Overcoming Fear

Fear is an organism’s natural response to a threat i.e., it’s a defense mechanism. Fear is known to trigger a serious physical reaction. At times, it can be healthy, as it keeps humans safe from harm. However, it can also become overwhelming and debilitating, leading to avoidance behaviors and negatively impacting day-to-day life. 

The body’s response to fear can be categorized into four: fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. These are physiological responses. The brain sends signals to the body when it senses fear. In “fight-or-flight,” a person is faced with two choices: to either fight or flee. Another fear response is to freeze; in this, a person’s body is directed to remain still until the danger passes. “Fawning” is a fear response where a person tries to please fear triggers in order to prevent them from causing harm.

Fear can be both good and bad for humans. It is natural and can be healthy since it leads to survival instincts kicking in. But when it leads to anxiety, fear turns unhealthy. It often limits people, impacts their lives negatively, and prevents goal persuasion and enjoyment. Also, it leads to various mental health-related issues such as avoidance behaviors, anxiety, and depression. Overcoming fear is a great challenge. But when people do overcome it, they become self-confident and resilient.

Overcoming Fear Essay Examples

► Phobias: The Irrational Fear

Phobias are irrational fear to a person, place or object and they are classified as an anxiety disorder. There is a term for every phobia imaginable. Phobias affect approximately nineteen million individuals, with the fears ranging from blood to women and every thing in between.

► The Effects of Fear

Fear is described as “an intense emotional state caused by specific external stimuli and associated with avoidance, self-defense, and escape” (Strickland 244). As a primary emotion, fear is felt by everyone, although some people feel fear in a more intense way than others.

► The Motivation and Consequences of Fear

In today’s society fear is the cause of most violence. Fear is motivated in a lot of ways from TV to face on face interaction. Society should learn to overcome fear and be moti-vated by desire to be seen as free and equal. In this essay I’m going to give examples of cases where fear played a big role that caused problems.

► An Overview of Anxiety

Being anxious can have multiple physical effects on an individuals health. The problem occurs when the fight or flight response is triggered daily by excessive worrying and fear. Due to this being activated, the individual may feel nauseous, trembling and twitching.

► Phobias Essay

Phobias Fear is what many people have and it means that they are afraid of something or someone, but fear is just one thing, phobias is a completely different thing. Phobias is not just a silly little fear, it is an extreme, irrational, and excessive fear of certain things or situations that can negatively affect someone’s life.

Types of Fear and How to Overcome Them

There are many types of fears, some of which are irrational and are called phobias. In order to overcome them, it is important to learn and recognize them. By definition, a phobia is an exaggerated fear that is caused by one particular trigger. People with phobia/s are generally aware that their fear is irrational. They will nonetheless experience severe anxiety upon exposure to their phobia. Phobias can be caused by a stressful experience or frightening events. Most phobias can be cured with appropriate treatment such as behavioral therapy, medications, or a combination of both.

Overcoming Fear of Flying and Failure

Flying is usually a nerve-wracking experience for many people, but when this fear escalates, it’s called aerophobia. People suffering from this type of fear avoid taking flights or suffer from anxiety during plane travels. One might even have a panic attack in the middle of a flight. However, by following these steps, one can overcome their fear of flying:

• Education about flying: Learning all about airplanes and flying assures one about safety. Having this knowledge provides confidence.

• Distraction: Distracting oneself during the flight by either talking with co-passengers, reading or watching a movie, or even sleeping helps one calm down.

• Relaxation techniques: Techniques such as deep breathing and meditation can be practiced during takeoff and landing or during the flight.

• Seeking professional help: Talking to a mental health professional, who can suggest effective coping methods can help in treating aerophobia.

• Choosing the proper seat: Choosing a comfortable seat, either window or aisle can help one relax.

Atychiphobia is an extreme fear of failure. The word originates from the Greek word atyches, which means “unfortunate.” Atychiphobia is an irrational and persistent fear of failing. It results in emotional and behavioral distress; it causes anxiety, avoidance, feelings of powerlessness, and helplessness. Fear of failure can be a result of various factors such as critical upbringing, perfectionism, genetics, and trauma. This fear results in people having low self-esteem, poor motivation, self-sabotaging behavior, shame, and embarrassment. It stops individuals from achieving their dreams and goals. Below is a list of tips one can follow to reduce atychiphobia:

• Positive thinking: Thinking positively helps build self-confidence and neutralizes self-sabotaging behaviors. It helps one see things differently.

• Setting realistic goals: Failure results when people set unachievable goals for themselves. Setting reasonable goals has more chances of achievement.

• Celebrating success: Every tiny success should be celebrated. It helps in keeping mental health positive. 

• Using failure as a learning curve: Having a mental setup that life is about both failure and success helps one cope with failure.

• Having a contingency plan: Having a backup plan helps one prepare themselves better for dealing with failure.

• Seeking professional help: Consulting a psychotherapist can equip one with healthy coping strategies to overcome their fear of failure.

Look through the essays below to get an understanding of the different types of fears and personal accounts of people overcoming them.

► Type of Phobias

There are three main categories that a phobia can fall under. The three categories are as follows. First, Specific phobias, which are usually your phobias of something such as spiders, clowns or even something like your dentist.

► Personal Narrative: Overcoming My Fear of Flying

As a kid I was tough, I did anything and everything. But flying scared me. I was in Hawaii and flying was unavoidable if you wanted to go anywhere. My father lived in California so when I decided to visit him I also had to face my fear and fly over the ocean.

