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Topic Tuesday / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid? Closed

NikNikSenior Contributor09 July 2015, 7:28 pm AEST

Topic Tuesday / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid? Closed

Hi everyone,

There have been a lot of discussion about ‘fear’ in the Forums lately; what impacts, good or bad, it’s had on our lives and questions about how to manage it. So what better way to bring together our collective tips and advice for each other than to revolve tonight's topic around the emotion?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2strQAiM0iA

Tonight we are focusing on ‘Fear’. There is a wide spectrum of different types of fear – so we may not get to everything tonight, but what I’m hoping we can get to tonight is giving a brief overview of ‘fear’, talk about our own individual experiences with fear, talk about some strategies to manage ‘fear’ and try and apply it to our own individual situations.

So to start off lets look at what fear is from a physiological and psychological perspective.

Fear is a primal instinct that served us as cave dwellers and today. It keeps us alive, because if we survive a bad experience, we never forget how to avoid it in the future.

Our most vivid memories are born in Fear. Adrenaline embeds them into our brains.

Today, fear still hovers around us, silently monitoring our environments. As sensory information enters the brain, it splits into two paths. One feeds into consciousness, where we can observe and remember it. The other flows through the subconscious, where a region in the brain called the amygdala filters it for signs of danger. When a match is found, the amygdala can trigger an automatic response so quickly that we might respond before we're consciously aware that there's a problem.

So back in day fear kept us safe, gave us almost 'super human' skills to fight or flee, to manage threats like lions, tigers and bears (oh my!).

But now, those threats mostly don't exist... so we have to find a way to recognise what fear is and create strategies to manage our physical and psychological responses.

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In response to: Topic Tuesday / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid? **Closed**

greenspaceSenior Contributor14 July 2015, 7:39 pm AEST

Re: Topic Tuesday / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid? NOW OPEN

That's great that you can feel okay with passing your studies and not demand perfection.
Being able to let go of fearing parental judgement is a big thing and can take years. Ithink I've got there with my dad

In response to: Topic Tuesday / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid? **Closed**

JacquesSenior Contributor14 July 2015, 7:40 pm AEST

Re: Topic Tuesday / 14 July 7pm AEST / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid?

Thankyou @happygirl, it is nice to know someone knows what it is like, the fear is so crippling to me i have not been able to leave the house in 14 years, it has also expanded to other fears, fear of people, fear of driving, fear of answering a call, i have not used a phone in 7 years. The more control the fear has over me the more it takes.

In response to: Topic Tuesday / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid? **Closed**

simply_meContributor14 July 2015, 7:40 pm AEST

Re: Topic Tuesday / 14 July 7pm AEST / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid?

Fear/anxiety can often prevent us from doing or saying something which we are confident is appropriate. However, the consequences of not doing/saying this often leads to a type of depression and disappointed with ourselves - which just seems to feed the anxiety/fear cycle.

In response to: Re: Topic Tuesday / 14 July 7pm AEST / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid?

happygirlSenior Contributor14 July 2015, 7:44 pm AEST

Re: Topic Tuesday / 14 July 7pm AEST / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid?

I don't think you are scared of people. You are to alking to people on this forum. Think about that...now we aren't bad are we? I think you are doing well to be talking to us.

In response to: Topic Tuesday / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid? **Closed**

greenspaceSenior Contributor14 July 2015, 7:46 pm AEST

Re: Topic Tuesday / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid? NOW OPEN

Yes, sometimes I get into that downward spiral of fear, avoidance, more self-doubt and depression. I'm so glad I've had great support from community mental health workers and from a couple of wonderful psychologists over the years, who have helped me break the negative cycle and create positive ones sometimes. Doing something that I was afraid of and having it go okay is such a great feeling!

In response to: Re: Topic Tuesday / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid? **NOW OPEN**

simply_meContributor14 July 2015, 7:49 pm AEST

Re: Topic Tuesday / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid? NOW OPEN

resilience is clearly the key - how good would it be if you could buy that of the shelf!

In response to: Topic Tuesday / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid? **Closed**

NikNikSenior Contributor14 July 2015, 7:49 pm AEST

Re: Topic Tuesday / 14 July 7pm AEST / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid?

The Perception Gap is a theory developed by author and Harvard teacher, David Ropeik, which he wrote about in 'How Risky Is it Really?' which is specifically about looking at and analysing Risk.

In a nutshell, it's acknowledging that sometimes we are more afraid, or less afraid, than the evidence suggests. So for example, people may have an intense fear about an asteroid hitting earth and destroying everything. But if we look at the facts around this.. it's highly unlikely.

It's a mismatch of our reaction of fear, to the likelihood of the outcome. But it's very easy for us to say 'LOOK AT THE FACTS' - that's hard... it's like dismissing your feelings... it's hard to be objective.

Perception gap theory looks at skills in education and effective risk communication, that can narrow the 'gap' between your perception and the likelihood of that scenario playing out.

Managing the risks of The Perception Gap is not just about making the facts clear. That's not enough. There will still be risks that need to be managed because we sometimes get risk wrong.

I found a quote that I really like. It's from Princeton neuroscientist Sam Wang:

The brain really is a survival machine. It's not there to perform some sort of super computing operation and leading to some calculation of Pi to 100 digits. It tells you lies. Your brain misrepresents. It distorts. All in the interest of helping you survive.

In response to: Re: Topic Tuesday / 14 July 7pm AEST / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid?

JacquesSenior Contributor14 July 2015, 7:49 pm AEST

Re: Topic Tuesday / 14 July 7pm AEST / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid?

I can talk to people on hear, but i have not spoken to a person face-to-face in 14 years, yes a quick yes/no but not a proper conversation, i am always filled with such dred, i can't even remember talking to a person if i am forced to. even now i am shaking and later tonight i will get panic attacks from talking to you all tonight.

In response to: Re: Topic Tuesday / 14 July 7pm AEST / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid?

happygirlSenior Contributor14 July 2015, 7:51 pm AEST

Re: Topic Tuesday / 14 July 7pm AEST / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid?

Jacques hope you have some support for those panic attacks

In response to: Re: Topic Tuesday / 14 July 7pm AEST / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid?

NikNikSenior Contributor14 July 2015, 7:54 pm AEST

Re: Topic Tuesday / 14 July 7pm AEST / Fear; What would you do if you weren't afraid?

You are all so wonderful and open to sharing...

Have their been any strategies in managing fear (any type of fear from simple nerves through to phobias and anxiety), which has worked for you?

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