There is no fearless people who are not afraid of people. If a person suddenly becomes such, he will perish because caution will lose, care, the ability to critically evaluate what is happening around. But sometimes our fears significantly complicate our lives, and then the question arises: how to cope with the manifestations of this strong primitive emotion?
Cause and psychology of fear
Fear is the basic congenital emotion of the human body. According to some data, even the fruit in the maternal womb is able to experience fear, and this allows with a clean conscience to argue that the feeling of fear is created by nature is not accidental. Thanks to him, humanity survives, fear makes a man carefully, more prudent, saves his life in dangerous situations. Thanks to the fear, people came up with a lot of useful inventions that increase the safety and comfort of our daily life.
The feeling of fear launches the mass of invisible physiological processes that instantly mobilize the human body, forcing it to act and think faster, move more actively, strength and speed increase. But in the same time, sometimes fears become an obsessive state. And then they are called phobias. If a healthy reaction is a fright due to a specific threat, then the pathological fear is an irrational horror, to explain which man cannot.
As a rule, we all worry about something, and this is due to genetically, transferred to us by inheritance from distant ancestors. For example, the fear of darkness is inherent in almost all children and at least 10% of adults. It is just as normal to fear the heights, depth, open fire, death. A healthy fear makes a person stronger, after the threat passes, it quickly passes, and the emotional state becomes even.
Pathological fear may occur in certain situations for a particular person, And he does not mobilize, but makes a person vulnerable: In the attack of panic horror, no one can take decisions, no one can become stronger.
Fear does it, causes tangible physical symptoms - dizziness, nausea, tremor, change in blood pressure level, and sometimes fainting, involuntary defecation or urination. In the attack of the panic attack, a person suffering from a phobia is not adequate in principle.
Do I need to say that Pathological fear makes the person of the subordinate, he dictates its conditions. A person begins to diligently avoid objects and situations causing panic, and sometimes it has to change the whole way of his life for this. Judge for yourself: people with claustrophobia (fear of closed spaces) walk on foot even on the top floorings of multi-storey houses, just to not be in the atmosphere of the elevator cabin, and people with sociophobia sometimes refuse to leave the house at all, go to the store, to work, go to public transport They become prisoners of their own fear.
With tripophobis of a man scare cluster holes, and the attack of panic may occur from one type of sponge for washing dishes or a piece of cheese, and the village does not give a person to go to the toilet in need if he is in a public place, the fear of public toilet just does not allow him to free bladder.
Most of us have normal healthy fears, and more precisely, the excitement, anxiety, usually, is usually important, the result of which we cannot predict accurately (before surgery, exam, interview). Such experiences do not deprive us as a whole adequacy, but they can interfere with and sleep normally, in the rest of the most significant harm they do not cause. It was so it turned out that people were talked to be afraid of the unknown, and the upcoming event was shrouded.
Pathological fears, even on the eve of the events, significantly worsen the quality of life. - Fuses on the eve of the operation may experience a strong alarm, on the verge of anxiety disorder, and in a collision with a frightening object, they lose all control over themselves.
To understand how to defeat fear, you need to clearly imagine, by what laws it develops:
- In the central region (limbic system) of the brain, the plots of the almond-shaped body are activated;
- The danger signal (true or fictional) is processed by the almond-shaped body and the process is launched, which was called "Bay or Run";
- Since both for running, and for the fight you need strength, the brain for the fraction of a second launches the process of universal mobilization - the blood flow is largely sent to the muscles, the blood outflow from the internal organs and skin;
- Hands and leg hair up "end" (nature created this reflex in nature to intimid enemies);
- The work of the sweat glands is activated (apparently, also to intimidate enemies, but already smell), the body temperature is reduced;
- The bark of the adrenal glands produces a large amount of adrenaline hormone, which enters blood and immediately leads to a decrease in breathing depth, rapid heartbeat and the expansion of pupils;
- Skin covers are pale, the production of sex hormones drops sharply, a painful feeling appears in the abdomen;
- In the mouth dries, it becomes difficult to swallow.
If the fear is healthy, then after analyzing the situation and the action (run or beat) the work of the body is restored quickly. In the case of panic fear (phobias), a person may lose consciousness, equilibrium, self-control in most cases is impossible.
