Phobia: what is it, various definitions in psychology. The concept of the psychology of fear Psychological characteristics that affect the feeling of fear

Fear (anxiety), as well as aggression, is one of the most important mental phenomena of a person, the research of which often gives rise to entire trends in psychology.

In modern psychiatry and psychology, it is customary to distinguish fear as “an emotion that arises in situations of threat to the biological or social existence of an individual and is directed at a source of real or imagined danger”; and anxiety as "an emotional state arising in situations of uncertain danger" and having an intrapsychic origin.

In the concept of dynamic psychiatry, fear (anxiety), like aggression, is a central humane function located in the unconscious core of the personality and acting as the most important indicator and regulator of the relationship of the individual with the environment, necessary as a condition for the manifestation of activity, the acquisition of new experience, the maintenance and development of the Self. -identities. In other words, it is anxiety that allows the subject to navigate correctly in the complex world of object relations, to cope with reality, to contact a person with himself, with his unconscious and, thereby, be able to establish contacts with other individuals and groups. At the same time, it is important to note that a person's anxiety arises in any situation that requires confirmation of one's identity, and, in fact, is an energy-regulatory mechanism of overcoming (coping-) behavior.

For the normal development of self-identity in conditions of various kinds of danger, a certain level of fear (anxiety) is required, and especially the ability to coexist with it. This ability allows one to use anxiety to solve the problems of socio-psychological adaptation, actions in the real world without losing one's integration and integrity, to differentiate between real threats and "objectively" unfounded fears and fears.

1. Constructive fear

Constructive fear thus plays the role of a mechanism that mobilizes and develops coping with anxiety; inhibiting excessive activity, controlling the limits of active "experimentation", permissible curiosity and healthy curiosity in the process of realizing one's self-identity based on flexible coordination of the level of the subject's internal activity with the real danger and complexity of the current situation.

Being formed (like other central functional components of the “I”) in a productive symbiosis (early relations with the mother and the primary group), it forever retains its interpersonal character, providing the opportunity in threatening situations to seek help and accept it from others, and also, if necessary, provide assistance to those in real need.

Constructive fear has an important signaling, protective and orienting function, for example, in assessing the degree of danger. Constructive fear makes a person capable of establishing contact with others, accepting help, coping with losses, separation, death of loved ones, opening the boundaries of one's Self, thereby further developing one's own identity, i.e. "makes a man a man."

A constructive personality is characterized by psychological stability (tolerance) to anxious experiences and the ability to make reasonable, balanced decisions in situations of responsible choice, both in everyday (stationary) and extraordinary (extreme) conditions. It is also characterized by the ability to contact and actively involve other people to resolve their own difficulties, doubts, fears and fears, as well as the ability to feel the disturbing experiences of others and provide support in overcoming them.

2. Destructive fear

Destructive fear is a deformation (distortion) of the regulatory component of the mechanism of coping with anxiety, with the loss of activity, which ensures the mental integration of the individual.

The inability to assimilate the experience of an adequate, differentiated attitude to dangerous and threatening situations leads to "overwhelming" anxiety, exceeding the degree of real danger, and as a result, to disorganization and socio-psychological maladaptation.

The reason for the deformation of the self-function of fear is considered to be the atmosphere of "hostile symbiosis" in the early phase of individual development (ontogenesis), leading to a generalized perception of the threat, "flooding" the child's weak self and preventing the normal integration of life experience, the ability to "share" and jointly experience anxiety in a symbiotic contact with mother. The basic distrust of the world formed in this way in the child leads to excessive frustration of his sense of security, unconsciously accompanying the personality in all its subsequent relations with reality and deformation of interpersonal interaction as the most important way to overcome the perceived threat.

At the behavioral level, destructive fear is manifested by an inadequate reassessment of real threats, difficulties, problems; inability to adequately behave in dangerous situations, up to panic manifestations; fear of establishing new contacts and close, trusting human relationships; fear of authority; fear of any surprises; difficulty concentrating; pronounced bodily vegetative reactions (sweating, palpitations, dizziness), fears for one's own future; inability to seek help and support in difficult life situations.

Destructive-anxious personalities are characterized by increased anxiety, a tendency to anxiety and unrest for the most insignificant reasons, difficulties in organizing their own activity, a feeling of lack of control over the situation, indecision, timidity, shyness, spontaneousness, difficulties in self-realization, expanding their life experience, helplessness in situations that require mobilization and confirmation of identity, overcrowding with all sorts of fears for their future, inability to truly trust either themselves or the people around them.

One of the goals of humanstructural therapy is to transform destructive fear into a constructive force, i.e. perception of it as an engine for the development of a person's identity, because each new step towards one's own identity is associated with the opening of the boundaries of the Self and, thereby, with fear. In this regard, the limit of readiness to endure fear (to coexist with it) determines the possibility of positive changes in the course of psychotherapy.

3. Scarcity fear

Deficiency fear, in contrast to destructive fear, means underdevelopment or blocking of the danger warning mechanism and inability to coexist with fear, to endure it, leading to subjective rejection and ignoring of danger. It always denotes the fear of fear, leading to emotional detachment and superficiality in relationships with others, avoiding situations of revealing one's "I", and ultimately - clashes with one's own identity.

The reason for the underdevelopment of the self-function of fear is the atmosphere of "cold" and indifferent primary symbiosis (mother's attitude), in which the child is not broadcast related to him emotional states, experiences, fears and anxiety of the mother, which leads to a blockage in the development of the mechanism of mediated "mastery" of danger. At the same time, not only the regulatory, but also the existential - signal component of anxiety suffers, which manifests itself in the inability to "feel" fear in general, the impossibility of coexisting with anxiety and intolerance of experiences associated with a mental reflection of danger, which is not perceived by the child's mind as such.

The lack of the ability to subjectively feel fear sooner or later leads to a face-to-face encounter with objective danger, the psychotraumatic consequences of which determine the subsequent pathogenic dynamics of the development of this I-function.

The functional deficit of constructive fear compensatory involves other I-functions in the process of adaptation, thus deforming the integral I-structure of the personality.

At the behavioral level, deficiency fear is manifested by an underestimation or complete disregard for objective danger, a feeling of boredom, fatigue and spiritual emptiness and emotional "hibernation"; a pronounced compensatory desire for extreme situations, allowing at least for a while to get rid of “emotional non-existence”, “wake up”, feel an emotional shake-up (“adrenaline in the blood”), feel real life; non-perception of fear and emotional states experienced by others, leading to emotional non-participation, inadequacy in assessing the actions and actions of others, avoidance of collisions with the inner “I” of another person, emotional smoothing and superficial nature of contacts and relationships with others; inability to assimilate a new, developing life experience.

Deficit-anxious individuals are characterized by: the absence of an alarm reaction, both in normal and stressful situations (an impression of psychological stability), a tendency to take risks, ignoring objective danger, a tendency to emotionally devalue important life events, deep feelings and emotional relationships (situations parting with significant others, loss of loved ones, etc.); the absence of visible difficulties in interpersonal relationships with the inability to achieve sufficient emotional depth, the inaccessibility of true complicity and empathy.

As a means of unconscious protection from one's own fear, deficiency fear often serves as the basis for a substitutive tendency (tropism) to use alcohol, drugs, stay in a criminal environment, as well as adherence to various ideologies of power.

