We have all felt the paralyzing sensation that fear produces, as it is a normal and natural emotion in many animals, including human beings. But sometimes it can become an obstacle. In this Psychology-Online article, what is fear in psychology, we talked about it. You will be able to better understand what fear is and how it works, what it is for and how to differentiate “good” fear from “bad” fear. You will also be able to discover the main psychological techniques to overcome fear.
What is fear? Definition
Fear is one of and also considered an emotion primary and universal. Fear is an emotion that generates great consequences for the body and that has been found in people from all the cultures that have been studied. , which causes the body’s alarm reaction. The main brain structure responsible for the fear response is the amygdala.
Sometimes feeling afraid is unpleasant, which is why it has been labeled as a negative emotion. Nothing could be further from the truth, since feeling emotions is always positive, whatever it may be. All emotions, well regulated and managed, are good for us. All emotions have their reason and perform their function. So, you will ask yourself:
What is fear for?
As we said, if fear is present in all human beings, it is for a reason! Fear is a mechanism to adapt to the environment and its dangers. Its function is to protect us from risk situations. Fear is activated when it detects a threat, causing us to withdraw from this situation. This threat can be to our physical integrity or our life, as well as to our reputation, our self-esteem, self-concept or our security, depending on the idea and beliefs we have about it. So fear is an emotion that reacts depending on our mental filters. In short, fear helps us distance ourselves from an event that we are not prepared to face.
What would happen if fear did not exist? As we have seen, fear has a fundamental function: ensure our survival. If we were not afraid we would die. Without fear, we would act recklessly and endanger our lives, so we would probably die.
For all these reasons, fear is of great importance. It acts as a regulator of our behavior, warning us of dangers. As a prudent mother would do: fear takes care of us.
Types of fear in psychology
Fear in itself is positive and essential, but sometimes it is a problem. When is fear a problem? When the fear we feel is dysfunctional, that is, when the situation that generates fear is not a real danger, when the consequence of feeling that fear is even worse for us than what would happen if we did not feel fear. Therefore, we can differentiate two types of fear:
- functional fear, which is activated in the face of real danger and helps us survive. functional fear It is adaptive because it allows us to adapt our behavior to situations, for our benefit. This fear is useful because it makes us alert to a situation that carries some risk and act for our benefit in dangerous circumstances. For example, the one that makes us not walk in the middle of the highway or along the edge of an abyss, or the one that makes us go to the doctor.
- Dysfunctional fear It is one that hinders our life and our normal performance. It is not adaptive nor useful to us. For example, when there is a strong fear of airplanes and that transportation is not used, with the consequence of doubling the travel time, in addition to reducing comfort. This fear is not only due to a real danger, but to the set of experiences and beliefs that form a person’s cognitive filter, through which reality is observed and interpreted.
Overcoming fear: psychological techniques
How can we overcome fear? It is important to know that fear does not disappear, since it is a necessary emotion that goes with us, but we can learn to use it to our advantage. They are effective in learning to regulate and manage emotions adaptively, including fear. The important points to overcome fear are:
Cognitive restructuring to overcome fear
Firstly, we can influence these irrational beliefs so that the cognitive filter allows a more adaptive interpretation of reality. This is achieved by detecting automatic thoughts and irrational beliefs, questioning them and replacing them with more adaptive thoughts.
Coping
On the other hand, we must stop avoiding situations so as not to reinforce, perpetuate and aggravate fear. Faced with a dysfunctional fear, the situation activates an intense and annoying feeling of fear. When we avoid this situation, the discomfort automatically decreases. This feeling of relaxation and decreased discomfort serves to reinforce avoidance behavior. This is the way in which fear is reinforced, maintained and even aggravated and generalized over time. For this reason, it is important to correctly manage dysfunctional fear as soon as possible, so that . There are different psychological techniques to confront fear, the most used are:
- Exposure techniques. They consist of exposing oneself in a controlled and prolonged manner to the stimulus that activates the fear until the activation decreases. The exhibition can be in imagination, live or through virtual reality technological devices. We must not only expose ourselves to the stimuli, but also to the symptoms that psychophysiological activation produces (increased heart and respiratory rate, sweating, tremor, etc.) so as not to develop fear of fear itself.
- Systematic desensitization. It consists of exposing oneself to anxiety-producing stimuli gradually and progressively, according to a previously established hierarchical list, with the aim of reducing psychophysiological activation.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- André, C. (2006). Psicologia Del Miedo/The Psychology of the Fear: Temores, Angustias Y Fobias/Fright, Anguish and Phobias. Kairos Editorial.
- Capafons, J. I. (2001). Effective psychological treatments for specific phobiass. Psychothema, 13(3).
- Fernández-Abascal, EG, Rodríguez, BG, Sánchez, MPJ, Díaz, MDM, & Sánchez, FJD (2010). Psychology of emotion. Ramón Areces University Publishing House.