Irrational fear. Can homophobia be cured? How to confront and get rid of phobias What fears are irrational

"Pride makes a person vulnerable
exactly to the extent that he is obsessed with her.
It is equally easy to hurt her from the outside and from the inside."
Karen Horney

We talk about arrogance and vanity in detail in the section on the self-worth of a person. There we analyze the ways and mechanisms of development of pride, trying to understand why it occupies such an important place in the lives of a considerable number (if not all) of people. Here we will dwell on the anxiety states associated with the fear of the frustration of pride.

One of the reasons for such frustration is the failure that haunts a person in following the requirements of his pride, which can cover all aspects of a person's life that turned out to be important for the triumph of pride. These so-called internal prescriptions "SHOULD AND SHOULD NOT") turn a person into his slave, forcing him to go out of his way to match his own IDEAL. More precisely - the triumph of your IDEAL SELF.

This triumph can also concern an aspect that the proud consider to be their special moral perfection, but which is still nothing more than ARTIFICIAL MORALITY AND PERVERSION OF VALUES.

“Internal prescriptions (“DO’s and DON’Ts”), somewhat more radical than other ways of maintaining an ideal image of oneself, are not aimed at real changes, but immediate and absolute perfection: their goal is to make imperfections disappear or to make perfection seem to be achieved, - writes Karen Horney, - therefore, many reactions of despondency, irritation or fear occur in the patient not in response to the fact that he discovered an unpleasant problem in himself, but in response Feeling like he can't get rid of her immediately“.

The frustration reactions of pride are very powerful, because the proud person puts a lot of energy into satisfying the demands of his IDEAL SELF, compulsively leading a person to an imaginary and longed-for GLORY. Karen Horney emphasizes that in the frustration reactions of pride "there is an underlying fear, but anger and even rage predominate."

Here we will consider the fears that arise as a result of anxious expectations of the consequences of the frustration of his pride that frighten a person.Each of these fears arises in connection with the “threat” to pride in one or another area of ​​the human psyche, where this pride takes place and where a person is afraid of losing its inspiring and masking influence about himself.

First of all, a person is afraid of losing what covers both from his consciousness and from the eyes of others his REAL SELF, so hated by him. He is afraid of losing the masks and facades built by his pride, which he blindly takes for his true essence and strives to ensure that others believe in it. Consider below the most important irrational fears inherent in a person with wounded pride.

I emphasize once again that these are precisely irrational fears (it would be more accurate to call them fears) inherent in anxiety. These fears have no real object (which is the case with normal FEAR), they have only an exaggerated fear of losing one or another aspect of pride or revealing what a person so carefully hides from others and from himself.

FEAR OF THE CRASH OF THE IDEA OF OMNIPOWER

This fear, I think, is the main one, since the basis of pride is precisely the feeling that a person has no obstacles to achieve the goals that his IDEAL SELF sets for a person. Moreover, the idea of ​​omnipotence can also apply to the very methods of achieving these goals. Everything happens as if by magic, without any risk or effort. Here the influence of MAGICAL THINKING affects. At the same time, a person takes what is desired for reality, what needs to be changed - for what has already been changed. In his mind, a person has already, as it were, accomplished what he saw in his fantasies - after all, he already saw himself as a hero of a certain IMAGE OF THE FUTURE, in which his desired goals have already been achieved.

It can be argued that almost always in the subconscious of a person there is a fear that his omnipotence is nothing more than an exciting FANTASY. Such a DOUBT of a person in the foundations of his IDENTITY, of which pride becomes a part, can be experienced very painfully. Therefore, a person drives all such thoughts away from himself - and his subconscious accepts everything that is FORCED out of consciousness.

When reality makes its own adjustments to a person’s idea of ​​his omnipotence, when it turns out that he cannot be like that, do this and achieve what he wants and how he wants, then the experiences associated with the collapse of illusions about himself as about something break in. something special, not like everyone else. It turns out in fact that the person is the most ordinary - and the husk of pomposity and conceit flies off him, and his true face becomes visible to everyone.

For many proud people, such a “blow of FATE” turns into a catastrophe, an insult to the whole world for its INJUSTICE. And only a few are able to use this sobering up in order to become YOURSELF, to live the REAL LIFE - the life of their REAL SELF.

The proud man considers himself not only entitled, but also absolutely confident in his unlimited ability to control other people and everything that happens to him. On the other hand, he is sure that his INNER REALITY is also under his complete CONTROL. Here we can talk about the connection of the considered type of secondary anxiety with ALARM LOSS OF CONTROL.

“It is only with the greatest reluctance that he recognizes in himself some unconscious forces, that is, forces that are not subject to the control of consciousness, writes Karen Horney, “It is torment for him to admit that there is a conflict or problem in him that he cannot resolve ( that is, deal with them) immediately... As long as possible, he clings to the illusion that he can make laws for himself and carry them out. He hates his own helplessness before something within himself just as much, if not more, than helplessness before external circumstances.