Three different aspects of fear (constructive, destructive, deficient) can be qualitatively established and quantitatively measured using the appropriate scales of G. Ammon's I-structural test and the Psychodynamically Oriented Personality Questionnaire (POLO).

Fear

fear) Traditionally considered as one of the primary emotions along with joy, anger and sadness, C. is the emotion of avoiding a consciously recognized, usually external, real danger. Unlike fear, anxiety is the emotion of avoiding perceived but mostly unrecognized dangers, while phobias are irrational obsessions and are characterized by careful avoidance of specific objects or situations. The words "fear", "anxiety" and "phobia" are sometimes mistakenly used interchangeably. In certain respects, this confusion can be understood, since all three words mean a state of arousal (arousal), resulting from a person's awareness of a lack of strength and ability, or the inability to cope with some threatening situation, and similar physiologists correspond to fear, anxiety and phobias. states. Physiological changes. The aspects accompanying S. represent the physiologist. changes caused mainly by the biochemical causative agent, adrenaline. Adrenaline prepares the skeletal muscles for increased stress, which can occur in a rescue situation (flight) or when protecting oneself and one's property (attack). If the individual, following the excitation, is not included in the c.-l. kind of physical activity, this leads to unpleasant physiology. changes such as trembling in the arms and legs, general weakness and heightened awareness of one's own breathing and heartbeat. An increase in heart rate, an increase in systolic blood pressure and respiratory rate are the result of the body's efforts to redirect blood flow from the areas of the stomach, head, neck and face to different muscle groups, which are in great need of it. If the outflow of blood from the cerebral cortex is too fast, there is an inhibition of arbitrary cortical function, and people. loses consciousness. This entails a sharp decrease in respiratory and cardiac rhythms - something similar occurs in the posture of stupor, observed in animals. William James and Carl Lange independently came to the conclusion that the experienced somatic state is emotion: in short, we are afraid because we tremble. Beginning in the mid-1950s, cognitive psychologists challenged this James-Lange theory by demonstrating that thoughts themselves can evoke the same physiology. changes that can be observed in a real situation of danger. The confusion and loss of control that occurs when the individual does not know how to avert a threat to life can lead to feelings of fear. The idea that S. is acquired is not new, but this in no way detracts from its popularity. At the beginning of the 20th century, John B. Watson experimentally demonstrated the conditioned or acquired aspects of fear, i.e., a neutral or even previously preferred object began to cause a fear reaction after it was combined with a fear-inducing BR. Despite the fact that such learning, apparently, characterizes phobic reactions to a greater extent, it is not difficult to detect the presence of similar assoc. and in C itself. Questions about whether the fear of death is a natural (natural) force that ensures the preservation and reproduction of the species, or is it an artificial formation due to maternal attitudes, perceived security, or some irrational idea of ​​the importance of the life of each person. in ob-ve, for a long time will serve as a subject for discussion. It is probably more important to discuss the utility than the innateness of S. death. The most obvious benefit of S. death is to avoid life-threatening situations. At the same time, those who confront dangerous situations and try to save others are honored in society. Heroic deeds are, first of all, a reflex to the horror of death. Christianity also uses the S. of death as a means of inducing commitment to lead a righteous earthly life with the promise of a second rebirth, in the image of Christ who has risen from the grave, and gaining salvation and eternal life. See also Fears of children, Fears of people at different stages of life, Anxiety, Emotions D. F. Fisher

FEAR

Negative acute emotion that can arise in an environment of real threat to the individual. In a number of cases, it is important to suppress fear and display sufficient self-control and subordination of oneself to volitional self-orders; fear disorganizes the mental activity of a person.

FEAR (ICD 291.0; 308.0; 309.2)

a primitive intense emotion that develops in response to a real or imagined threat and is accompanied by physiological reactions resulting from the activation of the autonomic (sympathetic) nervous system and defensive behavior when the patient tries to avoid danger by running away or hiding.

FEAR

an emotion that arises in situations of threat to the biological or social existence of an individual and is directed at a source of real or imagined danger. An affective mental state of expectation of danger, in which real danger threatens from an external object, and neurotic - from the demand of attraction. Unlike pain and other types of suffering caused by the real action of dangerous factors, it occurs when they are anticipated.

Depending on the nature of the threat, the intensity and specificity of the experience of fear varies in a fairly wide range of shades: fear, fear, fright, horror. If the source of danger is not identified or recognized, the resulting state is called anxiety.

Functionally, fear serves as a warning of impending danger, allows you to focus on its source, encourages you to look for ways to avoid it. In the case when he reaches the strength of affect (fear, panic, horror), he is able to impose stereotypes of behavior - flight, numbness, defensive aggression.

In the social development of a person, fear acts as one of the means of education: for example, the formed fear of condemnation is used as a factor in the regulation of behavior. Since in the conditions of society the individual enjoys the protection of legal and other social institutions, an increased tendency to fear loses its adaptive meaning and is traditionally assessed negatively.

Formed reactions of fear are relatively persistent and are able to persist even with the understanding of their meaninglessness. Therefore, the education of resistance to fear is usually aimed not at getting rid of it, but at developing the ability to control oneself when it is present. Inadequate reactions of fear are observed in various mental illnesses (-> phobia).

According to Z. Freud, fear is a state of affect, a combination of certain sensations of a series of pleasure-displeasure with the corresponding innervations of tension discharge and their perception, and also, probably, a reflection of a certain significant event. In a state of fear, predominantly neurotic, a reproduction of the trauma of birth can be seen.

Fear arises from the libido, serves self-preservation and is a signal of a new, usually external danger. The origin of fear is twofold:

1) as a direct consequence of the traumatic factor;

2) as a signal of the threat of a recurrence of this factor. Fear realizes repression and corresponds to the repressed desire, but is not equivalent to it.

There are three main types of fear: real fear, neurotic fear and fear of conscience. The only place of concentration of fear is I. Usually, fear of a specific object acts as a fear, in pathological cases - as a phobia. One of the most important varieties of fear is free fear. The affective state of fear that occurs in a situation of unexpected danger is fright. Hysteria of fear is interpreted as a neurosis, the main symptom of which is a variety of phobias.

According to A. Adler, fear comes from the suppression of aggressive desire, which plays a major role in everyday life and in neurosis.

FEAR

Feeling of internal tension, immediate danger to life in anticipation of threatening events, actions. Accompanied by a variety of vegetative disorders. It can be expressed in various ways - from an indefinite feeling of uncertainty, danger to horror. According to K. Leonhard, one of the phases of happiness psychosis is fear.

S. IN THE HEAD (German: Kopfangst). The affect of fear due to unpleasant sensations in the head (headaches, a feeling of fullness or compression of the brain, a feeling of emptiness in the head, dizziness). Often S.v. occurs with acute senestopathosis with appropriate localization of the sensations experienced by the patient.

C. DAY (Latin pavor diurnus). Fears in young children, similar to those of the night, but arising in the daytime, during the afternoon nap.

S. OBSTACIENT. See phobia.

C. NIGHT (Latin pavor nocturnus). States of pronounced fear and motor excitement during nocturnal sleep. They occur with a narrowed or rudimentary twilight-clouded consciousness, after awakening they are amnesic. They are observed in children of preschool and primary school age, often accompanied by sleepwalking and deceptions of perception. There are [Kovalev V.V., 1979] S.n. overvalued and delusional content, psychopathologically undifferentiated (these categories do not differ from similar fears observed in the daytime) and paroxysmal S.N., periodically recurring and timed to a certain time of night sleep, more often 2 hours after falling asleep. Sometimes there is a loss of urine and a bowel movement. Paroxysmal S. n. considered as a manifestation of temporal lobe epilepsy. S.n. can be observed in somatogenic asthenia.

