We explain what fear is for biology and psychology. Also, what happens in our body and brain when we feel fear.
What is fear?
Fear is one of the primary emotions of humans and animals (that is, one of their fundamental and primitive reactions), and is produced by the presence (real or imaginary) of a danger, a risk or a threatening situation. It is an unpleasant emotion, closely linked to anxiety, and whose maximum degree is terror.
The word “fear” comes from the Latin metus, with the same meaning, and is more or less equivalent to dread, fright, fright or fear. Since ancient times, fear has been present in cultural considerations of an ethical and moral nature, or in codes of conduct and traditionally promoted values. You must read about Epicureanism once.
Thus, for example, in certain Eskimo communities fear is perceived as a positive emotion, a sign of caution and compliance with the group’s law; while in many other cultures it is seen as a shameful emotion, a sign of weakness or handicap.
Fear has also occupied a prominent place in art and mythology. The ancient Greeks, for example, associated it with the god Phobos, son of Ares (god of war) and Aphrodite (goddess of passion), and twin brother of Deimos (god of terror).
The Romans baptized this same god Timor and, like their predecessors, linked him with the fear before combat in wars, or with the fear inspired by the most ferocious creatures. While other peoples, such as the Vikings and the Nordic tribes of Europe, drove away the fear inherent in their warlike existences with religious stories of an afterlife exclusive to those who fell in combat.
On the other hand, fear is present in the stories that accompany us throughout our lives. It is inspired by the monsters and creatures of childhood stories, which were originally intended to teach or warn children about the risks of life, or to instill a moral code in them from an early age: the big bad wolf, witches or monsters under the bed are just some early incarnations of fear.
Literary horror stories also explore this, such as those widely cultivated at the end of the 19th century by romantic authors such as Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1937) or Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836-1870). Maybe you should definitely read about Artistic Gymnastics once.
Fear in biology
Fear has been studied throughout human history from numerous perspectives and by different disciplines, each in its own way. For example, biology considers it an adaptive scheme that allows animals to anticipate and respond to threatening stimuli, which translates into greater margins of survival.
The fearful individual reacts in advance to the coming danger, and prepares his body for rapid and instinctive fight or flight reactions. Many animals, when feeling threatened, react through preventive aggression, desperate flight or the release of defensive body fluids.
Fear according to psychology
The psychological approach distinguishes between two approaches to fear:
- According to the behaviorist approach, fear is an acquired emotion, that is, learned through direct or indirect experience, so that it is a defensive reaction to prevent an unpleasant or dangerous event from occurring again or from occurring for the first time after it has been noticed.
- According to the approach of deep psychology, fear is the reflection of a basic and unconscious conflict that, when not resolved in the deep psyche, manifests itself in a primitive and bodily way, often without the person being able to understand why they feel it.
Fear is also interpreted evolutionarily as a complement to the function of pain, that is, as a mental and emotional alert regarding the reappearance of painful stimuli, both for the body and the mind. Thus, for example, fear of the unknown or fear of rejection are linked to a previous trauma and react with anxiety and fear at the opportunity to experience something similar again.
What is fear for?
Fundamentally, fear is a feeling of alertness, comparable to pain. We feel pain when a stimulus is harmful to our well-being, for example, when we accidentally cut ourselves on the edge of an object. The physical damage received is reported to the brain in the form of pain, and the brain tries to protect itself from the harmful stimulus.
The same occurs with fear: a threatening or risky situation triggers fear to prepare the organism and effectively deal with a context in which we must fight or escape. It is, therefore, a fundamental emotion for self-preservation and the processing of traumatic experiences, to the point that the memory of a painful situation is sometimes enough to unconsciously trigger fear.
But this “function” of fear is not entirely conscious, and we can react with different levels of fear or anxiety to situations that do not pose a real or immediate danger, but which are unconsciously interpreted as if they were. For example, a person who suffers from stage fright will experience great amounts of anxiety and fear when he or she has to address a packed auditorium; a situation that for other people could be a source of happiness and enthusiasm.
What happens in the brain when we feel fear?
In both humans and animals, the part of the brain responsible for feeling and processing fear is the so-called “reptilian brain,” that is, the most primitive, responsible for basic functions for survival, such as eating and breathing, together with the limbic system of the brain, that is, the one in charge of regulating emotions, avoiding pain and controlling fight-or-flight reactions.
