"Fear is not real. The only place that fear can exist is in our thoughts of the future. It is a product of our imagination, causing us to fear things that do not at present and may not ever exist. That is near insanity. Do not misunderstand me danger is very real but fear is a choice.”
-Will Smith(After Earth movie)
WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?
Many a time, we are bothered about a lot of things. We're afraid. It could be a fear of heights, fear of blood, fear of losing a loved one, or even fear of taking the next step in any area of our lives. I recently just heard about a special kind of fear; The fear of fear (phobophobia).
But what really is fear?
"An unpleasant emotion or thought that you have when you are frightened or worried by something dangerous, painful, or bad that is happening or might happen." (Cambridge dictionary online)
From the above definition, we discover that fear is basically a
- Biological reaction
- Psychological state
Take little children for example. They play with objects and elements that would ordinarily drive the adult to sweating all over. A child may be seen laying with a snake, a lantern, scary objects and even insects. But they never react with fear, unless after a series of learning.
Cognitive/Behavioral psychologists have drawn a link between learning and the exhibition of fear. They have posited that fear originates from the association of negative/unfavorable outcomes with stimuli (including objects and events).
In His theory, The Conditioning Theory Of Fear Acquisition, Rachman (1977) theorized that fears are acquired through the association, and later conditioning of stimuli with unfavorable outcomes.
What this means is that we learn to fear. we fear because we do not want to experience the discomfort of negative outcomes. The psychodynamic psychologists therefore view fear as an ego-defense mechanism which shields our person from feeling discomfort.
While fear, from the psychodynamist's point of view, could be healthy as it serves as a barrier against negative outcomes, fear generally stands as a hindrance to growth and healthy leaning. Without trying, or making mistakes we won't learn. When learning how to ride a bicycle, we fall a lot of times. But if we let our fear of falling get in the way, I bet we would never learn how to ride.
In conclusion, I'd advise that you face your fears. Look fear in the face and defeat it. After all, fear is not real. Like Ella would always say, "Its all in your head."
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