As a biological and psychological reaction, fear can be managed more easily if we understand it better
Fear kills the person who feels it. It is also known to kill ‘others’ – fear of an opponent, an enemy, a suspected problematic person makes one kill the other. On a small scale, that’s murder. On a large scale, we call it war. Thousands of human beings have lost their lives unreasonably and without an underlying cause due to this condition.
So, what is fear? Fear comes from thought. Thought comes from words and words come from language. So,
if you do not know a language or words, you do not have the thought of fear. That’s what makes animals so instinctively peaceful. It is not
that animals do not fear but it’s not a thought-based fear. It is a fear which is based on an instinct that could harm their bodies. For instance, an animal understands that jumping into a fire may cause death. But it does not fear the fire when it is not in front of them.
Humans will think of various reasons to fear – an opponent, create borders and armies.
So, let’s take a look at fear, its different forms and what we can do to circumvent it for a more peaceful world.
DEFINITION
Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognising a danger or threat. It causes physiological changes that may produce behavioural reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat.
THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF FEAR
•Rational Fear: This occurs when there is a real, imminent threat
•Primal Fear: This is as an innate fear that is programmed in our brains
•Irrational Fear: These ones that do not have or do not make logical sense. They are generally ‘make believe’ thoughts, concepts, events or rituals that multiply or roller coaster into an avalanche of uncontrolled consequences.
MECHANISM
Experience (real or imaginary), thought or memory registers a given fear, after
•The thalamus collects sensory data
•The sensory cortex receives data from the thalamus and interprets it
•It organises information for dissemination to the hypothalamus (fight or flight), amygdalate (fear), hippocampus (memory)
This is why the treatment of irrational fear includes counselling, psycho therapy, medications or drugs that can suppress or modify the responses from the amygdale.
Many physiological changes in the body are associated with fear, summarised as the fight-or-flight response. An innate response to cope with danger, it works by accelerating the breathing rate (hyperventilation), heart rate, vasoconstriction of the peripheral blood vessels leading to blood pooling, increasing muscle tension including the muscles attached to each hair follicle to contract and cause goosebumps – or more clinically, piloerection (making a cold person warmer or a frightened animal look more impressive), sweating, increased blood glucose (hyperglycemia), increased serum calcium, increase in white blood cells called neutrophilic leukocytes, alertness leading to
sleep disturbance and “butterflies in the stomach” (dyspepsia). This primitive mechanism may help an organism survive by either running away or fighting the danger. With the series of physiological changes, the consciousness realises an emotion of fear.
Read the full article in ‘Viva Goa’ magazine copy.
Viva Goa magazine is now on stands. Available at all major book stalls and supermarkets in Goa.