Another reason for such fear Karen Horney considers the feeling of general insecurity about their rights, which is often experienced by the proud: "the inner world, where he feels the right to anything, is so unrealistic that in the real world he becomes confused about his rights." The feeling that he has no rights may be the outward expression of his suffering and the focus of his complaints, as he is unsure of the irrational demands of his pride. And these demands, as Horney notes, “are frankly fantastic, they are all imbued with the expectation of a MIRACLE; requirements are a necessary and inevitable means of bringing the IDEAL SELF into reality.”

FEAR OF “DISCOVERING” AND SELF-REJECTION

Pride, as we know, is self-deception and deception of others. Of course, this is mostly not FALSE intentional. A person simply replaces his GENUINE SELF with the masks and facades of the IDEAL SELF. Everything that does not meet the requirements of pride is FORCED OUT. But the contents of the UNCONSCIOUS break into the consciousness, not leaving the person alone. The truth about himself, no matter how you hide it, sooner or later will make him think about the inconsistency of his EXPECTATIONS from himself with the real state of affairs, about the discrepancy between his opinion about what he is and his true essence.

The truth about the true self is the collapse of the illusion of one's own omnipotence. Therefore rthe order always in the depths of his soul fears that his masks will be torn off, that he will not be able to maintain his facades in proper quality. And as a result, it will become clear to everyone (including himself) that all his brilliance was just throwing dust in his eyes, and his true essence will become visible to everyone.

Fear of exposure is completely normal when committing any acts that are not accepted from the point of view of the environment or conscience. The irrational fear of exposure arises when the real (from a person’s point of view) properties do not correspond to those properties that he tries to develop in himself to please his IDEAL SELF.

Some proud people, argues Karen Horney, are especially susceptible to the fear of exposure. In such a person "there is always a secret fear that he is just a swindler":

“Even if he has achieved success or honor by honest work, he will still consider that he achieved them by misleading others. This makes him extremely sensitive to criticism and failure, even to the mere possibility of failure, or that criticism will reveal his "fraud"…“.

Often a proud person will try to see the flaws in himself, driven by the desire to eliminate them in time. However, being prone to excessive self-observation, such a person, as Karen Horney notes, "feels 'guilty' or inferior, and as a result, his low self-esteem is further underestimated." That is, the fear of exposure pushes a person, according to Horney, to introspection and self-accusation:

“Self-accusations of fraud and deceit (the fear that arises in him in response to self-accusations is the fear of being caught: if people knew him better, they would see what rubbish he is).

Other self-accusations strike not so much at the existing difficulties, but at the motivation to do something (for example, for insincerity of intentions, for hidden intentions).

Self-accusations can be focused on external adverse conditions beyond the control of this person. These external factors should not be out of control. Consequently, everything that goes wrong casts a shadow over him and exposes his shameful limitations.

A person may blame himself for actions or attitudes that, on closer examination, seem harmless, legitimate, and even desirable (those who pride themselves on asceticism will accuse themselves of "gluttony"; those who pride themselves on humility will brand self-confidence as selfishness). The most important thing about this kind of self-blame is that it often refers to a struggle against manifestations of the REAL SELF.”

It is precisely because of this tendency to self-accusations that the proud (that is, people who neglect the interests of their REAL SELF, often turn out to be victims of MANIPULATORS who play on inciting GUILT in them.

Horney notes that, thanks to the mechanism of PROJECTION, the tendency to introspection and self-blame is brought outward. At the same time, it seems to a person that it is other people who are constantly trying to convict him of deception. “As a result, he is sure that all those around him attribute bad motives to all his actions,” Horney writes, “This feeling can be so real to him that he resents those around him for INJUSTICE.”

Horney points to the futility of self-accusations, to their merely accusatory nature. The proud person who blames himself in a spirit of self-hatred willy-nilly tends to "defend himself against any self-accusation, hinders the development of the capacity for constructive self-criticism and thereby reduces the likelihood that we will learn anything from mistakes."

FEAR OF LACK OF DEMAND

The pride of a person is often "feeded" by the belief that others cannot do without it. This demand gives him a sense of strength and influence, raising his self-esteem and mental well-being. The person is addicted to feeding his pride feelings of being wanted.

This explains the fears of a person that he (as he presents himself) will be unclaimed by other people. And his pride, fearful of collapse, pushes him to more and more tricks in order to maintain the status quo or even gain even stronger positions in his relationships with other people.

FEAR OF DEVALUATION

Pride, like healthy self-esteem, requires a high assessment of a person both from those around him and his SELF-ESTIMATION. Appreciated by others and by himself, the proud man feels himself on a horse. He craves praise and does everything to get it (see VANITY AS A FALSE SELF-ESTIMATION).

However, somewhere in the subconscious of the proud, there is always a fear that he, so wonderful, will not be appreciated, as he believes, “on merit”, will be underestimated or even devalued. This can happen if the shining features of his pride turn out to be a faded fake, and through the gaps in masks and facades his very unsightly true essence becomes visible.