These brain structures continuously monitor (even during sleep) what the bodily senses record and evaluate the corresponding response in a structure called the amygdala or amygdaloid body, responsible for triggering basic emotions, such as affection or, precisely, fear. Activation of the amygdala produces immediate reactions of aggression, paralysis or escape, and secretes an antidiuretic hormone (vasopressin) for this purpose.
This brain reaction triggers certain physiological changes in the body:
- The metabolic rate and the amount of glucose in the blood increase (to have more energy available).
- Blood pressure and heart rate increase (for more intense physical reactions).
- Adrenaline is released.
- Non-essential bodily functions are interrupted.
- Blood clotting increases (in the event of an injury).
- Brain activity also increases, although in a very specific way, totally focused on what causes fear. In fact, the frontal lobes of the brain (which allow conscious attention to be switched from one object to another continuously) are temporarily deactivated and the entire mind is dedicated to evaluating the risk or threat.
The latter explains why people who suffer from a panic attack or anxiety have such difficulty distracting themselves or changing their thoughts, which paradoxically would deactivate the vicious circle of anxiety and fear.
Body expression of fear
Fear is expressed in the human body in very characteristic and distinctive ways:
- The eyes become larger and the pupils dilate, to increase vision and perception of the threat.
- Facial features change: the lips stretch horizontally, the mouth opens, the eyebrows rise and the forehead wrinkles.
- The body tenses (for physical reactions) or shrinks (to go unnoticed), and it is common for the arms to be crossed over the body, as an unconscious protection of the trunk (and vital organs).
- Uncontrollable physical reactions may occur, such as trembling, sweating, vasoconstriction, increased body odor and even loss of sphincter control (in response to very intense or very sudden stimuli).
- Paralysis may occur: the body remains tense and motionless, and attention remains fixed on the threat.
- Body movements are short, abrupt and erratic.
Strategies for dealing with fear
Not all fears are the same and, therefore, not all are dealt with in the same way. There are reasonable, natural fears that any person would feel in a life-threatening situation, risk of death or severe injury, and in these cases the body reacts in the best way it can to protect itself.
These reactions, however, can be trained, as rescuers and the military do, to try to adhere to a specific protocol of action during moments of intense emotions. However, what will happen to us when we face a situation of this type, deep down, cannot be known in advance.
On the other hand, the problem manifests itself when the symptoms of fear appear in situations that do not really represent a life-threatening danger, and thus hinder our successful development in everyday or pleasant situations. In this case, it is a pathological fear, that is, a fear that is not normal and that deserves to be fought, through strategies such as the following:
Go to psychotherapy
The best ally available when facing situations of irrational fear is the office of a specialist. The latter can accompany us in the process of facing and overcoming our fear, and can even help us understand if it is really an irrational fear or if we should analyze it in some other way.
Knowing yourself
It makes no sense to face fear if we do not know what we fear, how we usually react or what type of solutions are most within our reach. Self-knowledge is vital to find the ideal path to overcoming phobic fears.
Facing fear
It is said that the best way to overcome an irrational fear is to face it, but this should be done gradually, in a controlled manner and, in the best of cases, in the accompaniment of a specialist. Otherwise, repeating the trauma and brutally exposing ourselves to a situation that generates fear could aggravate the symptoms and deepen our fear even more. On the other hand, gradual and gradual exposure can slowly lead us to minimize and finally overcome fear and anxiety.
Practicing meditation or mindfulness
Certain breathing and mindfulness techniques from yoga, mindfulness or guided meditation can be useful when facing a situation that generates fear, since they teach us through controlled breathing to induce a state of relative normality in the body and, from the body, also in the mind.
Reconnecting with faith
In the case that we are religious people, it is possible to use faith as an instrument to combat fears, to the extent that we can place our need for protection in an omnipresent and omnipotent deity.
Avoid alcohol and psychotropic drugs
Substances that restrict our control over the mind and body, such as alcohol, drugs or certain medications, should be avoided in cases of irrational fears, since it is impossible to predict how they will influence the appearance of the latter, or how we manage them.
References
- “Fear” in Wikipedia.
- “Fear” in ABC Bienestar.
- “Etymology of Fear” in the Online Spanish Etymological Dictionary.
- “How to overcome fear and anxiety” in The Mental Health Foundation (United Kingdom).
- “5 Things You Never Knew About Fear” in Northwestern Medicine (USA).
- “Fear (emotion)” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.
