don's report archive

by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear -- not absence of fear." (Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar.) Even if you choose to consciously pursue wellness lifestyles, you will still experience all the usual emotions that occasionally bedevil other folks including such unpleasant feelings as stress, anger, and fear. Like others, you have to deal with them. Unlike many, you are inclined to look for ways to better understand and redirect your feelings, if necessary, along with remaining open to more effective ways of acting in response to varied events and circumstances.

Fear is a common emotional state but not one that should go unchallenged if committed to shaping a wellness lifestyle. All animals experience fear, including us. Some fear is highly beneficial, or certainly was in earlier times when we needed the adrenaline and other boosts that fear enables to fight or take flight. Today's fears are usually less dramatic, for instance, the fear of dental appointments, exposure to political speeches, or the arrival of unwanted guests.

Sometimes, as Franklin D. Roosevelt so famously noted, "all we have to fear is..." -- well, you know the rest. (I was never much impressed with that line, but then if I had been in the Congress shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, I might have been more appreciative of the sentiments.)

I say fear should not be endured without a mighty effort to recognize the source(s) and deal with it because this is not an emotional state conducive to serenity, calm, and related self-management for lifestyle artistry states. Let me review a few facts about fear from a wellness perspective.

The effects of fear are real -- even if the perceived threat is not or a situation is perceived in a disproportional, dysfunctional fashion. One acronym for FEAR is "false evidence appearing real." Fear emanates from perceptions and attitudes that stimulate certain brain chemicals, which in turn send dramatic physical messages out to the body about how it should react. These physiological emotions can be both difficult and dangerous in the immediate sense and damaging to your health in the not-so-long-term.

How common is fear? Let's look at just one kind of fear -- that known as a phobia. Some claim that there are hundreds of phobias, or irrational fears. A phobia is defined as "an intense, unrealistic fear of an object, an event, or a feeling" or "An intense fear that is out of proportion to the danger of the object that causes it" (Martin Seligman in WHAT YOU CAN CHANGE, page 75). An estimated 18 percent of the US adult population suffers from some kind of phobia, in which just about anything can be the focus for fear. Among the biggies are heights, failure, clocks, mushrooms, closed spaces, and open spaces!

Now that I think about it, I do have a few fears myself. I'm afraid of thermonuclear explosions, alligators during triathlons here in Florida, certain very expensive new federally-funded government programs, waking up bare naked at a Republican fund raising event, TV evangelists -- I'm an emotional wreck! I'm suffering from thermonuclear/alligator/tax/nekked/bible-thumper phobia! As far as I know, there is no cure!

There are essentially three kinds of phobias: specific or simple phobias (such as fear of an object or situation, like fear of spiders or of flying, respectively), social phobias, (such as fear of embarrassment) and agoraphobia (such as fear of being in an unsafe place).

How do these things develop? Nobody knows. But many have opinions. Sometimes, a fear can be explained by an obvious cause such as fear of falling that comes on after an actual fall or fear of canine teeth after being chased and/or bitten by a dog. Some psychologists claim that there is a combination of factors at work, such as a genetic predisposition mixed with an environmental or social event.

What should you do if you have a phobia and are trying to manage a wellness lifestyle? As noted, any efforts you make to understand the source and other aspects of the fear is a good start. If the phobia does not create a big problem for you, there may not be much need to do anything except, perhaps, to make light of it. Another strategy is to minimize or avoid doing whatever triggers the fear or do all you can to avoid making a big deal of it when it starts to arise. And, of course, there is always medication.

Still many others are helped by vigorous exercise, as well as major exposure to humor, play, and a dedication to high purposes. In other words, a self-managed lifestyle may, in itself, provide a diversion that gets your mind off the negative and keeps you focused on seeking satisfactions and better health.

Enough about fear for a while. It's frightening me just thinking about it! Be well, and look on the bright side of life.

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the MENTAL DOMAIN under the skill area of stress management. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

 Send e-mail to Don Ardell