There is a surprising psychological phenomenon in our culture: we are often ashamed of emotions such as anxiety or fear. Generally a habit modern man to classify any emotions as shameful can look rather strange, because since we have emotions, it means that we are human beings, and for some reason we need these emotions. But anxiety and fear have a special function: they signal to us that we are facing some kind of danger and give us energy for the necessary actions. This is the most important function for survival, and we are born with the ability to experience fear. Unlike, say, the feeling of shame, which is more shaped by upbringing than due to our human nature (at least for most psychologists).
Of the 33 men who crossed the stable bridge, two called for an assistant. Now, out of the 33 people who walked across the unstable bridge, nine were called. Aron's conclusion was that the state of fear stimulates sexual desire. Some research has shown that humans may be genetically predisposed to being afraid of certain things, such as spiders, snakes, and rats, all of which animals are already a real danger because they are poisonous or carry disease. For example, fear of snakes has been found in people who have never encountered a snake.
First of all, we are born with the ability to experience the startle response: this is the reflex we use to respond to a sudden, intense stimulus, such as a sharp, loud sound. At the same time, the body bends, the knees also bend, the shoulders rise, the head moves forward, the eyes blink. This is precisely a reflex, that is, this reaction occurs before a person has time to comprehend the situation and assess the real degree of danger. At first, we react with a fear reaction, and then there is already an emotion associated with understanding what is happening. If the situation is actually dangerous, then fear will appear, if there is no real danger, curiosity or irritation may appear, and if a person in childhood was ridiculed for a fear reaction, then shame will appear. Since this is a reflex, the startle response does not depend on whether the person is “cowardly” or “brave”, but depends on lability nervous system, that is, on how fast and intense mental processes are. Naturally, if due to the profession, some sharp sounds cease to be unusual, these sounds turn on the reflex less and less. For example, for a soldier, the sounds of shots cease to be unusual, which means that the fear reaction to these sounds decreases and is replaced by the reaction that is trained professionally. But the reflex will persist to all other sudden stimuli.
This makes sense if we think of fear as an evolutionary instinct built into human consciousness. And this idea is also supported by scientific research. Psychologist Martin Seligman conducted an experimental experiment in which he showed participants photographs of certain objects and gave them an electric shock. The idea was to create a phobic photo of the object. When it was a picture of something like a spider or a snake, it would take two to four shocks to establish the phobia, but when the photograph was something like a flower or a tree, it would take many more shocks to establish the real fear.
Physiological changes will be much more pronounced with a feeling of fear, which differs from the fear reaction by realizing the real danger. The autonomic nervous system is responsible for the work of internal organs, which, firstly, is autonomous, that is, inaccessible to conscious control, and secondly, it is divided into two sections: the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic. The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for mobilizing the body to fight danger, while the parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for digestion and assimilation of food. Fear activates the sympathetic nervous system. Its activity is needed in order to prepare the body to fight danger or to flee, since the fight-flight mechanism is a natural biological response to danger. The heart rate increases so that more blood enters the muscles, peripheral blood vessels compressed to provide high blood pressure. Due to the reduction of peripheral vessels, a person turns pale. Since there is a threat of freezing when the superficial vessels contract, it is often possible to notice a shiver in the body, which contributes to the release of heat, as well as “hairs stand on end” to keep warm. Breathing quickens and becomes deeper so that the blood is better saturated with oxygen. The pupils constrict to better see the danger, and the eyes open wide to enlarge the view and see the escape routes. In order to prevent processes in the body that interfere with the fight, the internal hollow organs are reduced - urination becomes more frequent and there is a desire to empty the intestines. Digestion also stops. The sympathetic and parasympathetic systems are opposite in their activity, and the activation of the sympathetic system inhibits the parasympathetic. This leads to the fact that when afraid, appetite is lost and dry mouth may appear, since salivation is blocked as well as the secretion of gastric juice.
However, while there may be universal fears, there are also fears that are specific to certain people, communities, regions, or even cultures. Someone who grew up in a big city probably has a stronger fear of being robbed than someone who has spent most of their life on a farm. People living in South Florida may experience more fear of hurricanes than people living in Kansas. On the other hand, people living in Kansas may have a deeper fear of tornadoes than people living in Vermont.
What we fear will tell us a lot about our experiences. For example, there is a phobia called taijin kyofushu, which is regarded by the psychiatric community as a "culturally specific phobia of Japan". Lest you be curious, it is "fear of offending others with excessive modesty or respect", a specific phobia whose creation is linked to the complex social rituals that pervade Japanese life.
