The old saying all we have the fear is fear itself is more true than you might immigine, because fear it self is what we don't know. When we are little almost all of us fear a dark room, or sleep with a nightlight on. In a lighted room we see, but in a darkened room we can't, and we fear the lack of knowledge. Fear is an idea formed within all of us, becuase we are all human. Humans alike fear the unknown, and will alwasys.
I have elected to move this to the tavern, unlike the thread "erception", because "erception" is more potentially a philosophical discussion, and phil. threads tend to go with religion and politics.
What is Fear? Fear is "an unpleasant and often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger." Fear is completely natural and helps people to recognize and respond to dangerous situations and threats. However, healthy fear -- or fear which has a protective function -- can evolve into unhealthy or pathological fear, which can lead to exaggerated and violent behavior.
How Fear works When we sense danger, the brain reacts instantly, sending signals that activate the nervous system. This causes physical responses, such as a faster heartbeat, rapid breathing, and an increase in blood pressure. Blood pumps to our large muscle groups to prepare the body for physical action (such as running or fighting). Skin sweats to keep the body cool. Some people might notice sensations in the stomach, head, chest, legs, or hands. These physical sensations of fear can be mild or strong.
This response is known as "fight or flight" because that is exactly what the body is preparing itself to do: fight off the danger or run fast to get away. The body stays in this state of fightâ"flight until the brain receives an "all clear" message and turns off the response.
Sometimes fear is triggered by something that is startling or unexpected (like a loud noise), even if it's not actually dangerous. That's because the fear reaction is activated instantly â" a few seconds faster than the thinking part of the brain can process or evaluate what's happening. As soon as the brain gets enough information to realize there's no danger ("Oh, it's just a balloon bursting â" whew!", it turns off the fear reaction. All this can happen in seconds.
As was said above... Fear is one of the many tools that are hard-wired into your brain that acts on the concept of self-preservation... When the subconscious detects something unusual and potentially dangerous, it orders the adrenal glands to release adrenaline and very small amounts of epinephrine (large amounts cause you to do very unusual things). This triggers the fight-or-flight response. At this point it is up to your conscious mind to determine the threat level. If it is extremely high, you run. If moderate, you generally fight, and if low, who cares?
Pathological fear is caused by one of three things. A. the person in question has some bad memory ingrained in their head that inhibits them from even getting close to the thing... Ex: when I was three, I became tangled in seaweed and almost drowned. To this day, I can't stand to even look at any plant that looks remotely like it. I don't panic like I once did, and can now stand to ski in the presence of the stuff, but I don't like it...
B. some wire in the brain goes down. Essentially your brain is miswired. Its not your fault.
C. you developed it for your own attention. It is actually quite impressive what lengths people will go to to be recognized (and thus attended). Some people develop pathological fears not intentionally but as the subconscious mind's way of getting attention. Normally it does not result in this great of an extent. Normally people who are ignored just become annoying. After all, as far as the subconscious is concerned, negative attention is better than no attention...
