From birth to death, a person periodicallyfeels a sense of fear. Someone is subject to it to a greater degree, someone to a lesser degree, but there are no people on Earth who would fear nothing at all. Sometimes this feeling is quite explicable and logical, and in some cases its nature is unknown. What are the causes of fear and how to get rid of it?
What is fear?
Fear is the negative state of humanpsyche, provoked by real or imaginary threat. Everyone in his life has repeatedly experienced this feeling in different situations. Even the most courageous and brave man can fear in the depths of his soul.
In psychology, fear refers to the basic emotional processes inherent in a person from birth. He mobilizes the body's defense systems, preparing him to fight the threat or to escape.
Fear is a kind of alarm aboutdanger contributing to the realization of the instinct of self-preservation. Under the influence of fear, a person can perform such actions that he is not capable of in the normal state. For example, run with great speed, jump over high obstacles, show amazing intelligence and resourcefulness.
Nature of human fear
Страх зародился вместе с самим человечеством.Its roots go back to the distant past, when its main function was to preserve the lives of our ancestors. Fear is inherent in man by nature in order to quickly and accurately recognize danger.
Ancient people tend to be afraid of everythingunknown and incomprehensible. They were horrified by any unfamiliar sounds, natural elements, animals never seen before. With the development of science, man gained knowledge about many phenomena that he had previously feared.
Today, the fear no longer carriesfunctions of the struggle for survival. The exception is made by those cases when the person gets to extreme, extreme situations. However, in the modern world, various social phobias have replaced the fear of real danger. This is due to the fact that at the moment it is very important for people to be recognized by society, to cause respect for their person.
Is fear a feeling or an emotion?
Psychology treats fear as the emotion of a personhaving a bright negative color. At the same time, some sources consider this concept as a human condition. So what is fear? This feeling or emotion?
The word "fear" people in everyday life are accustomedcall both feeling and emotion. In fact, there is no clear boundary between these concepts. On the one hand, fear is more related to emotions, because it is often of a short-term nature and is intended to activate the protective functions of the human body. And on the other?
Если он не прекращается длительное время, it transforms, periodically repeats, acquires new forms, then we can say that fear is a feeling. In this case, it no longer serves for salvation, but, conversely, destructively affects the body. The feeling of fear is not an instant reaction to a certain irritant, but a product of human consciousness.
Types of fear
There is a lot of all kindsfear classifications. It all depends on what caused this oppressive feeling. So, distinguish real, existential and social fears. Briefly we will stop on each of them.
Real or biological fear is a fearassociated with an immediate threat to human life or health. In this situation, something is a potential danger to the individual. For example, a huge dog trying to attack a person, or natural elements, such as tsunamis or earthquakes.
Existential fear is unfoundedfear of something that does not pose a real danger to humans. Such fears lurk in the depths of people's subconscious and cannot be fully explained. This group includes the fear of darkness, death, aging, confined space.
Social fears are a relatively new group.phobias of a person that did not exist before. They can not cause real harm, and carry only a symbolic threat. This includes fear of superiors, responsibility, public speaking, setbacks, strikes on self-esteem. Fear of this type are the most common in the modern world, cause a person psychological discomfort and lead to a lot of problems.
Children's fears and their causes
Fears of children most often have no realgrounds, they are far-fetched and exaggerated. The imagination of the kids is so rich that even a simple thing can seem ominous to them. For example, the shadow of a toy may seem like a frightening monster to a child.
In addition, children do not have sufficientinformation about our world, which can also give rise to any fear. It is good if the child shares his concerns with adults, asks for help and protection. Parents should try to explain to the baby the nature of the phenomena that frighten him, calm him down and give birth to a sense of security in the baby.
But in some cases, children's fears are causedreal events that made a huge impression on them. This can happen if, for example, a car hit a passerby in front of a passer-by child, or a dog bites him. Such phobias can stay with a person for a lifetime, although they will weaken over time.
Fear of death
Some people practically do not think thatthey will live forever, for others the fear of dying becomes a real phobia. Fear of death is one of the strongest emotions, it is basic for a person. To be afraid to die is quite logical, because everyone is afraid for his life, strives to preserve and prolong it.
There are a lot of reasons to fear death. This is the frightening uncertainty of what will come after, and the impossibility of presenting one's non-existence, and the fear of pain and suffering before leaving for another world.
People who have not previously thought about death, falling intosituations that really threaten their lives begin to experience real fear. This can happen, for example, if a man was nearly hit by a car, or the plane miraculously escaped a crash. At such moments, everyone begins to appreciate his life and think that we are all eternal.
Fear of failure in love
Many people, at least once disappointed inpartner, afraid to build new relationships. For them, love is the fear that negative emotions and suffering will recur. Now it’s difficult for them to believe a person, open their heart to him and begin to trust.
Fear of new failures in love makes peopleclosed, closed for communication and new acquaintances. Very often, it takes many years to overcome this feeling, and some people do not cope with their phobia throughout their lives.
In such situations, it is important to understand whatvery few people who have never experienced a love failure. Making a mistake once, you should not consider all men or all women to be the same. It is important to believe that you are sure to be able to find a person who will make you happy and help you forget previous troubles.
How to get rid of fears?
Fear is an emotion that occasionally overcomes every person. People are afraid of completely different things, so there can be no single recipe for getting rid of our phobias.
First you should try to understand whatit is your fear that is caused. Sometimes it is very difficult to do this, because the fear of certain things is hidden deep in our subconscious. Having found out the original source of your phobia, you need to think about whether your fear really is life in a constant nightmare and experiences, or it, in principle, does not give you any particular inconvenience. As a rule, fear as a short-term emotion does not require a special struggle, but if it begins to develop into a phobia, then you need to get rid of it as soon as possible.
Next you need to understand yourselfanalyze when you start to fear the most. Try to minimize the stressful situations in which you feel discomfort, anxiety and fear.
В борьбе со своими фобиями нужно научиться to switch attention to something positive and kind, as soon as you feel that the fear has begun to approach you. If you yourself can not cope with the problem, do not hesitate to seek help from experts.