With a not very pronounced activity of the sympathetic nervous system, it does not block the parasympathetic, and then the appetite is preserved. Moreover, the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system can, in turn, somewhat inhibit the sympathetic system, that is, reduce anxiety. Therefore, anxiety is sometimes "jammed". Although, of course, this "jamming" of anxiety is associated not only with purely physiological mechanisms. Since in infancy we eat when anxiety arises (the baby is breastfed when it cries, because in order for it to feel safe, it must feel the care of the mother), food is associated with safety.
Feeling fear from time to time is a part of life. The problem is related to chronic fears, which can debilitate a person both physically and emotionally, since living with a weakened immune response can lead to several diseases. So how can we solve this problem?
Studies have shown that rats with damaged tonsils end up in cats. This has led scientists to explore ways to overcome fear. They played the sound and immediately shocked the metal floor in the guinea pig cage. This is a classic type of conditioning, and the rats didn't have to wait long for a shock as soon as they heard the sound. It so happened that at this point his tonsils were already associating the sound with shock, the first of which was enough to elicit a fear response. The researchers then began a fire-extinguishing training process in which they produced sound without applying shock.
The sympathetic nervous system is active not only during fear, but also during anger, and the described physiological reactions are not specific to fear, but general to the mobilization of the body. The emotion that a person experiences when faced with danger does not depend on the autonomic nervous system, but on how this danger is assessed. If we regard the danger as insurmountable, then we experience fear, but if we think that we are able to cope with this threat, we tend to experience anger, which pushes us to attack and fight. In this sense, our reaction to a threat depends on how we evaluate our own strengths.
Several times, listening to the sound without a blow, the mice ceased to be afraid. The extinction of fear is associated with the creation of a conditioned response that counteracts the conditioned response to that fear. Although research points to the amygdala as the location of fear memories formed by conditioning, scientists theorize that fear-fading memories also form in the amygdala but are later transferred to the medial prefrontal cortex, where they are stored. The new memory created by the disappearance of fear is established in the medial prefrontal cortex and attempts to undo the fear memory started in the amygdala.
Emotions, including emotions of fear, manifest themselves in different ways in appearance, some signs are more pronounced in some, in others, but in the human body the processes are the same.
External manifestations of fear
Fear, like other emotions, affects the entire body as a whole, even if the emotion is barely expressed, it still changes the physiological state of a person. And if the emotion is powerful, it causes reactions and manifestations that cannot be ignored.
Most behavioral therapies for fear extinction focus on exposure. For example, therapy for a person who is afraid of snakes might involve visiting a snake farm and walking small steps. First, you can stand within 3 m of the snake and see that nothing terrible is happening. So a man can stand up to five feet high, and seeing that nothing bad is happening, he can show courage to come close to touch her. The fear still exists, but the idea is to undo the action with a new memory.
Here is what K. Izard, a recognized researcher of emotions, writes about this: “... sharp changes in somatic indicators when a person experiences strong emotion indicate that almost all neurophysiological and somatic systems of the body are involved in this process. These changes inevitably affect the perception, thinking and behavior of the individual, and in extreme cases can lead to somatic and mental disorders. Emotion activates the autonomic nervous system, which in turn affects the endocrine and neurohumoral systems.” The physiological manifestations of the emotion of fear in the body are associated with the fact that all the resources of the body are mobilized, the blood goes to the skeletal muscles and the heart to meet the impending danger.
Using logic, they imagined that a protein stimulus could stimulate the disappearance of fear. This approach can be useful when it is associated with behavioral therapy that attempts to create memories of the disappearance of fear. But the idea is not to replace exposure therapy, but to speed it up. This hypothesis was tested in an experiment with rats, which were conditioned to associate bright light with a kick in their legs. In addition, the antibiotic also made progress in studying people who were afraid of heights: after virtual reality sessions designed to expose people to enormous heights in a safe environment, those who received the antibiotic encountered heights in the world with twice the frequency of participants who didn't receive it.
Manifestations of the emotion of fear are most easily seen in facial expressions and gestures., which connect internal state person and the environment. The eyes become, as it were, larger, the pupils noticeably dilate, the lower jaw is tense and lowered. The complexion becomes earthy grey, as a result of the blood rushing to other organs, those that can provide an immediate reaction. The outflow of blood from parts of the body that are not important at the moment for life: arms and legs, causes the syndrome of cottony limbs, a person not only moves his legs and arms poorly, but sometimes his legs give way, he not only can’t walk, he can’t even stand. Sometimes, as a result of a reaction to fear, vomiting or other gastrointestinal upset begins, salivation decreases. This happens as a result of the fact that the stomach and intestines have slowed down their activity due to the action of hormones (see below). A person, as it were, becomes smaller, he is grouped (shrinks), his head is drawn into his shoulders, he instinctively closes, by this he tries to protect organs important for life from damage.