We can talk about any character trait, any property, any external or internal “SUBSTANCE” that a person considers his VALUE and wants to be highly appreciated by others. In the case of pride, we are dealing with the hypertrophy of certain traits and properties that the IDEAL SELF of a person considers his most important asset. In fact, we are talking about a mask that covers his REAL SELF, so hated by him. A person fears that the fall of this mask from him and the exposure of his true essence will force not only those around him to change their opinion of him in a negative direction, but he himself, having ceased to appreciate himself, will begin to despise himself.

The process of self-depreciation can reach gigantic proportions, says Karen Horney: “Even people who have genuine intellectual achievements sometimes feel that it is better to insist on their stupidity than to openly admit their aspirations, because they must avoid the danger of being ridiculed at all costs; with quiet desperation they accept their own verdict, rejecting evidence and assurances to the contrary. A person, as it were, thinks that it is better to devalue himself, to revel in self-abasement, to laugh at himself - than to experience the same thing from other people.

FEAR OF HATE FROM OTHERS

If a person is plunged by hurt pride into the abyss of self-contempt, then in order to protect himself from painful and cruel self-flagellation, his self-hatred is taken out: with the help of the protective mechanism of PROJECTION, aggressive tendencies are attributed to other people. Thus, the danger, as it were, threatens a person from the outside. This can cause suspicion, bouts of anxiety and fear of others.

FEAR OF EFFORT

Some proud people are convinced that they can be superior to everyone without making any effort to do so. “The reason for the deep-seated fear of constant effort is that it threatens to destroy the illusion of unlimited power and authority,” notes Karen Horney. That is, the need to make efforts is something “shameful” for such people, showing both them and those around them that there is no question of omnipotence, which is the subject of their pride.

It may be characteristic of the proud, according to Horney; "deepest aversion to any effort":

“The unconscious demand of his pride is such that intention alone should be enough to achieve, to get a job, to become happy or overcome difficulties. He has the right to receive all this without any expenditure of energy. Sometimes that means that the real work has to be done by others. If this does not happen, he has reason to be unhappy. It often happens that he gets tired of the mere prospect of "extra" work.

Thus, a person relieves himself of RESPONSIBILITY for getting out of unpleasant situations, for improving his situation. “It is others who are to blame for my troubles - they must fix everything. Otherwise, what kind of correction will it be if I do everything myself?” - so, according to Horney, the proud thinks.

FEAR OF REJECTION

One of the inner demands of pride may be the demand to be adored by other people. A proud person may think that others are obliged to be happy with him and always accept him with open arms, that he is “destined” to be favored by others. However, consciousness (albeit suppressed by pride) tells a person that such requirements and expectations are unrealistic. This is the reason for the anxious expectations of failure.

Confrontation with a real situation of rejection can result in outbreaks of INJUSTICE ANXIETY with the manifestation of appropriate emotions and the use of defenses characteristic of this anxiety.

FEAR OF DISAPPROVAL

If a person's SELF-EVALUATION depends on external evaluations and feedback from significant (or even insignificant) others, then one should expect significant mood swings depending on this external evaluation - from ENHANCEMENT by praise (in whatever form it is carried out) to DESPAIR in the case of even fair and friendly criticism. In addition, the proud person tends to react to negative feedback with contempt for those who negatively evaluate him.

A person may be afraid of disapproval from others, both of himself and of his individual properties and traits, his behavior, his actions, as well as the style and methods of their implementation. This fear is manifested by intolerance of reproaches and criticism.

FEAR OF LACK OF INTELLECTUAL POWER

The proud put their intellectual abilities in general very highly. They think they are smarter and smarter than other people. At the same time, they can consider their cunning, resourcefulness, ability to deceive as one of their most important qualities.

However, in reality, even in this area, often not everything is as the proud person imagines. So he can consider himself capable of finding the right solution without effort And deep reflection. This “irresistible need to appear omnipotent can damage learning abilities,” argues Karen Horney. Also, as a result of such a belief in one's superiority and in the ease of carrying out intellectual processes, the ability to make correct, balanced decisions is also impaired.

The proud, as we know, tend to ignore realities, unpleasant properties of their REAL SELF. This has a negative effect on intellectual activity in general. “A general tendency to obscure personal issues can also obscure the clarity of thinking: just as people who have blinded themselves to their internal conflicts, they may not pay attention to other types of contradictions,” writes Horney. The work of the intellect is put at the service of ignoring the TRUTH, but, in fact, at the service of a LIE.

Further, the proud, in Horney's words, "are too fascinated by the fame they have to achieve to be sufficiently interested in the work they do." This applies to the quality and intensity of intellectual work, and the effort that this work requires.

AGGRESSION (in relation to oneself and other people), characteristic of people with wounded pride, can also hinder critical thinking by clouding mental clarity.

In a word, the proud man has many reasons to be dissatisfied with his mind, which is often the subject of his pride. As a result, the proud person may suffer greatly from self-reproaches or from severe disappointments about the inefficiency (whether real or simply assumed by him) of his mind.

However, belief in the superiority of reason remains one of the most important internal defenders of the proud. This explains his desire to constantly strengthen in all possible and impossible ways his reliance on the intellect, which is one of the important PROTECTIONS FROM THE ANXIETY OF WOUNDED PRIDE.