Thus, the main cause of our fear is our nature, our own brain and those ancient survival programs (self-preservation instinct) that are laid in it. But not every fear passes into the form of a mental disorder, and that is why. The probability that phobias will occur, increases if:
- The child is growing in an authoritarian family, where he is deprived of the right to vote, such children do not know how to make decisions;
- The child grows in the atmosphere of hyperteks, And in this case, the child also does not know how to make decisions, but also afraid of the world outside the window (parents carefully inspire that it is extremely dangerous);
- The child does not pay attention to He has no one to share fears (the principle of the cartoon about Kitten Gave "Let's be afraid together" is very important in childhood!);
- The child is exposed to terrible situations for him , punishments (put in a dark angle, closed in Chulana);
- The child is frightened by delight - "Babai will come", "get sick - die" etc.
Fear appears not only if there is an obvious threat. He can be a signal of experienced earlier experience (if a man bit a dog, he will be afraid of dogs with a lot of probability), as well as fear can be the cause of unnecessary experience (I'm afraid of poisonous snakes, although I never encountered poisonous snakes). Sometimes the fear is imposed on the outside, and here you need to say "Thank you" to television, which often tells about terror, murders, medical errors, dangerous diseases that are quickly distributed), cinema with his horror films and thrillers, books and "benevolent" familiar who are always ready to tell the "terrible story" from the life of your or your friends.
To understand what the reasons for your fear are, you need not only to recall your childhood, parents, their educational methods, but also soberly to appreciate who you yourself. It has been proven that people with a thin soulful organization, an impressionable, wounded, shy, who have experienced certain difficulties in communicating and experiencing them now, are prone to more fear.
You can not change the type of organization of the nervous system, but even if all the described characteristics are about you, you should not think that fear cannot be defeated.
How to cope with the symptoms yourself?
Before answering this question, you need to clearly understand for yourself, with what fear you are dealing with. If this is a healthy protective mechanism - it is impossible to defeat it, and you do not need, without him you can not survive. If we are talking about pathological fear (phobia, condition on the edge of the phobia), then it is almost impossible to overcome such fear on its own - the help of a specialist (psychologist, psychotherapist) is needed. In the battle with your fear you will need the main weapon - a clear understanding that it is necessary to beat not with emotion, but with the reasons that they called.
The specialist is necessary to determine these reasons as accurate as possible. Attempts to deal with manifestations (symptoms) without analyzing causes and correction - a waste of time. You can attend trainings of fashion coacters as you like, study meditation, read literature from the category of "100 tips - how to gain fearlessness." But without establishing the root causes of your fear, all this will be useless. The fear will certainly return immediately, as soon as circumstances and situations occur, similar to those that originally called a panic.
If your fear is not accompanied by heavy attacks of panic attacks, you can try to look for reason yourself. In calm state, remember as many events from childhood related to the possible situations in which you have seen, heard, perceived a frightening object. Are you afraid to ride in the subway? Maybe in childhood you lost there? Or looked at the movie-catastrophe in which people died in the subway? Remember how you were brought up, did you often experience fears in children's and adolescence?
Inside, you can find a lot of answers to a variety of questions, you only need to specify these questions accurately and specifically.
Next, you need to evaluate the reality - in what situations most often begin the attack of fear, what precedes this? Does the fear of a particular object or are you afraid of something that you can't even describe words?
Having determined the object of fear (in our case, this is the subway), the cause of fear is a negative experience associated with the subway, the incident or the impression of the film, it's time to start changing the settings erroneous to the correct. Start gradually celebrating the positive sides of this type of transport - speed, security, the ability to get acquainted with interesting people during a trip or just to spend time on the way for the book. This should be in fact autotraining.
Then go to a gradual immersion in the metro setting. Today, wait at the door of the station. Tomorrow, go and post the lobby. Be sure to note that nothing terrible happens. On the third day you can buy a ticket and go down, and then try to get into the car and drive a station-other. So you do not even struggle with fear, but teach your body to him, let him be afraid of moderately.
The danger from which you deal every day is depreciated and perceived not so acute. Please note how quickly people get used to the situation in war or in a natural disaster area. You can implement the same effect. If initially fear is quite strong, enlist the support of a loved one, Comrade, relative - let it be like to stand in the subway with you (again we return to the cartoon principle "let's be afraid together").
A similar method can be used to any frightening circumstance or object. It is very important not to avoid, but look in the face of fear. No wonder this was what Samurai teachers were advised. Avoiding only aggravates fear. Therefore, the advice seems to be "afraid of the subway - moving on the bus" are harmful and dangerous, although in the shower for everyone they are afraid they certainly find a lively response and approval.
In the process of "addiction" to fear, internal adaptation to it, You will be useful to several practical advice that will help you quickly cope with the manifestations of emotions, if it suddenly overtakes you at any stage of your struggle.