This type of research is very promising for people under control for debilitating phobias and anxiety disorders. But what about those of us who just feel cold in the stomach before making a presentation or having a hard time getting up from the balcony on the thirtieth floor and enjoying the view?
Warning magazine article titled What Are You Afraid of? Eight secrets to make fear go away offers these tips for daily fears. No matter what you're afraid of - knowing why you've developed a certain fear can't help you overcome that fear and slow you down in areas that will really help you be less fearful. Relax and stop trying to figure out why.
A possible reaction to fear is hair standing on end, this is actually in order for the aggressor to be frightened. Fear can be expressed in increased muscle tension, leading to stiffness and difficulty in movements, and if tension is maintained for a long time, it can lead to trembling of the whole body, or tremor of the limbs, lips. Or, on the contrary, it can cause increased muscle work. The person begins to sweat intensely, the shirt sticks to the body, and drops of sweat are clearly visible on the forehead, this mechanism most likely arose in order to make it easier to get out of the clutches of a predator.
Learn about what you're afraid of - uncertainty is a major component of fear: understanding understanding what you're afraid of helps erase it significantly. Practice - If there's something you're afraid to try because it seems scary or difficult, work on the steps. Creating a habit gradually makes it easier to control the thing.
Find someone who is not afraid - if there is something you are afraid of, find someone who is not afraid of the thing and does not waste time with that person making them accompany you in the face of your fear. Trust me, it will get a lot easier. Talking about your fear - sharing your fear with others makes you less fearful.
Scientists have a special attitude to changes in the voice. Changes in voice, caused by difficulty in breathing, it may become rapid and halting from a slight fright, or freeze from strong fear. Breathing played an important role when meeting with a predator, primitive man most likely had to run away, so the lungs should have been filled with air. Today, special techniques have been developed in which the subtlest shades of a person's emotional states can be determined by voice. In addition, the robot of the brain is slowed down, as a result, a person cannot think, his words and actions are of the same type, and do not differ in originality, he does not find the right words, his speech becomes inexpressive.
Do mind games with yourself - if you're afraid to speak in front of multiple people, it's probably because you think they'll judge you. Try to imagine them without clothes, as the only dress in the room allows you to judge them.
Stop looking at the whole forest - just look at the tree in front of you. If you're afraid of heights, don't feel like you have to go to the 100th floor of a building. Instead, just focus on the corridor entrance. Seek help - Fear is not just an emotion. If you are unable to overcome fear alone, contact a specialist who can help you. There are several treatments for fear and there is no reason why you shouldn't try them if you have the guidance of someone with training and experience.
Internal manifestations of fear
Internal manifestations are a physiological reaction to the emotion of fear. Emotions are an evolutionary adaptation, biologically generalized forms of the organism's behavior in typical situations. It is thanks to emotions that the human body discovers a very advantageous adaptation to environmental conditions, since it can react to it with a certain speed with great speed. emotional state, i.e., he can quickly determine whether a given particular effect is beneficial or harmful to him.
The feeling of fear is good, it is a way to protect our body from the dangers of life and environment. But there are times when this feeling goes beyond and instead of protection, it disrupts activities that should be commonplace. It is at this point that fear becomes a phobia.
A phobia is a fear that is not only in the head of the one who feels. This causes physical symptoms such as tachycardia, shortness of breath, and panic attacks. In this case, the person stops doing normal everyday things, such as driving or taking the bus. In this Tuesday's welfare, pediatrician Ana Escobar and psychiatrist Luis Vicente Figueira de Mello explained what is the limit that distinguishes fear and phobia. They also gave advice on how to deal with this issue and solve the problem.
Darwin's theory
C. Darwin, at one time, formulated a hypothesis that mimic movements were formed from "useful" movements. That is, what in the animal world was a reaction that had some kind of adaptive meaning, today at the human level is embodied and recognized as an expression of emotions. These can be parts, remnants of "useful" actions and slightly transformed actions. Mimicry arose precisely from transformed useful actions, often it is presented in the form of a weakened, softened form of these useful movements.
The above tips are part of a method known as gradual exposure. They are ways to face the fear slowly until you have the confidence to resume that activity normally. The technique is best suited for cases of specific phobias - for example, when a person is afraid of heights or closed places. In general, this fear is caused by some bad experience that causes psychological trauma and can occur at any point in life.
What happens in these cases is that the brain associates the "bad memory" with some object, place, or situation. When this happens, the person can no longer come into contact with this particular case - he feels a blockage, physical symptoms appear.
For example, a grin of teeth in rage, anger, a residual reaction from using them in a threat, fight and any aggression, or a smile that expresses friendliness, participation, it seems, is the opposite of muscle tension, typical for aggressive feelings, but arises from the same useful movement. And trembling - an expression of emotional arousal - is a consequence of muscle tension to mobilize the body, for example, for an escape reaction. Therefore, facial expressions are due to innate reactions, and from this it follows that facial mechanisms are closely related to certain emotions.
