What is fear for?

If you wonder why our brain allows us to feel fear... here's the answer.

• Fear is only a problem when you are afraid of your fears.

The fear is probably the most popular human emotion in recent times, especially since the advent of social networks became our main means of communication. We share videos and phrases about fear and we are constantly telling ourselves that we should not be afraidWhat would happen if human beings were never afraid?

Fear is one of the most basic emotions of the human being, as well as of any mammal. It is an emotion that plays a fundamental role: survival.What would happen if we lived without fear? There is only one possibility: we would die. Without fear, we would live so recklessly that we would endanger our lives and die within a few days if we were not afraid. Fear has a very important utility in our lives. Our big problem with fear is that we live with dysfunctional fears.

Let us delve a little deeper into what this instinctive emotion is and what it is for.

What is fear?

According to experimental psychology, there are six primary emotions: joy, surprise, anger, sadness, disgust, and fear.. Experiments find these six emotions as they find six different facial expressions, although there are many more emotions depending on the culture and vocabulary with which we describe these emotions.

Fear, however, is a basic and primary emotion, since it is found in all cultures and feeling it has great consequences on the organism. It is an unpleasant emotionIt makes us feel bad (although not negative, since feeling emotions is always positive, whatever they may be). It is also a passive emotion, since it tries to withdraw us from what is happening. When we feel fear, it also makes us feel helpless. What happens when we feel fear is that we withdraw.

What is fear for? Functions and effects

Fear is often characterized as a negative emotion, something to be avoided and linked to unhappiness. However, the truth is that, if fear is an emotion present in practically all the cultures that have been studied, it is possible to infer that it is there for a reason. Does it have a relevant function? What is fear for?

In short, fear serves to survive, it is an adaptive mechanism to an environment that sometimes gives us reason to fear it. The purpose of fear has to do with our ability to react quickly to dangerous situations, because thanks to fear we withdraw when there is a threat. This threat can be to our life, or to our self-esteem, our security (according to our beliefs about what is safe or not), our self-concept.

So fear is only an emotion that reacts according to our mental patterns, our beliefs and thoughts. Fear in itself is positive, it helps us to move away from an event for which we are not yet prepared..

• You may be interested in this post, "Why do we like horror movies?"

When is fear a problem?

Fear is a problem when it is dysfunctional. It is important to clarify that there are no positive or negative emotions (this is said in manuals where, what is intended, is the psychological diagnosis and still use those concepts so orthodox and wrong). Feeling emotions is positive, it is always positive to feel any emotion, since they have some kind of utility and we should feel our emotions freely instead of repressing them or trying to control them.

The problem, with any emotion, is when our beliefs and interpretations make us feel fear in a dysfunctional way. dysfunctionalThe problem, with any emotion, is when our beliefs and interpretations make us feel fear in a dysfunctional way, that is, what happens as a consequence of feeling that fear is even worse than what would happen if we did not feel it. Example: many times we do not do what we want to do and is really important in our life because we are afraid of what might happen (travel, go to another country to live, start our own business, start a relationship, do something new by our own means, speak in public, dance in front of other people, etc.).

If we manage our fear dysfunctionally, it will hold us back too much. Remember: fear is not a problem, it just obeys us.... The problem is what we do with fear.

Things that provoke fear (phobias)

There are several aspects of life (situations, ideas, objects...) that generate fear in many people.. Below is a list of different phobias; by clicking on the title you can access a detailed report on each one of them.

• Agoraphobia (anticipatory anxiety)
• Amaxophobia (panic of driving cars)
• Anuptophobia (fear of remaining single)
• Coulrophobia (fear of clowns)
• Erythrophobia (fear of blushing)
• Philophobia (fear of falling in love)
• Gerascophobia (fear of getting old)
• Hematophobia (panic of blood)

And for a more general review of the different phobias that exist and their characteristics, you can visit this article:

• Types of phobias: exploring fear disorders.

How important is fear?

Fear is such an important emotion that we could not live without it. Our happiness and well-being depend on the choices we make in our lives and how we interpret what happens. It is we who are responsible for being well and making our life a fascinating experience.

Fear helps us to regulate how big our steps should be in each moment... like a kind of prudent mother. Again, this happens when we manage our fear in a functional way, i.e., we have some fear towards what may really pose a problem for us now and we still need some training or waiting time to be able to deal with it.

How should we manage it?

Ask yourself what you would really like to do and don't do. What would you like to live and you don't. How you would like your life to be and you don't do what is necessary to get there. All these fears: what are they based on? On your beliefs? On a past event? What could you do so that this event would never affect you again?

An emotional management process, to increase your level of emotional intelligence (which would help you to manage your fear in a functional way and to understand the fear of others and help them) is probably the best way to jump over dysfunctional fear. This note will not end with a "don't be afraid"... but with a "live big in spite of your fears"..