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Fear is as I have been commenting in my last two posts, one of the fundamental and most important emotions that emerge from the subconscious of the human being, so much so that without fear we would be unable to live. In fact, fear represents something so important that from it derive a series of emotions and secondary feelings, not to mention the repercussions that this causes.

That's why to give continuity to my last two posts; one where I talk about a specific type of fear that affects me on a daily basis and the other where I talk in a general way about fear, today I would like to talk a little about the ways in which fear manifests itself and how fear affect us.

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How, where and why is fear born?

As I said, there are different ways in which fear attack us or rather different ways in which fear is triggered. All these arise from the depths of our subconscious but always generated by the same determining factor that is the instinct to continue living or react to situations of tension and danger.

In short, fear is the product of a reaction that is generated in our subconscious as a result of wanting to be safe and without danger.

However from someplace this feeling must originate; Well, if we go a bit to the neurological aspect, fear arises from the deeper brain areas, more specifically from the areas responsible for carrying out the reasoning and analysis of information that allow us to act in any kind of scenario, basically even though fear arises as a Subconscious impulse, it develops in the areas of our brain that are responsible for making us act.

In short, fear spreads through the frontal lobe, which is the area where most of the cognitive processes related to reasoning are carried out.

If we already have clear how and where the fear originates the following would be the why, because basically as I have emphasized to throughout my last two posts and in the little that this one takes; Fear is born from a subconscious response to something that disturbs us or that makes us feel that we are in danger. However, fear has evolved in such a way that it sometimes arises due to other psychological distortions that affect our mind. A clear example of this is how phobias are created that are cognitive distortions highly associated with psychological fears and that is generally absurd or rare.

That is why although fear is usually detonated by situations of danger, it can also appear as a consequence of clearly psychological situations that prevent us from acting in a logical manner.

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Development of fear

Making it clear that fear mainly arises from the urge to survive, but that can develop to reach psychological levels where the main constant is no longer feeling safe, but a distortion of another type that generates fear, let explore a bit how and to which levels can fear be develop.

If I had to establish different stages in which fear develops in our mind, I would say that it does so in three stages:

• The first stage would be where fear arises as a result of the instinct that subconsciously and consciously to keep us safe and that in certain circumstances develops as a result of some scenario that generates extreme distrust, but that is that fear that has led us to stay alert. Basically, it is the stage where fear is in a purer state but with which we have learned to live together.

• Secondly, it would put those moments where fear can take control over our actions, causing us to commit irrational acts, in addition to affecting our rationing at such a level that we develop insecurities and psychological distortions that constantly play with our way of acting.

• Finally there is the total development of fear when it has definitely taken control of our mind making it impossible for us to react. This basically would be similar to when we are completely paralyzed by a situation that terrifies us, at this point, I think that fear takes control of our mind to such a level that it completely blocks the functions of our frontal cortex leaving us totally defenseless. See it as that typical horror movie scene where the protagonist simply waits for his imminent end, instead of running or hiding to save himself.

Although perhaps these three arguments are not so much as stages, I think that is how the fear develops and progressively unleashes in our brain, and although I mention in my previous post and some extracts from this one that thanks to fear we keep ourself alive, if in certain situations we allow fear to escalate to levels where it gets out of control, this is more than capable of seizing our reason and leaving us helpless.

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Extreme fears

Having made it clear that the highest level at which fear can escalate is the most dangerous because it is what paralyzes us and leaves us helpless, making us unable to act in dangerous scenarios, it is important to be clear that this stage of fear does not arise only on dangerous or extreme situations, since in certain circumstances the extreme fear can be detonated simply by situations where we are unprepared, or rather the extreme fear can also appear in moments and scenarios before which we are not ready to face.

Many of these scenarios have a variant and psychological connotation that together with the feeling of not being prepared can trigger a fear that completely takes over our mind.

A clear example of these scenarios is when we develop an irrational fear of speaking in public, which perhaps may be foolish for many, but even though it may not seem so much is one of the most common situations where fear escalates to such a point that we simply freeze without being able to act in a rational way.

For many experts this type of situation also occurs because people develop such extreme fear of failure that it consumes them and increases insecurities to the point where it does not matter how prepared you are, you will simply freeze. That is to say that this type of scenario is not always associated with the panic of having to speak in public, but also under this same case is linked the fear of failure, and who has not been afraid to speak in public and say something wrong?

In short, we do not always paralyze ourselves in situations of danger, but we are often conditioned to succumb to situations that affect us more deeply in a psychological way.

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Closing words

Fear, as I have been saying, can occur on many levels, in fact, it is such a powerful emotion that it can make us act in a fearless way in some situations, while in other situations it simply leaves us frozen without being able to make any movement.

It could be said that fear scales all the extremes to which our mind could make us act since it not only develops in situations of danger but also arises as a response to some psychological disorders. In fact, I would dare to say that many of the psychological disorders generated as a result are the consequence of the untiring amount of scenarios that come to mind when we are led to face situations where fear wins.

What I mean is that in certain circumstances our mind innocently helps the fear grows by adding more factors for it to develop, that is, in many cases fear makes our mind play in their favor making us imagine all kinds of scenarios where we aggravate the initial value of fear. I say this because it is one thing to be afraid in a dangerous situation, and another very different to be afraid of the situation of danger and what this will trigger, is something like being afraid of being robbed and what will happen after the robbery.

In summary, on many occasions, our mind plays a fundamental role in the development of fear.

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References

• Fear
• Human brain
• Frontal lobe
• What Fear Does to Your Brain - And How to Stop It
• Why Do We Develop Certain Irrational Phobias?
• How Fears Develop
• Impact of Fear and Anxiety

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