Fear: how it is maintained and how it is overcome

Fear is one of the most powerful and disabling emotions. Its primary function is to protect us from danger. However, it often becomes a prison that limits our lives.

To learn to overcome it, we must first understand how it is maintained. Fear persists and grows through a very clear learning mechanism: avoidance. The fear cycle works as follows.

First, we encounter a stimulus or situation that we fear (for example, public speaking).

This stimulus triggers the emotion of fear, with all its unpleasant physical sensations.

To relieve this discomfort, we engage in avoidance behavior (we decide not to give the talk).

By avoiding the situation, the fear disappears in the short term, which gives us immediate relief. This relief acts as a powerful reinforcement.

Our brain learns that "avoidance is the solution." The problem is that, in the long term, this learning is a trap.

Every time we avoid, we reinforce the idea that the situation was truly dangerous and that we weren't capable of coping with it.

Far from diminishing, the fear grows larger and becomes more generalized. This creates a vicious cycle that limits us increasingly.

To break this cycle and overcome fear, we must reverse the process.

The path to overcoming fear follows another chain: feared stimulus -> fear emotion -> coping behavior. Coping is the key.

It consists of deliberately exposing ourselves to the situation we fear, instead of running away from it.

By facing fear and verifying that we can handle the situation (and that the catastrophic consequences we imagined don't occur), our brain learns something new.

It learns that we are capable and that the situation is not that dangerous. Each act of coping weakens fear. It is the only real path to overcoming it.

Summary

Fear, although a protective emotion, can become a mental barrier. We often keep it active through avoidance, which generates momentary relief but reinforces its power.

Avoiding what we fear teaches the brain that these situations are dangerous, which causes the fear to intensify and generalize, trapping us in a cycle that limits our lives.

The solution is deliberate coping. Facing what we fear allows the brain to learn that we are capable and that the threats are not so real. Thus, fear loses its strength.