Dictionary-reference book for parents with children with disabilities / Ed. L.G. Guslyakova, S.G. Miracle

FEAR

fear) is an emotional state caused by imminent danger and is usually characterized by unpleasant subjective sensations of a person along with physiological and behavioral reactions. Fear differs from anxiety in that it always has a specific object. Accompanying physiological changes in the body may include increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, increased sweating, etc. Changes in a person's behavior are associated with the fact that he tries to avoid objects and situations that cause him fear; these changes can be very strange and completely unacceptable for normal life (for example, fear of open spaces). Such specific, unacceptable fears for normal life are called phobias. Bsta-blockers help to reduce the physiological manifestations of fear and are used to treat short-term fears (for example, fear of knowing the results of a past exam). When taking tranquilizers (for example, diazepam), the risk of developing a dependence on them increases in a person, therefore, in the fight against unacceptable for normal life or persistent fears, preference is often given to behavioral or cognitive therapy.

Fear

Specificity. It arises if an individual has an impulse and a conscious goal to leave the situation, but continues to remain in it due to external reasons. Under such conditions, local fear can become generalized. As shown in the experiments of I.P. Pavlov and J. Wolpe, on the basis of generalized fear, learning occurs and fear takes the form of personal non-localized anxiety, or, being associated with a wide range of more or less random objects or situations, becomes a phobia. According to H. Eysenck, high indicators of such personal factors as neuroticism and introversion are the prerequisites for the emergence of anxiety.

FEAR

An emotional state that occurs in the presence or anticipation of a dangerous or harmful stimulus. Fear is usually characterized by an internal, subjective experience of intense arousal, a desire to flee or attack, and a range of sympathetic responses (see autonomic nervous system). Fear is often distinguished from anxiety on one (or both) of two grounds: (a) fear is seen as involving specific objects or events, while anxiety is seen as a more general emotional state; (b) fear is a reaction to a danger that is present at the moment, anxiety is a reaction to an expected or assumed one. See phobia, specific, persistent, irrational fear.

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Fear is a survival tactic that is inherent in the human species. You are all familiar with the fight-or-flight response, a state in which the body mobilizes to eliminate a threat. This is where fear originates. And although in today's world we face more emotional dangers than physical ones, the body and brain do not see the difference between them.

When you feel fear, your body releases the stress hormone cortisol and adrenaline. At this point, the ability of the body to fight or flee increases. Now this reaction can be triggered by everyday worries, which, in fact, change the brain architecture, as well as impulse control. That is, despite the fact that fear is designed to help a person, in our time it rather interferes.

In addition, if the fear is obsessive and all-encompassing, it can lead to serious problems with the psyche. Therefore, a modern person is simply obliged to understand the psychology of fear, as well as learn how to manage it and mitigate it.

Fear- this is an internal state due to a threatening or expected disaster. From the point of view is considered a negative emotion.

In this article, we will also look at one emotion similar to fear - anxiety. Anxiety is a negatively colored emotion that expresses a sense of uncertainty, foreboding premonitions. During anxiety, a person mobilizes all his mental energy in order to deal with a potentially dangerous situation that will not necessarily come.

Simply put, when experiencing anxiety, a person rummages through the memory and finds examples of dangerous events there. And then projects them into the near future.

The more frequent and intense the anxiety, the greater the damage to the body. Moreover, both physiology and the psyche suffer, phobias and neuroses appear, panic attacks are possible.

Despite the fact that fear and anxiety are still different emotions, they are closely related and can be “treated” by the same or similar methods.

Signs of fear

During fear in human physiology, a huge number of changes occur in comparison with the usual state:

• Cortisol, adrenaline and norepinephrine are released.
• The sympathetic nervous system is activated.
• Increased pain threshold, reaction speed, muscle strength, endurance.
• Increased heart rate and breathing rate.
• Increased sweating and blood pressure.
• Narrows the blood vessels throughout the body.
• Digestion slows down or stops completely.
• Pupils dilate.
• The sugar level rises.
• Instant reflexes are accelerated.
• Tunnel vision appears.

All these reactions of the body are characteristic of the instinct of self-preservation - perhaps the strongest instinct of all. They also have negative consequences: general exhaustion of the body, thirst, trembling in the body. The more often you experience fear, stress, anxiety and worry, the more likely it is that your immune system will be suppressed, which, as a result, will lead to illness.

It is important to understand that fear is an absolutely normal state. However, if you experience it every day, and for small reasons, it's time.

Man's fears

According to Professor Yuri Shcherbatykh, all fears are divided into three groups: biological, social and existential. Biological includes everything that poses a threat to life: fear of pain, fire, heights, predators, natural phenomena (volcanic eruptions, lightning, thunderstorms), terrorism. Such fears are justified, except for those that are phobias.

Social fears include everything that can spoil a person’s social status and lower his self-esteem: fear of losing a job, fear of public speaking, responsibility, social contacts, success, failure and error, assessments, rejection by the team, loneliness.

Existential fears include everything that is related to the issues of life, death and human existence: the fear of death, the future, time, open and closed space, the meaninglessness of human existence.

Often, various experts try to compile the top ten most popular human fears. Ratings are different, but the most common are:

1. Fear of death
2. Fear of being alone
3. Fear of public speaking
4. Fear of failure
5. Fear of terrorism
6. Fear of nuclear war
7. Fear of spiders
8. Fear of rejection
9. Fear of the dark
10. Fear of heights

What conclusion can be drawn from this list? Many items involve irrational experiences, whether it's public speaking or heights. You can also be afraid of the onset of a nuclear war, but this does not make sense: you can only attend to the problem and prepare for it if it does happen.

Therefore, we must first of all realize that in the modern world we are afraid of our own thoughts and fantasy, and not reality.

How to get rid of fear and anxiety

Regulate your breathing

Yes, you have heard a lot, and we have written a lot about deep breathing, which will help you relax, reduce anxiety and anxiety.

Rapid breathing is the first trigger that triggers anxiety symptoms. Thus, by controlling it, one can get rid of fear.

If you intentionally exhale longer than you inhale, the body should calm down. So if you start to feel fear:

• Focus on your breath.
• Breathe in (count to seven).
• Exhale (count to eleven).

If you do this for a minute or so, you will be surprised how quickly you calm down. This technique is called "breathing 7/11", but, of course, these numbers are very arbitrary: the main thing is that the exhalation should be longer than the inhalation.

Take control of your imagination

Fear, anxiety and worry are born when we imagine the worst. The function of the imagination is to be able to "look" into the future, to plan it. However, there is a side effect: a person sometimes learns to think only about negative possible events.

An uncontrolled imagination is a breeding ground for fear and can ruin your life. Anxiety arises as a reaction to negative thoughts, each event is seen as potentially dangerous.

