How to overcome fear?

Fear is one of the human feelings that can and should be present in the norm. Fear warns a person of danger and ultimately helps him survive. However, sometimes fear becomes almost the main emotion that a person experiences with or without reason, fear loses its adaptive role and begins to interfere with a person’s life. The level of fear can be different – from mild uncertainty when hiring a new job, to panic attack – a state of physical discomfort accompanied by a pronounced fear of death. It is characteristic that, having experienced fear several times, a person begins to expect the emergence of this feeling, and “fear of fear” develops. 

Treatment for fear of fear

How can you reduce the feeling of fear back to an acceptable level? If fear has already developed into panic attacks, you cannot do without medication, which is often advisable to start in a hospital. Antidepressants are the mainstay of treatment for these disorders, as emotions such as fear, anxiety and low mood share a common biochemical basis. At the beginning of treatment, when the fear is especially pronounced, tranquilizers (for example, Phenazepam, Diazepam) are connected to the treatment. These drugs are usually “liked” by patients, as they give a quick positive effect. However, such sympathy sometimes leads to symptomatic uncontrolled intake of tranquilizers and subsequent dependence on them, which is treated more severely than alcohol. That is why taking tranquilizers is possible only for a short time, strictly on the recommendation of a doctor. Taking antidepressants is usually long – up to six months. These drugs are non-addictive and safe for long-term use. Early self-withdrawal of treatment is fraught with the return of previous symptoms and even aggravation of the condition. In parallel with drug treatment, patients are advised to gradually accustom themselves to a situation in which fear arises. For example, a person who is afraid of trips to the subway, for a start, simply goes down to the subway, then passes one stop, the next day two stops, etc. It is also advisable to teach patients the techniques of self-relaxation, breathing exercises, with the help of which they themselves can help themselves in difficult times.

Overcome your sense of fear

Fear reaches less severity with phobias. At the same time, anxiety and fear usually develop in certain specific situations, but do not reach the level of a panic attack. All of the above regarding drug treatment is also true for phobias. It is also advisable to gradually get used to being in a situation that previously caused fear and anxiety. An interesting and often good effect on phobias is given by the so-called paradoxical prescriptions. So, for example, when a patient has fear, he is given the task of reinforcing it in any way. Such “deliberate efforts” to increase fear are usually fruitless. Try, now, for the sake of experiment, to force yourself to be afraid of anything! Moreover, fear usually diminishes in response to such attempts. If the patient does manage to increase the feeling of fear, this gives him the opportunity to feel that he can control his emotions. If we can create fear by an effort of will, then we can remove it. As a rule, in order to feel “power” over fear, the patient is asked to “play” with this feeling – increase it by 10%, then decrease it by 5%, then increase it a little, decrease it by a third, etc. By themselves, such “mathematical” operations with fear allow one to abstract from it, to reduce its significance for the individual. People with imaginative thinking can also present their fear in the form of a certain image – visual, auditory, tactile, and then try to change something in the image. For example, if fear is represented as a red ball, it can be mentally “recolored” in a different color, or, without changing the color, change the shape.