- Again ahead. The attack of obsessive fear usually does not begin spontaneously, after observing you, you will find some "forerunners" - anxiety, tremor, weakness, etc. Feeling these entrays, try to switch attention to something positive. To do this, you can start and carry a small talisman with you (an item that is connected to you with a pleasant event, man). Keep it, look at it, as you precisely attempt to reproduce in memory of the day when you received this item, the appearance of a person who presented it or was near. This will help reduce anxiety, because you give the brain another task.
- Painty. The pain impulse is able to instantly switch your brain to the protection mode, it will start solving the current "problem", and the development of fear will be suspended. Of course, we do not encourage to cripple yourself and engage in self-interest. It is enough to wear a thin pharmacy gum on the wrist, which you can pull out in a terrible moment and let go. You can also pinch yourself.
- Learn to relax. If the situation allows, then at the first signs of an impending fear, sit comfortably, take a free pose. Do not cross the hands and legs, feel how you are inhalation and exhalations. Disseminate if necessary, a shirt gate, relax the belt. Threatenly strain individual muscle groups (for example, buttocks or legs), hold for about five minutes and relax. Try to do it several times. Relieve several basic exercises of respiratory gymnastics - also useful.
Important! With pathological fear with panic attack, the method does not work, since the behavior becomes uncontrollable.
- Look in the details . If fear is inevitably coming, try to consider it in detail, concentrate attention on individual elements. Consciously pay attention to what you see around, as it looks like it is color than smelling. In the case of the subway, consider people, try to determine their age and profession in appearance. Listen to their conversations. This simple process will help distract. And inhalation of smells of the metro will help to adapt to fear faster. Very well helps and mathematical account - count people in the car, try to calculate the number of stations on the metro scheme, calculate separately women, men, children.
- Drink water, put a lollipop in my mouth . They can be taken with them, leaving home. This will help switch the body from the mobilization mode to digest food. In this way, use only if you do not have panic attacks with loss of consciousness.
Increase your self-esteem - it is the underestimated level that it most often appears in the history of patients with phobias. Sign up for courses, start going to hiking, communicate with other people, do not get closed in yourself.
Ways to overcome phobias with specialists
All the above methods, alas, are not suitable in the case of phobias. If a person suffers from irrational fear, the attacks of this nature cannot be monitored, and therefore it will be difficult to do something. Specialists who have many techniques and assistance techniques will help to deal with fear.Pedagogue and parents
In the case of children's fears, an experienced teacher or educator can help, but provided that fears began recently. Launched phobic form pedagogical methods are not treated. What can the teacher do? It can create an environment for a child in which there will be nothing frightening, and every new action and the task will be spoken and prepared in advance. This will help reduce the high level of anxiety in the child. He will gradually begin to relax.
When this happens, the teacher will pay special attention to the workout of the will and sense of child's debt. Both of these feelings help to cope with fears in most cases.
Very much depends on parents and teachers. If a child is frantic, it is very important for him to know what they are not laughing at him, but will protect it. Remember how do we teach kids to make the first steps? Support your hand. And at some point we let go. What does the child do? He immediately falls, noticing that he no longer holds. Children behave in exactly the same way during cycling, ice skating.
But if at this stage, convince the child that they did not hold it before, he was driving himself, then we can assume that training ended with complete success. That is, the child just has to believe that he can. And then fear retreats.
Psychotherapist, psychiatrist
There are various methods for the correction of phobias, and today the most effective are psychotherapeutic methods. The method of immersion in vivo has proven well established, in which a person, in essence, has to be treated with a shock effect.
Immersion in the atmosphere of fear, metered, regular, carried out under the control of a specialist, helps not overcome horror, but learn to coexist with him peacefully and calmly. The method is based on observations of specialists who studied adaptation mechanisms in humans in combat areas, disasters. It turned out that it is gradually you can get used to fear, and at the same time its intensity and strength will decline. The brain will cease to perceive the danger as an emergency, and will begin to treat it as an ordinary phenomenon.
In practice, this can be done in different ways. It all depends on the individual mental features of the person. One must be placed in the serpentarium so that it gets used to the snakes, and another you only need to visit the pet store and consider the creeping reptiles from a safe distance. Fear of water can be overcome by the lessons of swimming and diving from an experienced specialist in these areas, and fear of darkness - any interesting activities that are only possible in the dark (for example, drawing with light handles or viewing of the diamers).