Use the AWARE technique

AWARE stands for:

• Accept (recognition)
• Watch (observation)
• Act (action)
• Repeat (repetition)
• Expect (waiting for the best)

So if you're scared, do the following:

• Accept fear or anxiety. Don't try to fight them.
• Watch for fear. You should not draw any conclusions, just try to realize what is happening with the psyche and body.
• Act like everything is fine. Keep talking and acting like nothing happened. This sends a powerful signal to your subconscious mind that its overreaction is not really needed because nothing out of the ordinary is happening. Be the firefighter who arrives at the address, sees that there is no fire and returns back.
• Repeat the above steps if necessary.
• Expect the best. One of the greatest feelings is the realization that you can control fear much more than was thought possible.

As the name of the technique suggests (translated as "Awareness"), it helps to bring oneself into a conscious state.

Play Tetris

Oxford professor Emily Holmes found that if you play a repetitive, attention-consuming game like Tetris, it reduces the so-called emotional memory weight. That is, you will stop linking the past with a likely negative future.

Why does it work? The emotional encoding part of your brain is too busy watching falling blocks and trying to figure out where to put the awkward Z construct.

Of course, you can play any similar game: puzzles, LEGO, logic puzzles, even Minecraft. But do not think that bloody shooters will do.

Let's just say: when you play, there is simply no time and energy for anxiety and fear. As Dale Carnegie said, "Always be busy with something."

Take a course in NLP

It will help you find out how your psyche and mind work. There are techniques that teach a person to change their perception, use framing, and also work with their states.

The following are very effective:

• The concept of "Stimulus-response".
• Anchoring.
• Associations and dissociations.

All this you can learn from our free course.

Books

If you want to throw the gauntlet in the face of your fear and delve deeper into the subject, check out the following books.

• "Psychology of fear" Evgeny Ilyin.
• "Psychology of fear: a popular encyclopedia" Yuri Shcherbatykh.
• How to conquer fear. 12 demons on the way to freedom, happiness, creativity" Olga Solomatina.
• "Pill for fear" Andrey Kurpatov.

We wish you good luck!

Fear is a strong negative emotion that arises as a result of an imagined or real danger and represents a threat to life for the individual. In psychology, fear is understood as the internal state of a person, which is caused by an alleged or real disaster.

Psychologists attribute fear to emotional processes. K. Izard defined this state as basic emotions related to innate, which have genetic, physiological components. Fear mobilizes the individual's body to avoid behavior. A person's negative emotion signals a state of danger, which directly depends on numerous external and internal, acquired or congenital causes.

Psychology of fear

Two neural pathways are responsible for the development of this feeling, which must function simultaneously. The first responsible for the main emotions, reacts quickly and is accompanied by a significant number of errors. The second reacts much more slowly, but more accurately. The first path helps us quickly respond to signs of danger, but often works as a false alarm. The second way makes it possible to more thoroughly assess the situation and therefore respond more accurately to the danger.

In the case of a feeling of fear in a person who is initiated by the first way, there is a blockage by the functioning of the second way, evaluating some signs of danger as unreal. When a phobia occurs, the second path begins to function inadequately, which provokes the development of a feeling of fear for stimuli that are dangerous.

Reasons for fear

In everyday life, as well as in emergency situations, a person is faced with a strong emotion - fear. Negative emotion in a person is a long-term or short-term emotional process that develops due to an imaginary or real danger. Often this condition is marked by unpleasant sensations, at the same time being a signal for protection, since the main goal facing a person is to save his life.

But it should be borne in mind that the response to fear is the unconscious or thoughtless actions of a person, which are caused by panic attacks with the manifestation of severe anxiety. Depending on the situation, the flow of the emotion of fear in all people varies significantly in strength, as well as in the impact on behavior. A timely clarification of the cause will significantly speed up getting rid of negative emotions.

The causes of fear are both hidden and obvious. Often the person does not remember the obvious reasons. Under the hidden understand the fears coming from childhood, for example, enhanced parental care, temptations, a consequence of psychological trauma; fears caused by moral conflict or an unresolved problem.

There are cognitively constructed reasons: feelings of rejection, loneliness, threats to self-esteem, depression, feelings of inadequacy, feelings of imminent failure.

Consequences of negative emotions in a person: strong nervous tension, emotional states of uncertainty, search for protection, prompting the individual to escape, rescue. There are basic functions of people's fear, as well as the accompanying emotional states: protective, signaling, adaptive, search.

Fear can manifest itself in the form of a depressed or agitated emotional state. Panic fear (horror) is often marked by a depressed state. Synonyms for the term "fear" or similar in state are the terms "anxiety", "panic", "fright", "phobias".

If a person has a short-term and at the same time strong fear caused by a sudden stimulus, then he will be attributed to fright, and long-term and not clearly expressed - to anxiety.

Conditions such as phobias can lead to frequent as well as strong experiences of negative emotion by an individual. A phobia is understood as an irrational, obsessive fear associated with a certain situation or object, when a person cannot cope with it on his own.

Signs of fear

Some features of the expression of negative emotions are manifested in physiological changes: increased sweating, heart palpitations, diarrhea, dilation and constriction of the pupils, urinary incontinence, shifting eyes. These signs appear when life is threatened or in front of a characteristic biological fear.

Signs of fear are forced silence, passivity, refusal to act, avoidance of communication, insecure behavior, the occurrence of a speech defect (stuttering) and bad habits (looking around, stooping, biting nails, fiddling with objects); the individual strives for solitude and isolation, which contributes to the development of depression, melancholy, and in some cases provokes. People who are afraid complain about the obsession of the idea, which ultimately prevents them from living a full life. Obsession with fear interferes with initiative and forces inaction. At the same time, deceptive visions and mirages accompany a person; he is afraid, trying to hide or run away.

Feelings that arise with a strong negative emotion: the earth leaves from under the feet, adequacy and control over the situation are lost, internal numbness and numbness (stupor) occurs. A person becomes fussy and hyperactive, he always needs to run somewhere, because it is unbearable to be alone with the object or problem of fear. A person is clamped and dependent, stuffed with complexes of insecurity. Depending on the type of nervous system, the individual defends himself and goes on the offensive, showing aggression. In fact, this acts as a mask for experiences, addictions and anxieties.

Fears manifest themselves in different ways, but they have common features: anxiety, anxiety, nightmares, irritability, suspicion, suspiciousness, passivity, tearfulness.

Types of fears

Yu.V. Shcherbatykh singled out the following classification of fears. The professor divided all fears into three groups: social, biological, existential.

He attributed to the biological group those that are directly related to the threat to human life, the social group is responsible for fears and fears in social status, the scientist associated the existential group of fears with the essence of man, which is noted in all people.

All social fears are caused by situations that can undermine social status, lower self-esteem. These include fear of public speaking, responsibility, social contacts.

Existential fears are associated with the intellect of the individual and are caused (by reflections on issues that affect the problems of life, as well as death and the very existence of a person). For example, it is a fear of time, death, and also the meaninglessness of human existence, etc.

Following this principle: the fear of fire is attributed to the biological category, the fear of the stage - to the social, and the fear of death - to the existential.

In addition, there are also intermediate forms of fear that stand on the verge of two groups. These include the fear of disease. On the one hand, the disease brings suffering, pain, damage (a biological factor), and on the other hand, a social factor (separation from society and the team, switching off from usual activities, lower incomes, poverty, dismissal from work). Therefore, this state is attributed to the border of the biological and social groups, the fear of swimming in a pond on the border of the biological and existential, the fear of losing loved ones on the border of the biological and existential groups. It should be noted that in each phobia all three components are noted, but one is dominant.

