Farhana Ijaz
Why people don’t jump to high mountains? Why people hide when saw a big snake crawling on the ground? Why someone don’t touch the fire for long time? So what are the feelings or barriers that stop them to not put fingers into a socket and to stay away from a situation which can hurt them?
It’s fear? It’s the fear that keeps all of us away from life threatening things or situations. And now another question arises that what fear is? So at first an appropriate definition of fear is “an emotion induced by perceived danger or threat which causes physiological changes and ultimately behavioral changes such as fleeing, hiding or freezing from perceived traumatic events.
For example, girls starts yelling and try to hide when suddenly saw a cockroach or lizard. And freezing with fear occur when a student learn chapter 4 of the subject he don’t like but on the next day about 5
minuets before the test start he found that the test was of chapter 6 not of chapter 4 .
Anyhow fun aside, fear in human beings occur in response to a stimulus ( stimulus can be a small insect, a wild animal or it can be nothing but the brain’ s false perception) .when someone feel threat in surrounding environment , the part of brain specific for “information” and part of brain specific for “emotions” co-ordinate with each other and ensure the threat. As a response amygdala ( a part of brain associated with release of emotions) receive information from different brain parts, Trigger the hypothalamus by sending a distress signal. As a result hypothalamus stimulate/ activate the sympathetic nervous system by sending autonomic nerves.
The adrenal gland located at the top of kidney then produces fear hormones. As a result some physiological changes also occur in body. The resulted response is “Fight or flight” response. It’s an innate response for coping with danger. It works by accelerating the breathing rate, heart rate, vasoconstriction of the peripheral blood vessels, leading to blushing ( you can say a natural makeup) , increasing muscle tension including the muscles attached to each hair follicle to contract and result in “goosebumps”.
During the “fight or flight” condition body undergoes some changes and provide burst of energy needed to defend yourself. Many of us take fear in a negative way, a kind of emotion that make us coward. But If we take fear in a positive way it’s a primitive emotion and help our ancestors to survive by protecting themselves from Dangerous situations . Now another question arises that how could this type of feelings help us to survive? The answer is , nowadays when all the world is suffering from Corona virus, again it is the fear that keeps us safe. It is the feeling of fear that makes us stay at home , that encourage us to not shake hand with other people by keeping social distancing. So in this way fear makes our survival possible. It urges us to take preventive measures against this contagious disease.
People are scared of many things, situations and different circumstances that may had happened in the past or they may be scared of future. We born only with two innate fears, fear of falling and the fear of loud sounds. Fear is common in hypochondriac and anxious people who have a rich imagination. According to surveys, some of the most common fears are of demons and ghosts ,cockroaches , spiders, snakes, Heights, water , enclosed spaces, tunnels, bridges, needles, social rejections, failure, examination, and public speaking.
An irrational amount of fear is called “phobia”. it is caused by negative thinking which arises from anxiety accompanied with a subjective sense of apprehension or dread. Irrational fear engages the nervous system to mobilize bodily resources in face of danger. Some common phobia are social phobia, agoraphobia (phobia of open spaces) , acrophobia (fear of heights), ptermerhanophobia ( fear of flying), claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces), entomophobia( fear of insects) , ophidiophobia (fear of snakes), cynophobia (fear of dogs) , Astraphobia (fear of storms), etc.
It is important to keep in mind that everyone is different, with a unique sense of what we feel scary or enjoyable. This Rises yet another question, while many can enjoy a good fright, why might other downright hate it?
If the individual perceived the situation too real, an extreme fear response can overcome the sense of control over the situation. On the other hand if the experience is not triggering enough to the emotional brain, or if too unreal to the thinking cognitive brain, the experience can end up feeling boring.
Fun aside, abnormal level of fear and anxiety can lead to significant distress and dysfunction and can lead to the inability of a person for success and a joyful life . And people who don’t feel fear are not normal, a part of their brain doesn’t work to feel the situation. Fear is may be as simple as breathing and may be as complex as labyrinth. Nowadays when the situation is critical, no one knows what will happen next. There is a big question mark to our survival. In these distressing days majority of people got too much frightened and fell into anxiety and many other psychological problems. This is due to over thinking about the situation, that people become phobic.
In conclusion, fear is something that we all face in our lives . But drowning too much in it can cause dysfunction of brain and also it’s not normal to not feel fear.
Both extreme situations are harmful for health. In a positive way, in a dangerous situation everyone feel fear and this feeling help us to make precautions for our survival. Fear of COVID_19 also helps us but thinking too much about it can cause sever mental health issues, so just take a deep breath and face the situation. You have just one thought in your mind that you can fight this disease.
But there are also some fears like fear of people, social rejection, fear of future, fear of failure and loneliness, etc, that just keep us away from success and doesn’t help us to improve our lifestyle. There are special treatments and therapies to overcome these fears to live a normal life. By facing the fear can also help us to cop up with that fear.
As Eleanor Roosevelt said: Do one thing everyday that scares you. So nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more so that we may fear less. So get rid of fear and live freely.