The effectiveness of the method "In vivo" is about 40%, which means that the method of coping with a mental disorder means that four out of ten frogs.
The most common method in psychiatry assistance in irrational fears is cognitive-behavioral therapy. It includes several stages. At first, the doctor should detect all possible situations and circumstances of panic, as well as the reasons that led to the development of phobias. This is done by survey, testing. As a result, an individual list of "dangerous" situations will be compiled.
Next, the specialist proceeds to replacing the patient's incorrect thinking attitudes. This is carried out by conversations, neurolynguistic programming, hypnosis sessions. The task is to eliminate the installation that causes a person to believe that tiny kittens can be deadly dangerous that bats and spiders threaten human life that the danger can hide in the darkness that society is hostile.
The right plants, becoming gradually own, solve the problem of irrationality of fear . Man now not only understands that the spider is stupid, but sees much benefit in spider life for the planet. He admits without horror the fact of the existence of a spider and is ready to put up with him. Loving spider no one, of course, does not force it, this is not required. But the panic attacks, with which each meeting proceeded earlier, will no longer be.
At the final stage of cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy, a gradual immersion of dangerous situations begins. From the compiled list, they first take those that initially caused the smallest anxiety and proceed all the circumstances on the increasing assessment of the anxiety scale. In other words, the most severe nightmares, which, before the start of treatment, caused a sacred horror and a tear, will begin to embody into reality the latter.
The specialist is observing the patient's reactions, conducts intermediate conversations, discusses what a person experienced, and as needed increases or reduces stressful load.
Not all situations can be survived in reality. For example, a person is afraid of space and stars or aliens. Do not send it to the ISS, so that he personally was convinced of the lack of green men in orbit!
In this case, experts can apply hypinomugal techniques in which the situation is invented by a doctor and is transmitted to the patient under hypnosis. The man believes, being in a trance, that at the moment is present at the ISS or on Mars, that he met an alien creature. He can communicate with the doctor, transfer to him everything that sees, feels. So the immersion and adaptation occurs, and ultimately - the depreciation of fear as such.
Sometimes psychotherapy is complemented by drugs, but do it not so often. The fact is that there is no specific medication from fear. Tranquilizers help only suppress panic attacks, they do not treat the condition and its causes, besides, such drugs can cause dependence. Antidepressants help with the accompanying state of depression (people with phobias are very susceptible to this attack).
Sleeping products can be recommended to normalize sleep, and doctors often recommend sedatives that will help calm down.
But not every case of phobia needs to apply the achievements of pharmacology. Moreover, it is impossible to talk about a separate treatment with pills. Without psychotherapy, no pills and injections will help with phobias.
Useful advice psychologist
The overwhelming majority of pathological fears that do not give us to live fully and make us dream of getting rid of them, form in childhood. Therefore, psychologists recommend to parents to pay special attention to this issue, because to raise a person with a normal healthy level of fear of anything completely. To do this, try from the very early age to create a setting of mutual trust in the house and the family - fears are becoming less when they pronounce and discussed.
- Do not mock your child fear, whatever ridiculous it seems to you. If the baby claims that beech lives in the closet, it means that in his perception of the world it really is. Listen carefully and come up with a way to defeat Buku (this can be anything - from an eaten completely dinner to a ritual with a tetting of the poem before bedtime).
- Always find time for a child. Caresses and attention does not happen much. This is his "Insurance Cable", which will help to cope with any difficulties, including with fear.
- Do not provoke fears spontaneously - Do not come up with terrible stories about the naughty kids who take the forest monster, do not teach the child to swim, confronting from the side or pier contrary to protests.
- Win your own adult fears . Often, children inherit our fear only because they consider the peacefulness of parents the only true. The mother who fear mice, with a high probability, will be a child who will also be afraid of mice. And the genes are at nothing. Just a child since childhood will see the reaction of the mother on the mouse and will definitely copy it.
Experts do not advise to scold and punish the child for his fears, ignore them, considering non-serious. Also, you should not take a child to the funeral before adolescence, show him horror films.
It is impossible to link the death of someone from loved ones with diseases, even if the cause of death became a disease - in the mind of the kid, a clear connection between the concept of "sick" and the concept of "dying" is formed. This increases anxiety at every rhenium or sickness of someone from family members. It is very important not to abandon the help of psychologists, psychotherapists, if it is not possible to cope with the problem or a child.
Therapy of fears is a complex direction of psychotherapy, and it is not worth it for success on their own. Trust the task by a specialist. The sooner you do, the better.