It is normal for an individual to be afraid of dangerous animals, certain situations, and natural phenomena. The fears of people that appear about this are of a reflex or genetic nature. In the first case, the danger is based on negative experience, in the second it is recorded at the genetic level. Both cases control the mind and logic. Presumably, these reactions have lost their useful meaning and therefore interfere with a person to live a full and happy life quite strongly. For example, it makes sense to be careful about snakes, but it is foolish to be afraid of small spiders; one may reasonably be afraid of lightning, but not of thunder, which is incapable of causing harm. With such phobias and inconveniences, people should rebuild their reflexes.

The fears of people that arise in situations dangerous to health, as well as life, have a protective function, and this is useful. And people's fears of medical manipulations can be harmful to health, as they will interfere with the timely diagnosis of the disease and start treatment.

The fears of people are diverse, as are the fields of activity. The phobia is based on the instinct of self-preservation and acts as a defensive reaction to danger. Fear can manifest itself in various forms. If the negative emotion is not pronounced, then it is experienced as a blurred, vague feeling - anxiety. A stronger fear is noted in negative feelings: horror, panic.

State of fear

Negative emotion is a normal response of an individual to the vicissitudes of life. With an implicitly expressed form, this state acts as an adaptive reaction. For example, an applicant cannot successfully pass an exam without experiencing excitement and any anxiety. But in extreme terms, the state of fear deprives the individual of the ability to fight, giving a feeling of horror and panic. Excessive excitement and anxiety do not allow the applicant to concentrate during the exam, he may lose his voice. Researchers often note a state of anxiety and fear in patients during an extreme situation.

The state of fear is helped to remove sedatives and benzodiazepines for a short time. Negative emotion includes a state of irritability, horror, immersion in certain thoughts, and is also marked by a change in physiological parameters: the appearance of shortness of breath, excessive sweating, insomnia, chills. These manifestations intensify over time and this complicates the patient's usual life. Often this condition turns into a chronic one and manifests itself in the absence of an external specific reason.

Feeling of fear

It would be more accurate to speak the emotion of fear, but there is no clear boundary between these two concepts. Often, when there is a short-term effect, they talk about emotion, and when there is a long-term effect, they mean a feeling of fear. This is what distinguishes the two concepts. And in colloquial speech, fear is referred to as both a feeling and an emotion. In people, fear manifests itself in different ways: for someone it fetters, limits, and for someone, on the contrary, it activates activity.

The feeling of fear is individual and reflects all genetic characteristics, as well as the characteristics of upbringing and culture, temperament, accentuation, and neuroticism of each individual.

There are both external and internal manifestations of fear. Under external they understand how an individual looks, and as internal they refer to the physiological processes occurring in the body. Because of all these processes, fear is referred to as a negative emotion, which negatively affects the entire body, increasing the pulse and heartbeat, respectively increasing the pressure, and sometimes vice versa, increasing sweating, changing the composition of the blood (releasing the hormone adrenaline).

The essence of fear lies in the fact that the individual, being afraid, tries to avoid situations that provoke negative emotion. Strong fear, being a toxic emotion, provokes the development of various diseases.

Fear is observed in all individuals. Neurotic fear is noted in every third inhabitant of the Earth, however, if it reaches strength, then it turns into horror and this takes the individual out of control of consciousness, and as a result, numbness, panic, defensiveness, flight. Therefore, the emotion of fear is justified and serves for the survival of the individual, but it can also take pathological forms that will require the intervention of doctors. Each fear performs a specific function and arises for a reason.

Fear of heights protects against falling from a mountain or a balcony, fear of getting burned makes you not come close to the fire, and, therefore, protects you from injury. The fear of public speaking makes you prepare more carefully for speeches, take courses in rhetoric, which should help in career growth. It is natural that the individual tries to overcome personal fears. In the event that the source of danger is indefinite or unconscious, then the state that arises in this case is called anxiety.

panic fear

This condition never arises without reason. For its development, a number of factors and conditions are necessary: ​​anxiety, and anxiety, stress, schizophrenia, hypochondria,.

The suppressed human psyche quickly reacts to any irritants and therefore restless thoughts can undermine the person's capacity. Anxiety and related conditions gradually turn into neurosis, and neurosis, in turn, provokes the emergence of panic fear.

This condition cannot be foreseen, since it can occur at any time: at work, on the street, in transport, in a store. A panic state is a protective reaction of the body to a perceived threat or an imaginary one. Panic causeless fear is characterized by the manifestation of such symptoms: suffocation, dizziness, palpitations, trembling, stupor, chaos of thoughts. Some cases are marked by chills or vomiting. Such states last from an hour to two for one or two times a week. The stronger the mental disorder, the longer and more often.

Often, this condition can occur against the background of overwork, exhaustion of the body in emotionally unstable people. In most cases, women fall under this category, as emotional, vulnerable, reacting sharply to stress. However, men also experience panicky unreasonable fear, but they try not to admit it to others.

Panic fear does not disappear on its own, and panic attacks will haunt patients. Treatment is carried out strictly under the supervision of psychiatrists, and the removal of symptoms with alcohol only aggravates the situation, and panic fear will appear not only after stress, but also when nothing threatens.

fear of pain

Since it is common for a person to periodically be afraid of something, this is a normal reaction of our body, which reflects the performance of protective functions. Fear of pain is one of the most common experiences of this kind. Having previously experienced pain, the individual on an emotional level tries to avoid the repetition of this sensation, and fear acts as a protective mechanism that prevents dangerous situations.

Fear of pain is not only useful, but also harmful. A person, not understanding how to get rid of this condition, tries not to visit the dentist for a long time or avoids an important operation, as well as the examination method. In this case, fear has a destructive function and this should be fought. Confusion before effectively getting rid of the fear of pain only exacerbates the situation and encourages the formation of a panic reaction.

Modern medicine currently has various methods of pain relief, so the fear of pain is predominantly only psychological in nature. This negative emotion is rarely formed from previous experiences. Most likely, the fear of pain from injuries, burns, frostbite in humans is strong, and this is a protective function.

Treatment of fears

Before starting therapy, it is necessary to diagnose, within the framework of which mental disorder, fears are manifested. Phobias are found in hypochondria, depression, in the structure of neurotic disorders, panic attacks, panic disorders.

The feeling of fear occupies a significant place in the clinical picture of somatic diseases (hypertension, bronchial asthma, and others). Fear can also act as a normal reaction of the individual to the situation in which he finds himself. Therefore, the correct diagnosis is responsible for the tactics of treatment. The development of the disease, from the point of view of pathogenesis, should be treated in the aggregate of symptoms, and not its individual manifestations.

Fear of pain can be effectively treated by psychotherapeutic methods and is eliminated by therapy, which has an individual character. Many people who do not have special knowledge to get rid of the fear of pain mistakenly think that this is an inevitable feeling and therefore live with it for many years. In addition to psychotherapeutic methods of treating this phobia, homeopathic treatment is used.

People's fears are very difficult to correct. In modern society, it is not customary to discuss your fears. People publicly discuss diseases, attitudes towards work, but as soon as they talk about fears, a vacuum immediately appears. People are ashamed of their phobias. This attitude to fears has been instilled since childhood.

Correction of fears: take a sheet of white paper and write down all your fears. Place the most significant and disturbing phobia in the center of the sheet. And be sure to understand the causes of this condition.