THE FEAR OF THE NEED TO REJECT THE WISHES AND DEMANDS OF Pride

According to Karen Horney, it is difficult for a proud person to “recognize the limitations of time, energy, money, knowledge of their real desires and the ability to give up less important ones for more important ones.” This happens because, on the one hand, such a person is confident in the unlimitedness of his capabilities, up to faith in his omnipotence (MAGIC THINKING, in particular, as part of the MANIC PROTECTION system), on the other hand, his desires do not come from his true NEEDS, but are the result of the compulsive demands of his pride (NADO).

The consequence of this is the impossibility of ranking desires according to their significance: for him they are all equally important, therefore he cannot refuse any of them, nor believe in the impossibility of fulfilling this or that desire (or all at once). This becomes the cause of a person’s deep frustration, which is further aggravated by the fact that in the depths of his soul he realizes or feels that his omnipotence is only a fiction, self-deception and deception of others.

One important consequence of this is, in the words of Karen Horney, "a sense of general insecurity about his rights": the inner world where the proud feel entitled to anything is so unrealistic "that in the real world he becomes confused about his rights; the feeling that he has no rights may then be the outward expression of his suffering, and may become the focus of his complaints, while he is not sure of his irrational claims.

It is important to note that the proud man often cannot distinguish between his desires AND the demands of his pride, which push him to compulsive actions that he performs, as it were, against his WILL. These requirements seem to drag a person through life.

The all-encompassing function of pride claims, according to Karen Horney, is “to perpetuate the proud man’s illusions about himself and shift responsibility to external factors: he places responsibility for himself on other people, on circumstances, on fate:

“The claims of pride do not prove his superiority by achievement or success: they provide him with the necessary evidence and alibis. And even if he sees again and again that others do not accept his demands, that the law is written for him too, that he does not stand above ordinary troubles and failures - all this does not prove the absence of unlimited possibilities for him. It only proves that UNJUSTICE is still happening to him. But if only he will defend his demands, one day they will be fulfilled.

It's not fair that he has problems at all. He has the right to at least a life arranged in such a way that these problems do not bother him in any way. He demands: the world must be arranged in such a way that it does not encounter its conflicts and is not forced to realize them.

FEAR TO DEMONSTRATE “SHAMED” FEELINGS

The proud man tries (more precisely, he SHOULD) keep a good face in any game. Therefore, he should not even pretend that he had a failure or a drama or a tragedy. To do this, he must not let other people see his feelings, showing that he is experiencing or ashamed. After all, to show others that it is bad for him means to personally sign for the failure of the attempts of his own pride. “He considers suffering a disgrace to be hidden,” writes Karen Horney.

The proud man, confident in his ideal perfection and absolute rightness, can, even when his pride is struck, not show a sense of shame, of which he is terribly ashamed. “The feeling of being right blocks the way for the feeling of SHAME,” writes Horney.

If a person is proud of his invulnerability, then this pride forbids him to admit a feeling of resentment in himself. Such a proud man, according to Karen Horney, is in a dilemma: “he is absurdly vulnerable, but his pride does not allow him to be vulnerable at all. The deity can in principle be angry at the imperfections of mortals, but he must be great enough to be above it, and strong enough to step over it. This internal state is largely responsible for his irritability.

A phobia is a strong, uncontrollable, irrational fear that occurs when interacting with the object of the phobia or when certain circumstances arise that a person is not able to control and perceive objectively.

The state of fear in the presence of a phobic disorder is pathological, beyond control and logical explanation. An intense feeling of fear is present permanently or manifests itself in connection with a variety of stressors, stimuli or events. With a phobia, most often fears are imaginary - that is, they depend on an individual, biased perception of a particular situation or object by a person.

What is a phobia?

The term phobia came to psychology from the Greek language. "Phobos" means "horror" in translation. In psychology and psychiatry, this term has several official interpretations. Highlighting the most authoritative of them, we can identify the main symptomatic manifestations of an anxiety-phobic disorder:

• Fear is biased and pathological.
• The object of fear is clearly defined.
• Anxiety-phobic disorder is intense, progressing over time.
• The individual evaluates his fear critically, denies it, is ashamed or does not recognize the presence of pathology.

We all experience fear, anxiety, and even panic attacks in one way or another. However, they do not always transform into diseases. After all, the human psyche is arranged in such a way that the mechanisms of psychological, emotional protection react to any stress. Thanks to the “forgetting” effect, we quickly get rid of the consequences of any negative emotions and stresses. In the case of a phobia, the defense mechanism of the brain does not work, or it does not work correctly. Fear that cannot be explained logically, not amenable to conscious control, and is considered to be a phobia.

Common Phobias: How Many of Us Have Them?

According to research by American experts, the spread of phobias around the world ranges from 2 to 9%. According to Russian scientists Karvarsky and Polyakov, 15 to 44% of patients seeking psychological help suffer from anxiety disorders. According to statistics, most people suffering from various phobias and fears fall into the age category from 25 to 45 years.

How are fears and phobias related to other mental illnesses?

