Fears of man

Fears of man - the topic is far from new, but does not lose relevance today. Initially, the fears of man helped him survive, he was one of the basic instincts, however, and still he can help, if not to suppress him, but, at least, to study.

It is known that the fears of man - this is the embodiment of the instinct of self-preservation, which stands in the list of basic, anticipating the famous sexual, in fact - the instinct of continuation and reproduction of the genus. Considering fear a negative emotion, we aspire to get rid of it in every possible way. Much earlier, human fears led to three types of reactions - aggression, that is, attack, flight and fading (stupor, in animals - anabiosis). If one understands, modern man still uses these three reactions depending on his mental structure, character properties and social skills. Human fears are different from animals that are also capable of experiencing this emotion. Animals are just simpler, they are not hampered by social attitudes and rules of decency, they react to a negative stimulus almost instantaneously, than often they save not only their nervous system, but also life. Modern man is characterized by the suppression of emotions in principle.

It is believed that the concepts of human fears and "phobias" are identical, but there is a significant difference between them. Fear, as a rule, is a transitory phenomenon with a loss of threat: as soon as the danger disappears, it is neutralized, and this feeling disappears after it. Phobia is an emotion that is constant, often not associated with a specific object, situation. From the point of view of psychiatry, psychotherapy is a complex of reactions, as a rule they are obsessional (intrusive), irrational. Symptoms of it are very characteristic:

Vegetative reaction - tachycardia, tremor, often nausea, dizziness, increase or decrease in blood pressure, often stupor. Such sensations do not lend themselves to conscious control, even when the object of irrational fear is absent, a phobic reaction can overtake a person from any moment, anywhere. Trigger can be anything, anything - a smell associatively causing an unconscious instantaneous memory; thoughts that, as a rule, are intrusive initially; color or word, indirectly reminiscent of the former fear.

What causes a person's fears?

Why are the fears of man still not specified, but there are several accepted medical worlds concepts.

The famous theory of Sigmund Freud, the father of the founder of psychoanalysis, says that a person's fears are the result of excessive protection, the suppression of hidden and depressed anxiety. The suppressed emotion, and more often it is a complex of emotions, is transferred to the outside world and with the help of a phobic reaction tries to free itself.

John Watson, the creator of the theory of behaviorism, argued that man's fears are a conditioned conditioned reflex. If a person experiences fear for the first time, the reaction is fixed, and in the future the constant avoidance of the situation, the object leads to a complete loss of control over their emotions.

The theory of unconscious modeling belongs to A. Bandure, who said that the person assimilates the perception of the threat by the example of other, as a rule, close people (empathy).

Existentialists R. Mei and V. Frankl put forward the theory of reflecting their own impotence, alienation and loss of the meaning of life as consequences of depersonalization and loss of individuality.

The humanistic theory, represented by A. Maslow, speaks of phobia as a neurosis. The role of the culprit is the impossibility of self-realization.

Be that as it may, the fears of man today are haunted by every eighth inhabitant of the planet, and all these people are little interested in the etiological causes of their conditions, they just want to get rid of these feelings as soon as possible.

How to treat a person's fears?

Before treating the fears of a person, you need to determine the state that a person calls a panic attack, a phobia, or anxiety. When the emotional state is unstable, it is unlikely that it is possible to pinpoint your illness on your own, so you should consult a specialist - a clinical psychologist, a psychotherapist. It is desirable that the one to whom suffering from fears, phobias, turns for help, had a medical education. This is due to the need to eliminate mental disorders, which can also be accompanied by fears. Schizophrenia is sometimes combined with sensopathy (irrational, biased sensations in the skin), hypochondriacal fears of a person are possible. Depression is accompanied by purely neurotic disorders, adaptive disorders. In addition, panic attacks in ICD-10 are described as a separate unit under the heading "panic disorder" - F.41.0. Also, a person's fears can be one of the symptoms of a real physical illness, for example - bronchial asthma or hypertension. Only a correct and accurate diagnosis will help to competently build a strategy of treatment and work on the syndrome of the disease, and not remove the symptoms.

In addition to drug therapy ("minor antipsychotics", anxiolytics, antidepressants), which is certainly effective, positive results are brought by psychotherapy, since its methods and techniques are diverse and backed up by age-old clinical practice. Human fears are effectively treated by cognitive methods, methods of behavioral psychotherapy, bodily-oriented therapy, psychoanalysis and elements of neurolinguistic programming. Human fears are often treated by the method of systematic desensitization, when a person gradually forms resistance and resistance.

Human fears are a phenomenon that requires one of the types of instinctive reaction: to escape, to attack or to stop. Modern medicine is quite capable of defeating a person's fears, competently "attacking" them. It makes no sense to choose the reaction of avoidance or stupor, when there are so many effective and effective methods that help a person to live fully and experience positive emotions.