How to get rid of fear

Each person is able to learn to overcome his fears, otherwise it will be difficult for him to reach his goals, fulfill his dreams, achieve success and be realized in all areas of life. There are various techniques for getting rid of phobias. It is important to develop the habit of actively acting, and not paying attention to the fears that arise along the way. In this case, negative emotion is a simple reaction that occurs in response to any effort to create something new.

Fear can come from trying to do something against your beliefs. Understand that each person develops a personal worldview over a certain period of time, and when you try to change it, you need to step over fear.

Fear can be strong or weak depending on the power of persuasion. Man is not born successful. We are often not brought up to be successful people. It is very important to act in spite of personal fear. Say to yourself: "Yes, I'm scared, but I'll do it." As long as you procrastinate, your phobia grows, exulting, becoming a powerful weapon against you. The longer you delay, the more you grow it in your mind. But as soon as you begin to act, the fear will immediately disappear. It turns out that fear is an illusion that does not exist.

The cure for fear is to accept your phobia and, resigned, walk towards it. You shouldn't fight it. Admit to yourself: "Yes, I'm scared." There is nothing wrong with that, you have the right to be afraid. The moment you recognize it, it exults and then weakens. And you start taking action.

How to get rid of fear? Evaluate the worst case scenario of the expected development of events by connecting the logic. When fear appears, think about the worst-case scenario if suddenly, no matter what, you decide to act. Even the worst case scenario is not as scary as the unknown.

What causes fear? The most powerful weapon of fear is the unknown. It seems terrible, cumbersome and impossible to overcome. If your assessment is really real and the terrible state does not go away, then you should think about whether in this case the phobia acts as a natural defensive reaction. Maybe you really need to give up further action, because your negative emotion saves you from trouble. If the fear is not justified and the worst case scenario is not so terrible, then go ahead and act. Remember that fear lives where there is doubt, uncertainty and indecision.

The cure for fear is to remove doubt and there will be no room for fear. This state has such power because it causes negative pictures in the mind of what we do not need and the person feels discomfort. When a person decides to do something, then doubts evaporate instantly, because the decision has been made and there is no turning back.

What causes fear? As soon as fear arises in a person, then a scenario of failures, as well as failures, begins to scroll in the mind. These thoughts negatively affect emotions, and they control life. The lack of positive emotions greatly influences the occurrence of indecision in actions, and the time of inaction perpetuates in the individual his own insignificance. A lot depends on decisiveness: get rid of fear or not.

Fear keeps the attention of the human mind on the negative development of the event, and the decision concentrates on the positive outcome. When we make a decision, we focus on how wonderful it will be when we overcome fear and eventually get a good result. This allows you to positively tune in, and most importantly, fill your mind with pleasant scenarios, where there will be no room for doubts and fears. However, remember that if at least one negative thought associated with a negative emotion arises in your head, then multiple similar thoughts will immediately arise.

How to get rid of fear? Act in spite of fear. You know what you're afraid of, and that's a big plus. Analyze your fear and answer yourself the questions: “What exactly am I afraid of?”, “Is it really worth it to be afraid?”, “Why am I afraid?”, “Does my fear have a reason?”, “What is more important for me: to make an effort over yourself or never achieve what you want? Ask yourself more questions. Analyze your phobias, because the analysis takes place at a logical level, and fears are emotions that are stronger than logic and therefore always win. After analyzing and realizing, a person independently comes to the conclusion that fear has absolutely no meaning. It only worsens life, making it anxious, nervous and dissatisfied with its results. Are you still afraid?

How to get rid of fear? You can fight against fear with feelings (emotions). To do this, sitting comfortably in a chair, scroll through the scenarios in your head of what you are afraid of and how you do what you are afraid of. The mind is incapable of distinguishing imaginary events from real ones. After overcoming the imaginary fear in your head, it will be much easier for you to cope with the task in reality, since the model of events has already strengthened at the subconscious level.

In the fight against fears, the method of self-hypnosis, namely the visualization of success, will be effective and powerful. After ten minutes of visualization, well-being improves and it is easier to overcome fear. Remember that you are not alone in your phobias. All people are afraid of something. This is fine. Your task is to learn to act in the presence of fear, and not pay attention to it, being distracted by other thoughts. Fighting fear, a person weakens energetically, because negative emotion sucks out all energy. A person destroys fear when he completely ignores it and is distracted by other events.

How to get rid of fear? Train and develop courage. When you are afraid of rejection, there is no point in fighting it by trying to minimize the number of rejections. People who are unable to cope with fear reduce such situations to nothing and, in general, do almost nothing that makes them unhappy in life.

Imagine that training for courage is akin to pumping up muscles in the gym. First, we train with a light weight that can be lifted, and then we gradually switch to a heavier weight and try to lift it already. A similar situation exists with fears. Initially, we train with a slight fear, and then switch to a stronger one. For example, the fear of public speaking in front of a large audience is eliminated by training in front of a small number of people, gradually increasing the audience several times over.

How to overcome fear?

Practice normal communication: in line, on the street, in transport. Use neutral themes for this. The point is to overcome small fears first, and then move on to more significant ones. Practice constantly.

How to overcome fear in other ways? Boost your self-esteem. There is some pattern: the better you think of yourself, the less phobias you have. Personal self-esteem protects against fears and its objectivity does not matter at all. Therefore, people with high self-esteem are able to do more than people with objective self-esteem. Being in love, people overcome a very strong fear in the name of their desires. Any positive emotion helps in overcoming fears, and all negative ones only hinder.

How to overcome fear?

There is a wonderful statement that the brave is not the one who is not afraid, but the one who acts regardless of his feelings. Proceed in stages, taking minimal steps. If you are afraid of heights, gradually increase the height.

Do not attach great importance to some moments of your life. The lighter and more insignificant the attitude to life moments, the less anxiety. Give preference to spontaneity in business, as careful preparation and scrolling in your head provokes the development of excitement and anxiety. Of course, you need to plan things, but you should not get hung up on this. If you decide to act, then act, and do not pay attention to the trembling of the mind.

How to overcome fear? Understanding the specific situation can help with this. A person is afraid when he does not understand what exactly he needs and what he personally wants. The more we fear, the more clumsily we act. In this case, spontaneity will help, and do not be afraid of failures, negative results. In any case, you did it, showed courage and this is your small achievement. Be friendly, a good mood helps in the fight against fears.

Self-knowledge helps in overcoming fears. It happens that a person himself does not know his capabilities and is not confident in his abilities, due to the lack of support from others. With harsh criticism, the confidence of many people drops sharply. This happens because a person does not know himself and receives information about himself from other people. It is important to know that understanding other people is a subjective concept. Many people often cannot understand themselves, let alone give a real assessment to others.

Knowing yourself means accepting who you are and being yourself. It is human nature to act without fear when one is not ashamed to be oneself. By acting decisively, you express yourself. Overcoming your fears means learning, developing, becoming wiser, stronger.

Man needs fear. The biological purpose of fear is to protect a person from risk, and to help get rid of danger. The full existence of a person is associated with the experience of a huge number of emotions and feelings, and in particular the emotion of fear. But, fear is a long and strong fear is negative emotions, negative manifestations in the body, leading to serious mental and even physiological diseases.

