The Good News about Fear

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Title: The Good News about Fear

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The Good News about Fear

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The Good News about Fear

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Fear and the Brain

Godehart presented a true scientific
understanding, this is a general public
understanding
Fear involves structures in the brain and
chemicals (neurotransmitters, hormones, etc) that
are activated when we feel fear
Very efficient, do not have to be conscious of
danger signal for the brain to respond
Fear is contagious, brain helps recognize fear in
the faces of others, it also automatically scans
for it
Cornerstone of capacity for empathy- to know what
another feels

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Fear and the Brain

Flight or fight response from sympathetic branch
of ANS when senses pick up danger in nearby
environmentdanger signals flow throughout body
in chemical cascade
Neurons start to fire in brain stem, the
amygdala in emotional midbrain, hypothalamus
sends hormones to pituitary gland which signals
the adrenals that sends out stress hormones
adrenaline and noradrenaline that increase heart
rate, blood pressure, breathing to increase and
blood to flow to extremities so fight or flee.
This is normal response to sense of danger and
the system in designed to return to a
non-heightened state once the danger has passed.

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Fear and the Brain

When internal security system is hyper-sensitive
it can respond to harmless signals as if they
were actual threats
This over activates the danger response so the
adrenals pump out excessive levels of stress
hormones and we are relentlessly jittery,
fearful, hyper vigilant, and we are physically
and emotionally exhausted.
Hyper-sensitivity involves the hippocampus
(memory storage) and amygdala (emotions) at the
core of the limbic system (emotional brain).
These are both directly connected to the
hypothalamus, the command center for the danger
response. So fearful memories or associations or
an on-guard, over-reactive limbic system can
result in a trigger happy emotional brain for
fear and anxiety.
At the same time the neocortex (thinking brain)
is under active and is not applying the normal
checks and balances on the emotional brain.

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Fear and the Brain

At the same time, the inhibitory signals that the
danger has passed are malfunctioning. These
chemicals or neurotransmitters pass information
from one neuron to the next and are the basic
carriers of emotional information in the brain.
There are three neurotransmitters that are
essentially involved in fear and anxiety
serotonin, norepinephrine, and GABA.
Norepinephrine mediates anxiety while serotonin
and GABA quiet the stress response.
In chronic anxiety these are either overactive,
deficient, or not making the right neuron to
neuron connection. At the neuron level this is a
chemical failure to communicate. Problem in both
anxiety and depression.

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Fear and the Brain

Can think of this as a dance in order for
serotonin and GABA to stop the stress response.
You need the right number of dancers, not too few
or too many, and good choreography (connection to
the receptor sites on the neighboring neuron) in
order for serenity and calm in the mind-body
system.
When this does not happen, the result is
unrelenting fear, panic, phobia or other anxiety
disorders.

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Fear and the Brain
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Fear and the Brain
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Fear

Emotional state in the presence of a dangerous or
unpleasant stimulus, current threat,
Internal subjective experience of extreme
agitation,
Body response- autonomic nervous system
Desire to flee or attack
Identified threat
What we experience when we encounter the bear in
the woods
Fuck Everything And Run

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Anxiety

Oriented toward future,
Anticipated situation or event in the future
Body response- autonomic nervous system
Perceived threat
Prepare for flight or fight
Anxiety sees the world as more dangerous than it
really is. Outer real dangers and inner imagined
dangers.
What we experience when we think about
encountering the bear in the woods
Future Experienced As Reality

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Anxiety Sensitivity

Anxiety sensitivity is the fear of the sensations
we experience when we encounter the bear in the
woods or even think about encountering the bear
in the woods.
First there is fear then there is fear of fear
Cognitive style that involves an extreme fear of
your own anxiety bodily responses or symptoms and
tendency to catastrophize
Belief that anxiety symptoms have harmful
consequences such as physical or mental illness,
loss of control, or social embarrassment
High AS lower tolerance for anxiety provoking
situations
Genetic component
Environmental component
Attachment style high AS more likely for
preoccupied and fearful avoidant styles (negative
model of self)

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Anxiety Sensitivity

Those with fear of fear are highly sensitive to
the physical sensations of anxiety and tend to
pay close attention to those sensations when they
arise.
The increased attention amplifies the sensation,
leading to a heightened state of anxiety and
possibly a panic attack.
Panic disorder and PTSD have highest levels of AS
Severity of AS related to severity of PTSD
AS risk factor for PTSD
Correlation of AS and depression especially fear
of loss of control
Correlation of AS and substance abuse

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Therapeutic Approaches

Feel the Fear and Beyond- Susan Jeffries, 1998
Overcoming the Fear of Fear How to Reduce
Anxiety Sensitivity-Watt Stewart, 2008
The Anxiety Book Developing Strength in the Face
of FearDavidson, 2003

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Therapeutic Approaches