, is to protect people from danger and ensure survival. The main ones are epinephrine, norepinephrine and cortisol. The hormones, therefore, protect individuals, giving them tools to fight against the physical or mental adversary.

The fear emotion has specific characteristics. When people are afraid, dizziness appears, a tingling sensation, dry mouth, a shaking body, the muscles become rigid, a sensation of paralysis, a lump feeling in the throat, shortness of breath, more accelerated heart rhythm, sweating, and gastrointestinal changes (Shafir, Tsachor, & Welch, 2016). After being afraid, it is natural to feel enormous fatigue, characteristic of those who have been struggling for a few moments. As the fear increases, it is natural for negative thoughts to begin to appear. For example: “I am terrible”; “I can’t react”. In terms of behavior, when individuals are afraid, the tendency is to focus on symptoms, and “attention” is the best friend of fear, causing it to increase. For example, a panic attack is often caused by the thought: “I’m going to have a panic attack”. For some people the fight-flight response is more easily activated, and at times when it was not desirable, causing a blockage. The behavior changes due to anxiety; it can be a behavior of escape, or avoidance, or even aggressiveness.

A fear can arise in two ways; the first, very suddenly, in the face of a traumatic situation, for example, going through a case of dismissal, an individual can become afraid of any higher assessment. On the other hand, fear can be installed slowly and progressively, for example, for someone who had their mother always warning of the danger of traveling by car and always very anxious when driving, the fear of driving may develop.

The way the human body reacts to emotions is biological; that is, it is innate. In the brain, the amygdala is responsible for guarding emotional memories; that is, specific bodily reactions triggered by a danger signal (Celeghin et al., 2017). The prefrontal cortex is responsible for conceptual memory, that is, it stores memories in an organized, logical and rational way. The problem is that the amygdala is faster than the prefrontal cortex, so it is often not understood yet because one is afraid (prefrontal cortex) and they already feel it (amygdala). Another problem is that the amygdala does not distinguish stimuli well, so if, for example, if an individual was assaulted by a man dressed in dark blue, they can become afraid of any man who is dressed in dark blue, and they may not even understand why (pre- front). What happens is a generalization of fear, for example, the tendency to have more fears has a genetic and biological origin, that is, when there is a genetic characteristic, the environment must provide conditions for fear to develop. For example, if the mother has a phobia of snakes, the genetic trait may have passed on to the child, but the child will only be afraid of snakes if this fear is learned in their family and social environment.

Emotions, as well as fear, can be adaptive or non-adaptive, and they can be pleasant or unpleasant (Garfinkel & Critchley, 2016). For example, the fear of acting on a stage can be non-adaptive, blocking itself, preventing the person from performing, or it can be adaptive if it helps the person better prepare for a performance. Adaptive fear is essential to human survival. If it does not exist, for example, the person crosses the street without realizing whether or not a car is coming and is in danger of being run over. In this sense, adaptive fear is protective and moves people to do something to increase or protect their well-being (Mobbs et al., 2019). Despite being unpleasant, fear can help. Making an analogy, when talking about physical pain, although unpleasant and sometimes very conditioning, it is easy to understand its adaptive sense. When there is a problem with the body, fear signals it with pain; if there was no pain, it was impossible to know if there is a physical pathology. The same goes for adaptive fear; it serves for the body to signal any danger or discomfort. For example, in couple relationships, fear may be the first sign that the relationship is not balanced. If there is any abuse or imbalance in the relationship, the person must be attentive to its symptoms in the body of fear, to protect itself.

Thus, it is essential to learn to listen to the body, as it, through bodily sensations, will communicate, with adaptive fear, the need to move to protect itself. Listening to the body makes it possible to identify the first signs of fear and regulate the emotion before the fear becomes non-adaptive and causes a blockage, at which point emotional regulation is more difficult.

To transform a non-adaptive fear into an adaptive fear, there are two essential tools, emotional regulation and exposure. Emotional regulation is essential to tolerate the discomfort caused by fear and also to regulate any fear that is excessive in relation to the real danger. On the other hand, exposure is the best way to face non-adaptive fear. When individuals are exposed to situations they are afraid of, starting with the simplest ones, they reduce the fear reaction and learn that the situation does not represent as much danger as it seemed at the beginning.

Conclusion

Fear is the human body’s response to danger, so it is the ability to be alert. Emotions are for the human body to communicate any change or instability. When it comes to the immediate response of fear, it is called a fight-flight reaction. In this type of response, the body is ready for action. Today with the life system that people lead, they walk inexorably to the exhaustion of this defensive system, this fear system, listening to this system of the reptilian brain, its companion the amygdala. Fortunately, the neocortex, which is the last part that develops in the womb evaluates the messages that come to it from the other two areas of the brain and attempts to offer a solution, a way out. These messages that come from this most evolved area of the brain take an evolutionary leap making individuals feel that they are protected. They are messages of comfort and security that help in human growth and evolution, offering a moment of inner silence where nothing else exists.

References

Callaghan, B., Meyer, H., Opendak, M., Van Tieghem, M., Harmon, C., Li, A., ... & Tottenham, N. (2019). Using a developmental ecology framework to align fear neurobiology across species. Annual review of clinical psychology, 15, 345-369.

Curby, K. M., Smith, S. D., Moerel, D., & Dyson, A. (2019). The cost of f...