Phobic disorder is a typical companion of many other mental pathologies. Often a phobia necessarily accompanies some kind of neurosis. According to the results of Karandasheva's research, only such a pathology as hysteria can be accompanied by more than 14 anxiety disorders. In turn, neuroses and obsessive-compulsive states are accompanied by a list of 13 phobias, while neurasthenics can simultaneously be subject to 4 types of phobias. In psychology, phobias and fears are traditionally considered in the context of neurotic and obsessive states. In accordance with the results of Gannushkin's work, phobias are characteristic of patients with various types of schizophrenia and asthenic disorders.

How does a phobia manifest itself?

An individual with pathological anxiety is under the constant influence of his fear. He almost never experiences peace and spiritual harmony. He gets the feeling that he is permanently on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Panic attacks, despair, hopelessness and confusion are the constant companions of a person suffering from phobias.

Description of a person with a phobia

An individual suffering from a phobic disorder begins to avoid the objects of his fear, consciously avoids any situations in which a collision with a stressor is possible. Also, a person subject to anxiety can hardly cope with the performance of professional activities. After all, constant anxiety and its symptoms, both psychological and somatic, significantly reduce the efficiency of brain activity. It becomes difficult to perform intellectual work, reduced attentiveness and efficiency. A person suffering from some kind of social phobia, in addition to all of the above, is constantly worried about how her colleagues evaluate her, what others think of her, what impression she makes on them.

The tendency of an individual to avoid stressors, to escape from frightening situations, significantly reduces the quality of his life in all areas. He reduces communication with others to a minimum, refuses new, unknown activities, from meeting new people. This, in turn, slows down his development as a person, puts an end to career growth and implementation in professional activities. By reducing communication with others, a person deprives himself of leisure, visiting interesting and crowded events. Depending on the object of the phobia, the quality of certain aspects of his life deteriorates.

How to distinguish a phobia from a normal fear?

According to the thesis put forward by A. Svyadosch, a normal, natural feeling of fear, unlike phobic anxiety, has nothing to do with certain stressors or circumstances, with a person's attitude towards them. Natural fear manifests itself for a short time and in a situation or in front of an object that really threatens life, health, and the normal psychological state of a person. It stops almost immediately after the elimination of the objective stressor, leaving no long-term experiences and somatic disorders.
Phobic anxiety can be single-object and multi-object, but the semantic load of emotional experiences, situational circumstances and the object of the phobia are always the same. Natural fear, unlike pathological anxiety, is always changeable, has a number of good reasons, manifests itself in relation to real-life factors (and not imaginary ones, as is the case with phobias).
So, for example, a person is frightened of a snake that wants to attack him, and jumps to the side or freezes in place. When the danger has passed, he can survive for a few more days. But then his fears no longer bother him, and the next time he encounters a snake, he will be careful, but will not experience anxiety and tension. Ophidiophobia (fear of snakes) manifests itself on an ongoing basis. Panic sets in when meeting with any snake (even defenseless and non-venomous), when watching videos and photos with images of these animals.

The theory of the study of phobia

Phobic disorders have recently been classified as an independent type of mental pathology. Previously, they were considered in the context of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Already in the works of the doctor F. Plater in 1617, the first scientific descriptions of an anxiety-phobic disorder are found. And in 1858, the Russian physician I. Balinsky gives a new, independent definition of pathological anxiety, highlighting it as an independent class of mental abnormalities. He defines a phobia as a psycho-emotional state, which is characterized by fear, anxiety, negative emotions of an obsessive nature that cannot be controlled, which are not subject to the control of consciousness and visit the individual against his will. Psychiatrists and psychologists note that many patients critically evaluate their fears, realize their bias. But they cannot get rid of the phobia on their own.

In modern psychology and psychiatry, it is customary to classify obsessive-compulsive disorder syndromes as phobic (based on anxiety), compulsive (based on behavioral manifestations) and obsessional (based on emotions and thoughts).

More in-depth studies of phobias as a separate class of diseases begin in 1871, after the publication of the works of the German scientist Otto Westphal. When describing a clinical case of an anxiety disorder, he mentions that the patient's fear arises against his will, and is not amenable to conscious control. At the same time, it does not affect other functions of the nervous system, the clarity of thinking, intelligence, and clear consciousness are preserved outside the sphere of influence of the stressor.

At the moment, phobia is a relatively uncomplicated anxiety disorder and has been successfully treated with help.

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Each of us has undoubtedly experienced fear at some point. Most often, this is a completely natural feeling, because this is how the desire of a living organism for self-preservation is manifested. However, often people are not afraid of some specific things that they observe or at least can imagine. There is a fear of what the one experiencing it does not have a clear idea, all the more so - he did not see it personally; or it is a fear of ordinary objects and phenomena, but the person who is afraid cannot explain the reason for it.

The concept of "irrational fear" is defined in different ways:

• first, so called - mental disorders, characterized by an inadequate response to the perception of simple objects;
• secondly, this is the name given to the fear of the unknown, the unknown, the “supernatural”, inherent in seemingly mentally healthy people.

