The Many Forms Of Fear

Fear is one of the worst feelings a person can experience. The level of discomfort depends on the intensity of the feeling and the context in which it occurs.

In general , anxiety interferes with a person’s daily life, although sometimes it is even impossible for the person to do the things that they normally have to do during the day.

In this article we will try to explain the fundamental aspects of anxiety. If you recognize yourself in any of these aspects, it may be a good idea to seek professional help from a clinical psychologist who specializes in this area.

What is fear?

Anxiety disorders are the most common psychological disorders in the general population. Since it is an extremely broad term, it is good to know how to distinguish the different ways in which it manifests itself. In view of this, we will explain the difference between panic, fear and phobias below.

Anxiety is an emotional response that includes feelings of stress, anxiety, nervousness, and worry that activate the autonomic nervous system. Panic includes the same feelings, but in panic the physical symptoms predominate, while in fear the psychological symptoms predominate.

Where ‘being afraid’ is also associated with identifiable external stimuli, fear occurs without recognizable external threat. Phobias are fears that are out of proportion to what we fear. In general, phobias result in irrational avoidance behavior.

Fear is anticipatory, which makes it a very unpleasant and aggressive feeling. It is cognitive in nature and it is future-oriented, meaning it can occur at any time.

Apart from its own cognitive nature, there is an element of learning that is conducive to the appearance of anxiety. There is also a biological component: in people suffering from anxiety, hyperactivity in the locus coeruleus, an imbalance in the neurotransmitter GABA and differences in the neuronal network between the thalamus and the amygdala are observed.

How does it work?

Anxiety is not a uniform system, but is formed by a threefold system response: the subjective system, the physiological system, and the motor system. These can all occur simultaneously or occur independently of each other.

In general, people experience unpleasant thoughts (the subjective system), which they feel in the body in the form of an irregular heartbeat, dilation of the pupils and shivering and shivering (physiological system). It is also noticeable in their facial expression, their gestures and their avoidant behavior (motor system).

The Symptoms of Anxiety

Anxiety is fundamentally characterized by two general predominant feelings in the people who suffer from it :

• Helplessness: The feeling as if you have lost control, as if there is nothing you can do to avoid the threatening, unpleasant internal and external events.
• Uncertainty: The feeling of not knowing what will happen in the future, which is extremely distressing and causes distress and psychological distress.

Many of its symptoms are similar to those of depression, but many others are not. Some of the most common symptoms that anxiety and depression have in common are characterized by a strong negative influence. These include anxiety, low concentration, irritability, insomnia, fatigue, psychomotor agitation, guilt, and low self-esteem.

The symptoms more specifically related to anxiety are fear, panic, nervousness, avoidant behavior, instability, hypervigilance, perception of threat or danger, high activity of the sympathetic nervous system, etc.

Anxiety is an umbrella for many different syndromes, which can be further determined by the classification of symptoms. These include things like

Treatments

Depending on the type of anxiety disorder you have, there are many different treatments. However, some prove to be more effective than others. It all depends on the specialist you visit and which treatment will help you best.

For generalized anxiety disorder, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most common treatment. This includes relaxation, cognitive therapy, exposure (confrontation therapy), and relapse prevention. Medication is also a proven effective treatment, while hypnosis is still in the experimental phase.

For other general disorders such as specific phobias, exposure is the best treatment. For social phobias, the best treatment is cognitive behavioral therapy along with cognitive restructuring (ch) and social skills training (svt).

To confront your fear, you must first get to know it. You need to get to know yourself and look for a good professional who can help you keep it under control. After all, there are many different treatments available that are adaptable to the person and type of anxiety in question. If anxiety is treated properly, then treatment will be very effective.

–Images courtesy of Patricia Ariel–