Emotions are one of the forms of evaluation, cognition and reflection of the world of the surrounding person. Emotions, feelings, and sensations are very closely related, their definition often does not have clear boundaries. Therefore, emotions are often called feelings. The essence of fear lies in the fact that a person is afraid and does not climb on the rampage, i.e. it saves him from risk, and therefore from death, trauma, soul-traumatizing events.

Definition of fear

Fear is one of the strongest emotions that arises in conditions of a threat to the life of an individual, his ideals and principles, values, it is directed at the source of a really existing or imagined danger (but experienced as real). Fear is an affectively sharpened perception of the individual's threat, it is based on the instinct of self-preservation and on the social experience of interpersonal relationships. It, unlike other emotions, feelings and reactions, appears with anticipation: anticipation of suffering, pain. He is our guardian. But, long-term and strong impact of its impact is negative. A person can foresee, or he thinks he is able to foresee the further development of the situation, having abandoned predicting the future, we may experience less fear, but then we may not experience the anticipation of something pleasant. Although we cannot completely fence ourselves off from this, a person cannot help but think and analyze the situation. But if he imagines that his suffering is endless, he experiences even more fear, and if he can see the positive aspects of it, or the positive ending of the situation, his fear decreases.

Often the reason for its occurrence is the unknown, a person struggles to speak in public, go to the dentist, etc. Often a person does not understand what he is afraid of, and when you ask him you can hear the answer: everyone is afraid and I am afraid.

Fear is a social emotion and can be passed on to other people. Often the infection of this emotion occurs in a public place, such as in a crowd. A person can subconsciously smell fear. This smell is emitted by people who are afraid.

The fact is that when a person experiences a feeling of fear, certain physiological processes occur in the body, and our body begins to smell differently, it is not in vain that they say that dogs feel when a person is afraid. In addition, they see the emotions that appear on your face, and people see it too. And such an expression is subconsciously perceived as correct, and more accurate, even if your words say otherwise. Our fear is evidence of how we think, a product of our imagination. Others are described here.

Types of fears

Fear manifests itself in a feeling of internal tension, expectation of danger to life, health, or social well-being, in anticipation of threatening events or actions. Pathological fears include those that lack psychological validity, but have excessive intensity, duration in time, inconsistency with the force and the cause that caused them. Depending on the mechanisms, the time of occurrence, the features of the manifestation, there are:

Essence of Fear

Fear in psychology is considered a negatively colored basic emotion. It is called basic, because it is not divided into components, but various other emotions are based on it, they are also referred to as basic emotions. Fear is also called an emotional process because it doesn't just come, it triggers a response in the body. Fear is transmitted through neurotransmitters to the brain, and from there comes the answer of what to do. The body, under the influence of fear, begins to intensively secrete hormones, hormones in the skeletal muscles are converted into energy so that a person can protect himself from danger, or run away from it.

There are external and internal manifestations of fear, external is how a person looks, and internal, these are physiological processes that occur in the body. It is because of these processes that it is called a negative emotion, since it affects the entire body, the heartbeat and pulse increase, the pressure increases accordingly (sometimes vice versa), sweating increases, the composition of the blood changes: hormones are released, in particular adrenaline, which is processed in the muscles into energy (more about manifestations). In addition, intense fear is considered a toxic emotion, as it "helps" the development of various diseases, metastasis of cancer cells, diabetes, throat diseases,

Functionally, it is necessary for the further prosperous social and biological existence of the individual, it warns him of the impending danger, focuses attention on its source. Everyone has fear, and courage does not consist in not being afraid, but in overcoming it.

Neurotic fears exist in every third inhabitant of the earth. But, if it reaches the power of affect, becomes a horror, then this takes a person out of control of consciousness, and as a result provokes numbness, panic, flight, defensive aggression. Consequently, the emotion of fear can be justified and therefore serve the effective biological and social survival of the individual, but it can also take pathological forms that require the intervention of doctors.

But, each fear is needed for something, it arose for a reason, the fear of heights protects against falling from a balcony or mountain, the fear of getting burned (pain) does not come close to the fire, and accordingly protects against injuries, and can be fatal. Fear of public speaking forces you to carefully prepare for speeches, take courses in rhetoric, which can help career growth. But, of course, you need to overcome your fears, because it is possible that fear will help you avoid responsibility: you do not make reports, presentations, they are not assigned to you, because you cannot overcome fear, you can sit quietly in a corner and do nothing. That is, out of fear, you can make an ally, or you can leave everything as it is.

Depending on the nature, the intensity of the experience of fear ranges from apprehension to horror, including fear, fright, etc. If the source of danger is unconscious or uncertain, the state that arises is called anxiety.

Definition of anxiety

Anxiety (unreasonable fear) is an emotional state that occurs in situations where the danger is uncertain, or when the source of danger is unconscious, anxiety manifests itself in anticipation of an unfavorable development of events, in a person it is usually associated with the expectation of failures in social interaction. Often anxiety is caused not by the presence of danger, but by the inability to avoid it. A person with increased anxiety more often and more strongly reacts even to neutral situations with fear, anxiety, anxiety.

How to understand fear is an instinctive normal reaction of the body, or is it already a pathology? To determine the degree of pathological fears, the parameters of the adequacy (justification) of intensity, duration, and the degree of controllability of a person's feelings of fear are used. Validity is the correspondence of the degree of expression of fear to a real danger, in a certain situation or emanating from people around. The intensity is determined based on the physiological reactions (intensity of sweating, palpitations, sometimes a person experiences trembling throughout the body, a feeling of suffocation, weakness, vomiting, etc.) of the disorganization of the activity and well-being of a person who is possessed by this emotion. Controllability is the ability to disobey and overcome it. Duration is the length of the period.

Psychological characteristics that affect the feeling of fear

Neuroticism, temperament and accentuation. Neurotics tend to experience this emotion to a much greater degree than others. Neurotics are called healthy people, but with some emotional disturbances. In which, in the first stages of development (oral and anal), no serious disturbances of character were observed. And at the Oedipal stage (3-6 years) problems began that led to the organization of the neurotic structure. J. Bergeret, believes that, depending on the development at the adolescent stage, neurotic can form either a neurotically organized I and develop into a neurosis, or a psychotically organized I and develop into a psychosis.

If we consider the character from the standpoint of ego psychology, then it is studied as a set of defense mechanisms, i.e. ways to avoid anxiety. Often neurotic manifestations are associated with feelings of guilt or initiative. A feature of this type of personality is that he believes that the problems that he has are only his difficulties, the problem is in himself, as well as too mechanical and inflexible psychological defense. - the main characteristics of thinking are expressed in temperament. Reaction speed, speed, rhythm, tempo. The strength of the manifestation of emotions also depends on the strength of tempera meta. Accentuation - pronounced character traits that are on the verge of normal. Accentuation is what is emphasized in the character.

How do you know if there is fear and if it is strong?

There are many tests for the presence of fears, the test of Luscher, Spielberger-Khanin, Zakharov, but among them the test of Y. Shcherbatykh and E. Ivleva stands out, who developed a special questionnaire to determine the intensity of fears and the presence of phobias. In this questionnaire ("Questionnaire of the hierarchical structure of actual fears of the individual" (ISAS)). You rate your fear of certain things from 1 to 10. It is used by practicing psychologists to identify pathologies. The results of answers to some personal questions exceeding 8 can be called pathology.

In psychology, it has been studied for a long time and successfully. To get rid of fear, by and large, is not difficult. We only need to know how it arises in us, how it works and where it hides. (Kurpatov A. Remedy for fear).

