Overcome Fears

By Guillermo Pegoraro

Do you want to get your normal and peaceful life back? Fear, like many other emotions, is an essential part of human life, since it is normal to fear for one's well-being or that of the family. The triggers of fears are multiple, so people are mainly plagued by irrational fears. Fear is learned in most cases, even if the old brain teaches people that anything new should be viewed with caution at first because it could be dangerous. Fear is a useful emotion in that sense. Fears have a lot to do with how something is valued, and some people develop horror scenarios in their heads over time, and once established, those fears are difficult to eradicate from thoughts. The way to keep useful fears and get rid of harmful ones is to understand them, know their origins and confront them with the techniques offered by psychology. This is a book that aims to do so and if you commit yourself you will make it possible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Guillermo Pegoraro
• Release date: Feb 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005814274

Guillermo Pegoraro

Guillermo Horacio Pegoraro(Córdoba – Argentina, 1966). Licenciado en Comunicación Social. Licenciado en Psicología. Autor de libros con relatos psicológicos como: “Sin códigos”, “Zapatitos de cristal”, “Cápsula del tiempo”, “Talón de Aquiles”, “Te perdono” “Relatos de alcoba” y “La leyenda de Crhist”. Ha recibido diversas menciones y premios por su trabajo en certámenes literarios del ámbito internacional (Argentina, Chile, Perú, Uruguay, Venezuela, Colombia, México, España y Estados Unidos). Dirige la página “Te perdono” donde brinda asesoramiento psicológico gratuito a personas con problemas sentimentales. https://www.facebook.com/teperdonolibro/

Book preview

Overcome

fears

Guillermo H. Pegoraro

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Contents

Cap.1 What is fear?

Chap.2 Types of fears

Chap.3 Panic attacks

Chap.4 Anxiety/Depression

Chap.5 Treatments for fears

chap. 1

What is fear?

It is common for a person to experience various emotions that accompany almost any change and action in their life. One of the basic and most powerful of them is fear. Fear has many causes and manifestations and in some cases it is no longer normal, requiring medical intervention.

Fear is an internal feeling that reflects a defensive reaction to real or imagined danger. In psychology, it belongs to the group of so-called negative emotions - emotions that are based on unpleasant experiences or external influences.

One type of fear is phobia. It is an irrational and poorly controlled fear of an object, living being, or being in certain external circumstances. At the same time, a person tries with all his might to avoid contact with the source of his fear, even if it does not pose any objective threat.

Why do people seek to experience fear?

The emotional response to fear is very individual and is often perceived differently by people. Fear can also cause positive reactions in the human CNS (Central Nervous System). In some situations, the feeling of fear is considered entertainment, for example, when watching horror movies.

Some people seek to provoke a feeling of fear, the so-called adrenaline junkies. In most cases, these are people who are fond of extreme sports and other activities associated with risks to health and life.

Fear is the most reliable source of euphoria: why, because we love being afraid.

At the heart of all our feelings are seven ancient, even pre-human emotions, something like psychic instincts that act against our will. There are three positive emotions - joy, surprise, interest - and three negative - sadness, anger, disgust. And the seventh - fear - neither here nor there: it seems to be negative, but, so to speak, not quite. It is unpleasant to be afraid, but we are willing to pay money to be afraid because fear is not only despair, sweaty skin, and wet pants, but also something very dear to us.

All human fears have a basis: the fear of non-existence. Not even fear, but existential anxiety, the most painful experience available.

Other people's fears can be completely amusing to others who don't have them. What could be more fun than a company director screeching at the sight of a spider? A doctor sleeping with the lights on. More fun than a millionaire panicking at the thought of dying in poverty? A taxi driver prays fervently as a plane takes off. It can be very difficult for us to understand another person's fear, but we all know perfectly well what it is: the ability to experience it is in the firmware of every mentally healthy person. Question: Are you not afraid of anything at all? - this is not so much a compliment, but a concern, if everything is in order with your head.

Fears look very different, but this is only at first glance. I like the version that all human fears have a basis: the fear of non-existence. It's not just fear, it's existential angst, the most painful experience available, an inexpressible and paralyzing premonition of not existing, of not being recognized, of loneliness. To get rid of existential anxiety, we turn it into fear, because fear is concrete, we understand it, it has limits, you can haggle and negotiate with it, you can live with it.

Fear is a necessary trait for a person to survive, and it is from the survival instinct that it originates. When we are in an emergency, our bodies and emotions react. Fear is born in the brain - in the amygdala, which in turn transmits impulses to the hypothalamus, causing the body to produce adrenaline. So we make more of the fear hormone, our muscles tense, and our hearts start beating faster. This natural preparation of the body to fight or flee from a threat has been developed in humans (and some animals) through evolution.

We react to fear emotionally, but the degree of this reaction depends on the specific person. Those who avoid a threatening situation, when it occurs, will react to it more strongly than those who are in high-risk professions or love extreme sports daily. Fear also comes from people's ability to connect facts. We are aware that a given situation may pose a threat because we have experienced it ourselves before, or the ability to think abstractly tells us that a given situation or behavior may cause a threat.

types of fear

Psychologists and psychiatrists have made many divisions of fear, there is no single obligatory typology (we will analyze them in depth in chapter 2). Most of the time, however, there are