In fact, however, high religiosity, superstition, confidence in the existence of "higher powers", fate and fate are inherent only in those who have any mental or psychological disorders:

• schizophrenia.

These disorders are not as noticeable or expressive as “standard” mental or mental illnesses, and this is partly dictated by political factors: it is beneficial for those in power when the people in their mass consist of uninitiative, incapacitated and intimidated individuals, moderately educated and afraid of everything that they unable to understand. Therefore, people often suffering from serious mental disorders are declared “normal”, religion and superstition are considered the “basis of national culture”, and the inadequate fears associated with them are considered the standard of behavior.

So from this point of view, the fear of spiders and the “fear of God” professed by believers are different manifestations of the same disease.

cruel experiment

How do irrational fears arise? An experiment is known in which a nine-month-old baby participated. The experiment was later called cruel and inhuman, but it clearly demonstrated the reason for the inappropriate behavior of adults.

The child was shown various objects that were similar in appearance and pleasant to the eye and to the touch:

• santa claus beard,
• piece of cotton
• white hand rat.

They even let him play with the rat. The kid liked her very much, he became attached to her. After that, a metal object was loudly hit behind the child's back as soon as he touched the rat. He was frightened by a sharp sound and began to cry. In the end, he became afraid of the rat - its very sight caused him to associate with an unpleasant sound; but the same associations arose in him when he saw any white and fluffy object - in particular, the same pieces of cotton wool and the beard of Santa Claus, which he had previously liked.

It is known that the developed phobia remained with him later, when he became an adult. Outside observers are unable to understand why a piece of ordinary cotton wool or a white beard causes such an inadequate reaction in this person; and the subject himself may not be aware of this - fear is entrenched at a subconscious level.

A similar scene is described in Aldous Huxley's famous dystopia Brave New World! From the very beginning, children artificially removed from test tubes are divided by scientists into several castes, differing in mental indicators, and are intended for a certain type of work. And six-month-old children who are destined to become "cretins" and do the most menial work, with the help of this technique, weaned from books. In the future, the "nerds" fixed a steady aversion to books, reading and learning in general.

Huxley, as is known, was the grandson of an outstanding biologist who was engaged, in particular, in the study of conditioned reflexes in animals; and brother of two other biologists. So the writer, apparently, personally observed such experiments (only not with people).

What do the experiment on a child and Roman Huxley testify to?

The described experiment showed that irrational fears are based on life experience experienced by the patient a very long time ago, most often in early childhood. It is at this age that the child first tries to learn about the world around him and identify patterns in it; and very often his brain is mistaken - he perceives a random coincidence of circumstances that are in no way connected with each other as a stable pattern.

The first impressions of childhood form the human psyche for the rest of his life, laying certain “programs” into the subconscious. Human behavior becomes automatic, while specific images are erased from memory. That is why a claustrophobic individual often cannot explain why he is afraid of enclosed spaces - only the subconscious mind “remembers” how his parents or older brothers locked him in a dark room in early childhood.

Of course, there are people whose "early childhood" lasts much longer, so they can have irrational fears at any time. In extreme situations (for example, during an accident), they can occur in almost any of us.

The formation of first impressions, including negative ones, in our time is facilitated by the media, especially television. With their help, mass "programming" of the population is carried out. In the brain of a small child (and sometimes an adult) you can deliberately "lay" any phobia and thus program his behavior in the future.

How to get rid of irrational fears?

It can be done in different ways. The most common method is systematic desensitization. It consists in the fact that the patient is gradually "brought closer" to the object of his fear, using the techniques and. For example, if a person is afraid of cats, then he is gradually brought closer to them:

• first show pictures of cats,
• then the video
• then offer to watch them from the window,
• bring the cat directly to him,
• let me touch her.

According to, with this approach, the conditioned reflex, which is a phobia, gradually fades away. A faster and more radical method is implosion therapy, but this technique can not always be used. According to her, a person who is afraid of cats is immediately brought an animal and left alone with him, despite the protests and cries.

A patient experiencing irrational fears is able to cure himself if he tries the situation: do his emotions have anything to do with reality? Doesn't he live in his inner world, cut off from what is really going on around him? Stormy fantasy, going into an imaginary world is one of the reasons for the development of irrational fears, therefore, a good way of healing is to “fall from heaven to earth”.

Parents should monitor the mental development of their children from the very beginning. Irritable stimuli must be minimized, any hint of a phobia should be immediately eliminated: the child should be convinced that he has nothing to be afraid of. You also need to keep track of what films and cartoons he watches, what books he reads, what games he plays. But something should not be forbidden to him, the principle is the same: you need to explain to the child that the film is just a picture, monsters and ghosts do not exist - and so on.

“If I was on the edge of an abyss and a grasshopper jumped in my face, I would rather throw myself into the abyss than endure these touches,” Salvador Dali admitted. Hitchcock cringed at the mere sight of eggs, and Stephen King still falls asleep with the lights on and writes novels, never stopping at multiples of 13 pages. how new technologies will help to cope with the problem.