Besides the specific phobia, there are two other types of exaggerated fear, and both have treatments: agoraphobia and social anxiety. Agoraphobia is the fear of feeling bad in certain places and not being able to get help. People who suffer from this type usually sit next to buses or theaters, always ready to run if something happens. In general, agoraphobia is associated with panic disorder.
Social phobia is an exaggerated and unhealthy shyness that can occur in many situations. People who have this phobia are usually born with it, or at least with a predisposition to develop it. This fear of being judged by others hinders many in social interaction and relationships with friends and colleagues. Shyness comes to the point that a person cannot sign a check due to fear of exposure, for example. This type of fear is the most difficult to solve on your own, you need to seek help professional help.
Affects and emotions often develop not under the influence of a direct sensory impression, but in a more complex mental way, for example, in connection with recollection, but nevertheless, the initial source of a change in mood or the development of an affective state lies in these cases in the former irritation of the senses. .
In a poll we did among the site's readers, asking what people's main fear was, there was a technical connection between height - a specific phobia - and public speaking - shyness - with 27% of votes for each. The study of the neurochemical pathway of emotion in the brains of higher mammals - and of man himself - is increasingly gathering evidence that fear in its gross state is a feeling that sits on tracks as old as Earth's first reptiles. From a series of articles published over the past three years in international journals such as Brain Research, Behavioral Brain Research, Neuroscience and Biobay Reviews, among others, researchers from the Psychobiology Laboratory of the University of São Paulo in Ribeirão Preto three extremely primitive structures on the evolutionary scale of the brain that have been present in animal species since dinosaur times perform fundamental tasks in potential or actual risk situations, even before the activation of the cerebral amygdala, a structure that arose later with the first mammals, and is directly involved in defensive responses body to a disgusting stimulus, something like the environment, sound, image or light that causes fear.
Teaching Fear
The emotion of fear may have an instinctive basis, but may stem from an encounter with something fearful (conditional). The body remembers the reaction to fear, and then reproduces it when the opportunity arises. Information about experienced emotions is stored in neurotransmitters. Those. the body learns to react in this way. And the more a person chews on disturbing thoughts, the stronger the accompanying emotions and the way of responding to them are fixed in the neural pathways. An attempt to reformulate unpleasant thoughts and memories, for some, blue reinforces the reaction. Neurons store information about previous states, they are connected with other nerve cells in the form of long-term connections (archival memory). The reaction of fear begins with the appearance of an external stimulus-stimulus. It is quite complicated, but nevertheless, all the roads of fear lead to the hypothalamus, and the amygdala (almond-shaped body), which is located near the temporal part, plays the most important role in its formation.The work of internal organs
Neurons of the central nervous system play an important role in the emergence and development of fear., they are located throughout the body, but only the excitation of some neurons affects emotions. Today it is believed that emotions pass through the limbic-hypothalamic complex. Neurons-detectors receive information, in the following processes of its processing and transmission take place, with the help of them response reactions of the body (reflexes) to external and internal stimuli occurring in motor neurons are developed. Qualities of nervous processes, such as: strength, balance and mobility of these processes, i.e. the main characteristics of excitation and inhibition depend on temperament. In general, the hypothalamus is a rather interesting part of the brain, it controls not only the heartbeat, pulse, but also body temperature. Body temperature controls aging, and there have been cases of people aging very quickly, or not aging, or not maturing at all. Scientists believe that all this is due to body temperature, which is controlled by the hypothalamus.Usually the development of fear occurs in 2 neural pathways: the first, fast (low subcortical) from the sensory nuclei of the thalamus opticus through the amygdala (amygdal nuclei of the thalamus opticus) to the hypothalamus. It receives information from the centers regulating the activity of the heart and vascular and respiratory system, to be the center regulating emotions and human behavior. The second (high, long, cortical) from the sensory nuclei of the visual hillock through the hippocampus and sensory cortex to the amygdala (almond-shaped complex) and finally to the Hypothalamus. This is where the response to the stimulus is formed. The ideal interaction is when these two paths function simultaneously.
According to the first path, due to the fact that the chain is smaller, the reaction is faster, but this path causes more errors, it is responsible for the development of basic emotions. In the second way, the reaction is slower, but correspondingly more accurate. The first way allows the human body to give a quick response to signs of danger, but often works as a false alarm. The second way allows you to more accurately assess the situation and respond to the danger more accurately. The reaction that occurs along the second path is much more accurate, it is checked more, he evaluates certain signs of danger as not real, if the information is not confirmed by the emotion of fear initiated by the first path, it is blocked.
As for the hypothalamus, I want to say that this is a very interesting part of the brain.