► Overcoming Fear Of Failure

People usually afraid of failure because they tried to do something and failed, or took a risk and it didn’t pay off, or made a decision and it turned out to be the wrong one. That fear of failure create the stress and anxiety when people want to do something hard or try something new.

► Anxiety vs. the Body

Anxiety is a term for several disorders that causes the body to feel fear, nervousness, apprehension, and worrying, “Anxiety is a word we use for some types of fear that are consequently to do with the thought of a threat or something going wrong in the future, rather than right now” (Mental Health Foundation).

Overcoming Fear of Heights and Death

An intense fear of heights is termed acrophobia. In this, an individual experiences anxiety and panic when positioned at a significant height. This fear can stem from one’s natural fear of falling. It can also develop as a response to a traumatic experience involving heights. Acrophobia can also be a result of genetics or environmental factors. One can adopt the following steps to overcome acrophobia: 

• Relaxation techniques: These include meditation, yoga, deep breathing, and muscle relaxation to help with stress and anxiety.

• Exercising: Exercise helps in relaxing the mind and thus controls irrational fears.

• Gradual exposure to the fear: Exposure to the fear helps in desensitizing the trigger.

• Rationalizing the fear: Not all heights are dangerous; examining the rationality of the situation can help one stay calm.

• Treatment options and medication: Acrophobia can be treated with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and virtual reality.

Thanatophobia is an extreme fear of death. People struggling with this imagine their own death or the death of loved ones. This phobia can result from stress or traumatic life events involving death. When people suffering from thanatophobia imagine death, they start showing symptoms such as extreme sweat, frequent episodes of shortness of breath, frequent panic attacks, increased heart rate, and severe headaches. Thanatophobia can be overcome with psychotherapy and medications.

► Acrophobia Learning Theory Essay

Everyone in life has a fear, whether it is something very simple or something more extreme. When fears become more extreme, they are then classified as phobias in which become harder to deal with. In the case of acrophobia, it is described as the extreme or irrational fear of heights.

► Fear of Death Essay

Death is a difficult subject for many people. The topic alone can cause a lot of anxiety because of all the things we don’t know. Most of us fear death for many reasons. Whether it’s your final day, or a final moment with a loved one, it’s a painfully scary process because of its uncertainty.

► Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive Behavioral therapy (CBT) is made up of a number of basic principles that recognize that thoughts, feelings and behaviors are interrelated. CBT emcompasses several different types of therapies that share a common element.

Overcoming Fear of Public Speaking

Glossophobia, or a fear of public speaking, is a very common phobia and affects up to 75% of the world’s population. Its symptoms vary from slight nervousness to paralyzing fear and panic. It can be due to a combination of genetic tendencies and other environmental, biological, and psychological factors. But this fear can be overcome by following a few simple steps:

• Focusing on the material: Focusing on the audience can increase anxiety. Focusing only on the speech material instead can help one relax.

• Thorough preparation: Knowing the speech topic in and out gives confidence.

• Practice: Practicing the speech repeatedly helps in providing a stronghold for delivery.

• Starting small: Speaking in front of smaller groups and eventually moving to larger audiences helps to reduce anxiety and leads to perfection.

• Breathwork: Taking a deep breath before speaking helps in reducing anxiety.

Most populations suffer from a fear of heights and public speaking and, therefore, these are very common fears. The next section explores diverse fears and ways to overcome them.

Some phobias are very common, but there are some which are rare. Fear of heights, death, public speaking, etc., are very common phobias, and most of the population suffers from them. The next section explores some other fears with ways to overcome them.

► Overcoming The Fear Of Public Speaking Analysis

I believe that public speaking is not an innate gift that only certain people have, rather anyone can be an excellent public speaker with a certain amount of practice, time, and effort. That being said, I consider myself an excellent public speaker.

► Fear of public speaking

Your chest is tight and you feel like you’re on fire. Your chest is tight ant you’re burning up. The flash cards in your hands are crumpled from you squeezing them obsessively. You look up and see dozens of eyes staring at you, waiting expectantly.

Overcoming Other Fears

Some people suffer from a fear of intimacy, which leads to isolating oneself and avoiding relationships. Valuing oneself, proper communication, and seeking professional help are some of the ways this fear can be treated. Others suffer from fear of abandonment and driving. Abandonment is the anxiety of being lonely after losing loved ones and can be overcome by regulating emotions, identifying attachment types, and nurturing relationships. Amaxophobia is the fear of driving and involves panic, avoidance of driving, or imagining fatalities. This can be treated by identifying the fear and exploring CBT.  

Fears have been known to make humans stronger, but overcoming irrational fears is very important as they can be harmful. Learning when and how to seek help is crucial with any phobia. Both facing and overcoming fears make people brave and confident.

► Fear: Good or Bad

Fear is the reason why students are writing an essay for a class. Fear is the anxiety of receiving a failing mark to a final exam that we never show to our parents. Fear is the uneasiness that we feel when our parents learn about a stupid thing that could make them disappointed.

► Causes and Effects of Fear

In the movie After Earth, Will Smith’s character quoted, “Fear is not real. It is a product of thoughts you create. Do not misunderstand me. Danger is very real. But fear is a choice.” Scientists commonly describe fear as a negative emotional state prompted by the presence of a stimulus that has the potential to cause harm.

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