The term "phobia" comes from the Greek "phobos" - "fear", "horror", but not every fear can be called a phobia. This concept refers to a persistent, irrational and uncontrollable fear that makes a person feel bad in certain situations and try to avoid them in every possible way. Unlike ordinary fear - an emotion that helps us adapt to the world around us (it allows us to assess the situation and avoid real dangers), a phobia, on the contrary, leads to maladaptation and a feeling of helplessness.

“He washed his hands at the slightest provocation and dried them with a fresh towel each time. Handshakes were not tolerated. He had a strange disgust for pearls; if ladies in pearls were present at the dinner, he could not eat. In general, smooth round surfaces inspired him with disgust; it took him a long time to get used to the billiard balls ... ". This is how his biographer John O'Neill describes the oddities of Nikola Tesla in the book Electric Prometheus. Irrational fear can be completely absurd - as in the case of pearls, in other cases it is based on some kind of logic, but the individual's reactions to an irritant are pathologically It is one thing to simply be afraid of getting sick, and another thing is to wipe every object with a napkin and avoid touching because of this fear.In a phobia, anxiety is so strong that a collision with an unwanted object / situation is accompanied by psychosomatic reactions - a person turns pale or blushes, he develops shortness of breath, nausea, palpitations, he throws himself into a cold sweat, etc. Usually, the very expectation of a phobic situation causes premature anxiety - and in severe cases, anxiety can arise several hours before real contact with the source (in the case of aerophobia, for example - after half a day before boarding a flight at the airport). correct diagnosis - such a manifestation of a phobia stretched over time can be mistaken for a generalized anxiety disorder.

The realization that fear is irrational or hypertrophied does not solve the problem - the owner of the phobia cannot help himself and continues to avoid the source of anxiety. And if you can isolate yourself from mice or spiders without much damage to everyday life, then, for example, ablutophobia (abnormal fear of washing - from wet cleaning in the house to a warm bath) or anthophobia (fear of flowers) can cause great difficulties. In cases where a phobia seriously interferes with a person's life, we can talk about a mental disorder.

Don't leave the room

According to the International Classification of Diseases, phobic disorders are divided into three main categories:

Specific(isolated) - this includes phobias that are clearly limited to specific objects and situations. Popular specific phobias include, for example, fear of certain types of animals (rodents, insects, reptiles, dogs, etc.), heights, darkness, thunder, flying in an airplane, closed spaces, the sight of blood, or medical intervention. There are also much more atypical options: for example, people suffering from trypophobia - fear of clusters of holes - twitch at the sight of honeycombs or lotus fruits, and owners of omphalophobia are afraid of both the sight of other people's navels and touching their own.

Social phobia is the fear of close attention from other people, leading to the avoidance of various social situations - from phone calls to unfamiliar subscribers to house parties or public speaking. Serious social phobias are associated with fear of criticism and low self-esteem - they are more likely to develop in those who were compared in childhood with “good” peers in their favor, or in those who were the victim of attacks and ridicule from their peers in childhood.

Separately allocated agoraphobia, the essence of which is easiest to describe with the famous quote of Joseph Brodsky - "do not leave the room, do not make a mistake." It is usually thought of as a fear of open spaces - as opposed to claustrophobia - but is primarily the fear of leaving the house or leaving another small comfort zone (such as a room). This diagnosis may also include a fear of crowds and public places, a fear of traveling alone, and an unwillingness to be in a place that is difficult to leave quickly without drawing attention to oneself (for example, a chair in a barbershop). Anxiety can be caused both by fear of embarrassment in public, or simply by the inability to control the environment, and the fear that a panic attack will be noticed by others further exacerbates the phobia. Unlike social phobia, which most often develops in adolescence, agoraphobia, as a rule, manifests itself in already adult individuals, at the age of 20-40 years.

How do we “choose” what to fear

What happens to our body when we encounter a source of anxiety? It is believed that the amygdala, an area of ​​the brain located inside the temporal lobe (one amygdala in each hemisphere), is responsible for the feeling of fear and the instinct for self-preservation. It is connected, among other things, with the emergence and fixation in the memory of associations between the source of fear and the feeling of danger. Upon repeated collision with a "dangerous" object, the amygdala triggers the secretion of hormones that bring the body into a state of readiness - to run, fight, or, conversely, hide in the face of danger. Subjectively, this condition is perceived as unpleasant: adrenaline is released, the heart beats quickly, blood pressure rises, sweat comes out, but in fact, nothing threatens the body in a state of panic.

But why is one person scared to death of butterflies and another can't stand the sight of chewing gum? Do we choose our own fears? Although scientists have not yet come to a single explanation, there are several hypotheses about the causes of phobias.

Firstly, the appearance of irrational fears can be explained by Pavlov's model - when a negative stimulus is combined with a neutral stimulus, a negative reaction to a neutral stimulus is fixed in a person. The most striking example is the experience of John Watson, the founder of the behavioral trend in psychology. Watson was interested in children's emotions and, in particular, the formation of fear reactions. He wanted to know how a child develops fear of objects that previously seemed safe.

