How does fear affect your mind?

Fear is a basic emotion that can be real or imagined. You see danger, pain or harm coming your way. 

The instinctive feeling of fear, one of the seven instinctive emotions, has been hard wired into your mind as an evolutionary survival mechanism. Think what would happen if you were face to face with a wild beast, what it would take for you to deal with the danger. Sometimes the danger may not be as obvious as a wild beast or may simply be a perception of fear in your mind, your instinctive reactions are the same. 

When you sense fear, your amygdala, the instinctive part of the brain takes over and instantaneously freezes your cognitive or logical thinking. Fear is an instinctive emotion, hard wired into you for survival, hence your thinking is so fast, it is almost subconscious, aimed at getting you out of danger. Your mind will not make reasoned judgement.

Fear triggers ‘the fight, flight or freeze’ reaction in your mind, soul and your body, an instinctive emotion, universal to humanity but with individual reactions, dependent on your mental experiences and way of thinking. Fear can affect your mind in several ways from blocking your ability to reason, how you react to situations and in excessive overdrive may affect your quality of life. 

Your mind is the biggest driver of modern fear

Fear for some can incite a ‘pleasurable’ emotional experience whereas for others the same experience can be verging on the terrifying and extremely unpleasant. Many entertainment industries have evolved to cater to individual taste in the ‘pleasurable fear experience’  such as horror films, adventure parks, rollercoasters. Your reaction to fear depends on how you think and the mental experiences that you have had. For example, you may have once got stuck in a lift. This previous experience will affect your fear reaction the next time you get in a lift. 

Fear can be healthy until it is a mental phobia 

Fear has evolved to keep you safe. When faced with a car threatening to run you over, instinctive body and mind reactions are a healthy way to get you to move out of the way. Once the threat is gone, your mind calms down. Whether the threat is physical or mental, the body reactions are the same, driving you to act. When the threat remains in your mind, and becomes overwhelming, it becomes a phobia. Phobias are seen as an exaggerated or unrealistic sense of danger about a situation or an object and can affect your quality of life. 

In fear, your mind is acting instinctively 

When the instinctive emotion of fear is activated so is instinctive thinking in your mind. The cerebral cortex, where logical reasoned thinking happens, takes second place to the amygdala.  In his book ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’, Daniel Kahneman describes the two types of  thinking‘ as ‘system 1’, the instinctive thinking from the amygdala and ‘System 2’, the system for our logical thinking in the cortex. He notes:  “System 1 has more influence on behavior when System 2 is busy”

In fear, your mental judgement can be impaired

As your instinctive thought process takes over in a state of fear, it becomes difficult for your mind to think reasonably or assess the situation to make clear judgements. This applies particularly to a trigger for fear, which may not be life threatening, or may be imaginary. 

In fear your mind freezes or over reacts 

When you are in a state of fear, you may find that your mind goes blank, you are unable to think or assess the situation. Depending on your personal character/experiences, the opposite may happen, your mind is racing with thoughts. 

A permanent state of fear can be seen as anxiety 

For whatever reason, your experiences, your character, your personal physiological reactions, when always feeling frightened, be it of situations, things or people, you may find yourself in a state of anxiety. If you have concerns, it is always important to consult with a medical practitioner. 

Mind can affect the four reactions to fear

How you react to fear is not only individual to how your body works but also to the individual way you think and the mental experiences that you have had. 

• Fight: facing any perceived threat aggressively. This reaction can happen when your mind thinks you can overpower the threat. 
• Flight: running away from the danger. Similar to fighting, you believe that you can overcome the threat by running away. 
• Freeze: unable to move or act against a threat. When you think that neither running or fighting are an option, an avoidance or freezing strategy takes over. 
• Please: immediately acting to try to please to avoid any conflict. This reaction in your mind often happens when you have experienced previous negative situations and want to keep the peace. 

Instinctive emotions are like the weather, beyond your conscious control. For a balanced life, the first step is to understand human instinctive emotions, how they work and practical steps to take in order to avoid situations that are destructive to emotional wellbeing. Not every instinctive emotion that is acted on has positive consequences. Sometimes, it may be best to take shelter from the storm, for example, if you are in a situation of heightened fear without a clear threat to life, it may be best to take time out to allow your body to return to a regular state. Understanding your fear reactions is a first step, if you are feeling that this emotion is becoming overwhelming to your life, it is important to seek professional help.