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one of the main types of human attitude to the world. The study of S. plays an important role in psychology, philosophy, and theology.

Religion, notes P.A. Florensky, is first of all the S. of God, and whoever wants to penetrate into the sanctuary of religion must learn to be afraid. “Lord, instill in me the root of the good, your fear, in my heart” (John Chrysostom). Nothing grows in religion without this root. God is great and terrible for everyone and in everything, any religion is permeated with this inexplicable S. of God. S. - the beginning of wisdom, or true wisdom, leading to life. S., according to Florensky, is close to amazement, which philosophers consider the beginning of philosophy. In order to know, one must touch the object of knowledge, and the sign of this touch is the shock of the soul, S. He pulls out of everyday life and reveals something completely new. And the new is always scary, because it appears in a mysterious, unusual form. “Before primary phenomena, if they are naked to our feelings, we experience a special kind of eerie feeling, reaching fear” (J.W. Goethe). The source of S. is not in the unusualness and incomprehensibility of the new, but in the feeling of the transcendence of what is. “The non-local opened up, and the world felt fluid, shaky, unsteady: the existing faded before the truly existing. And with the one who happens, our very existence also faded: we ourselves turned out to be a trembling flame among the windy spaces, - on the border of nothingness, barely not bearing. But then we also found our eternal support - in the Existing from the Ages. Our last humiliation is our greatest exaltation. The fear of God is dual-acting... It is a window in our reality, from where other worlds are seen. This is a gap in earthly existence, from where streams feed and strengthen it from another world rush ”(Florensky).

"FROM." - the most important concept of existential philosophy. For the first time, S. Kierkegaard distinguished S. or fear of c.-l. specific circumstances and indefinite, unaccountable S.-longing. The same distinction is central in the philosophy of M. Heidegger, for whom S. opens the last possibility of existence - death. S. pushes a person out of existence to nothingness. This transcendence is a condition for the perception of beings as a whole, a condition for the comprehension of being. If our being were not pushed into nothing beforehand, we could not stand in relation either to beings as a whole or to ourselves. Without what is put forward into nothing, without a courageous peep into nothing in the state of S., there is no possibility of questioning beyond the existent, beyond its limits, there is no possibility of turning one's face to being.

In the psychological aspect, S. is an obstacle to the realization of the personality, which in our time lives in a constant state of S.: before the authorities, before the threat of unemployment, before violence, war, terrorism, etc. S. in this respect is perhaps the most important problem of social life, which determines a person's behavior and his attitude towards others. Socially determined ethics, N.A. Berdyaev, there is always ethics S. “Social everyday life creates an ethics of fear, regenerating the horror caused by the transcendent abyss into everyday care and terrorizing a person with future punishments. But she also creates another image in which there is no longer fear and which is lower than fear - vulgarity ... Vulgarity is the final settlement on the lowland plane, when there is not only longing for the heavenly world and the sacred horror of the transcendent, but there is no longer fear either ” (N.A. Berdyaev).

In connection with the discovery of the unconscious by German idealism (especially Schelling) and the Romantics, fear becomes the subject of philosophical analysis. S. Kierkegaard in his profound study "The Concept of Fear" (1844) distinguishes between ordinary fear-fear caused by an external cause (Furcht), and unconscious fear-longing, fear-horror (Angst). The latter, according to Kierkegaard, is a form of human experience of "nothing", which opens up during the Transition from the state of innocence as a natural state to the state of guilt as a condition of freedom, or spirit. “In a state of innocence, a person is defined not as a spirit, but as a soul in direct unity with its natural basis. The spirit in a person sleeps... In this state - peace and tranquility; but at the same time there is something else present, which, however, is not strife and contention, for there is nothing to argue with. What; therefore, is there? Nothing. But what effect does nothing have? It breeds fear. This is the deep secret of innocence: it is at the same time fear ”(Kierkegaards. Der Begriff Angst. V., 1965, S. 40). The essence of metaphysical fear is ambivalent: it is “sympathetic antipathy and antipathetic sympathy” (ibid., p. 41); fear is an attraction and at the same time aversion to the object of fear - nothing that is realized as a temptation to violate the prohibition. “Fear is the dizziness of freedom that arises insofar as the spirit wants to realize a synthesis, and freedom looks into its own possibility and grabs a limb to hold on. In a state of dizziness, freedom falls powerlessly... At that moment everything changes, and when freedom rises again, it sees that it is guilty” (ibid., p. 57). The act of freedom as the assumption of selfhood, as the transition from innocence to guilt, is a fall into sin that occurs on the border of consciousness and the unconscious, and therefore incomprehensible to the mind.

Fear is comprehended by Kierkegaard in essence in the context of anthropogenesis, understood theologically. In the same context, but not from the point of view of theology, but rather from the point of view of psychopathology, the founder of psychoanalysis 3. Freud investigated the nature of fear. Analyzing the phenomenon of taboo in primitive societies, Freud sees in it an analogue of the fear that accompanies the neurotic states of the mentally ill. Like Kierkegaard, Freud emphasizes the ambivalent nature of fear and links it to the life of the unconscious. Taboo, according to Freud, is a very ancient prohibition imposed from the outside by some authority and directed against the strong desires of people. The fear of transgressing the prohibition and at the same time the attraction to the forbidden is a characteristic feature not only of primitive consciousness: here an anthropological structure is revealed, determined by the relationship of consciousness and the unconscious. Consciousness, according to Freud, is a system of prohibitions in relation to (chap. sexual) desires, which as a result are forced out into the unconscious, giving rise to painful mental states, including unreasonable fear, which is evidence of neurosis and requires treatment - revealing by the psychoanalyst the nature of the repressed desire, the patient's awareness of it and the mitigation or even abolition of "censorship of consciousness". The Freudian interpretation of fear is based on the enlightenment concept of man and his freedom, according to which lack of freedom is always the result of external violence against human nature. If for Kierkegaard freedom is originally associated with a feeling of fear and guilt, which testifies to the normal life of the spirit and which a free person must take upon himself, then for Freud the feeling of guilt must be eliminated as a symptom of mental distress.

The problem of fear is also considered by representatives of existential philosophy. Distinguishing, following Kierkegaard, fear of a concrete danger and unaccountable metaphysical fear, Heidegger sees in the latter an integral element of finite human existence. “Before-what fear is being-in-the-world as such... Before-what fear is completely indefinite... Fear does not know what it is that it fears... Before-what fear reveals this “nothing and nowhere "..." (Sein und Zeit. Tub., 1960, S. 186). Fear reveals death as the last possibility of human existence. Sartre's existential fear (angoisse) is interpreted as a person's fear of himself, of his own opportunity and freedom. “Fear arises not because I can fall into the abyss, but because I can throw myself into it” (Sartre J. P. Letre et le neant. P., 1943, p. 66).

Unaccountable fear-longing is ultimately the fear of death, which cannot be completely eliminated in a finite being, which is a person, but can be enlightened with the help of religious faith.

Lit.: Fear. M., 1998; Kundia. Die Angst als abendlandische Krankheit. Z., 1948; Silva-TaroucaA. Die Logic der Angst. Innsbruck, 1953; Vestdijk S. Het.wezen van de angst. Amst., 1968; Schober D. Angst, Autismus und Moderne. Fr./M.-B.-Bem-N. Y.-P.-Wen, 1998.

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