To do this, he launched, to put it mildly, an ambiguous experiment, the hero of which was a 9-month-old boy Albert, notable for the fact that he was not at all afraid of white rats. During the study, the baby was shown a tame white rat, a white rabbit, cotton wool, a Santa Claus mask with a beard and other white objects for two months. Two months later, Albert was put in the middle of the room and allowed to play with the former rat. Some time after the start of the game, Watson began to beat with an iron mallet on a metal plate behind the child's back every time Albert touched the rat. After some time, the frightened baby began to avoid contact with the animal. A week later, the experiment was repeated - this time the plate was hit five times, simply by launching the rat into the cradle, which caused the child to cry. Five days later, it turned out that Albert was afraid not only of rats, but also of white rabbits, cotton wool and Santa Claus. So Watson concluded that fear reactions can be transferred from the real cause to the accompanying stimulus, and the child had a strange phobia for life.

In addition, fear can be acquired while observing others. Thus, for example, one can "inherit" the fear of dogs from one of the close relatives, drawing conclusions from his behavior on a walk (the closest relatives of people with phobias are almost three times more likely to suffer from phobias than those who do not have such relatives - but if the general tendency to anxiety is partially genetic in origin, the very "choice" of a phobia depends more on the example of others than on heredity). And sometimes picturesque stories heard in early childhood are enough - so you should not tell horror stories to children about dangerous bacteria, aggressive animals or monsters crawling out of the dark. Phobias can also arise as a result of very vivid stressful experiences - for example, a person who once accidentally almost fell under a train may be afraid of trains all his life since.

And from the point of view of psychoanalysis, increased anxiety, including phobic disorders, are caused by a person’s encounter with some forbidden desires that he does not want or cannot accept. Desire begins to be perceived as a danger, and not internal, but external - since the individual turns on a kind of psychological defense, not wanting to admit that the source of fear is actually in himself. Interestingly, Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, also had a strange phobia - he was afraid of ferns. The professor never got to the bottom of the cause of this fear.

Benzodiazepines and relaxation

One of the most effective ways to treat phobias is cognitive behavioral therapyaimed at combating conscious and unconscious negative beliefs and attitudes that lead to increased anxiety, neuroses, panic attacks and other disorders. During the reception, the psychotherapist not only understands the causes of irrational fear, but also develops a system of exercises to combat new attacks.

In addition, psychotherapy is often combined with medication. Three groups of drugs are commonly used to treat phobic disorder - beta-blockers, benzodiazepines, and antidepressants - selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Beta-blockers interfere with the stimulating effect of adrenaline and relieve psychosomatic symptoms. SSRIs regulate the level of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that affects mood, including a sense of security. And benzodiazepines have a sedative and anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) effect.

In order to cope with irrational fears, it is also useful to master relaxation techniques. In some cases, the "staircase of fear" technique, based on careful and gradual contacts with the source of the phobia, also helps. For example, if you are afraid of dogs, then you should start by looking at photos and videos about dogs, then move on to watching dogs on the street from afar, and finally start approaching animals carefully. In any case, you should not self-medicate - it is better to consult a psychotherapist.

6 Apps to get rid of fears

In addition to psychotherapy and medication, technology helps to cope with phobias. T&P has compiled a list of apps that aim to alleviate and prevent anxiety and panic attacks in the future.

SOAR have been working since 1982 - now they are the leading experts in the field of aerophobia, using cognitive behavioral techniques in practice. The author of the app is Tom Bunn, pilot and licensed therapist. SOAR covers absolutely everything: from claustrophobia to behavior in extreme situations. In fact, the meaning of his work is to eliminate illiteracy. Anxiety can be overcome by knowledge about the design of the aircraft, the mechanics of its operation, about the safety system and how it prevents pilot errors, about turbulence and whether it poses any kind of threat. Other apps that may help you drink less during your flight are VALK and Take off Mode, initiated by Japan's All Nippon Airways.

Andrew Johnson is a medical doctor who specializes in clinical hypnotherapy, a type of psychotherapy aimed at changing the patient's subconscious through hypnosis. Beat Social Phobia is an audio guide to help you manage social anxiety and stress levels. You can turn to the app as needed, or if your daily schedule does not include time for reflection, you can also turn on reminders: the app will prompt you to take a deep breath and think about the good. The content of Beat Social Phobia is divided into four sections: introduction, relaxation, splash of social phobia and awakening. These are exercises to relieve the feeling of heaviness in the body, getting rid of paranoia about what others think of you, increasing awareness, self-confidence, and so on.

The application helps to get rid of the fears associated with the animal world, the first issue is dedicated to its most frightening representatives - spiders. According to statistics, arachnophobia is characteristic of 6% of the world's population, among the famous sufferers are Johann Schiller, Ronald Reagan and Johnny Depp. The working mechanism of Phobia Free is aimed at gradual desensitization. The therapy takes place in the format of an interactive narrative, during which it comes from the pink cartoon spider Itsy to quite realistic tarantulas crawling on the desktop or kitchen table, that is, very close by. At the end of the last session, as an exam, the application will prompt you to find and take a picture on your smartphone of a living spider, preferably a bigger and furrier one. Phobia Free is approved by the UK National Health Service.