The Psychology of Fear

Fear falls into one of two categories, rational and irrational.  A rational fear is one that a person experiences as a result of exposure to a particular stimulus, as a result fear is caused by this previous traumatic experience associated with the same stimulus.  Take an individual who experiences an earthquake during which they get hurt or experience a scene of great horror.  When exposed again to the same stimulus, another earthquake the individual experiences immense panic, a state of disorientation and excited breathing - adrenaline surges through the individual causing them to shake as they are filled with excess energy in a stagnant situation.

Irrational fear has no known cause.  There is no reason behind the individual's fear of the stimulus to give an example, an irrational fear of jelly [jello for the American readers] or of feathers etc, these fears are often held against objects which could not within reason cause any harm to the individual.  For all intents and purposes irrational fears are deemed irrational as a result of the collective opinion of those who observe those who experience the fear.  A fear with no known cause other than anxiety in itself cannot be considered irrational, for example a fear of Snakes in an individual with no past experiences positive or negative involving Snakes.

I would add a third category to fears, one that could be considered a sub-category of irrational fears depending on your point of view.  This category I would call "Illogical Fears" - that is to say fears that don't follow logic.  The best example I could give to demonstrate the distinction here would be to say that I see illogical fears as being a fear of something you do want, but for some reason fear.  The most common illogical fear would be a fear of commitment, many want commitment and want a relationship but on some level hold a fear of that commitment which can provoke the same responses as listed above.  That is an uneasiness when put into a situation involving commitment, a desire to escape that situation and above all else a desire to prevent themselves from being put in that situation again.  That last point is the greatest point of note surrounding illogical fear, in that although this is how the subject would behave they aren't always conscious of the fact they behave in this way and even when they do they don't fully understand why, nor can they stop themselves - in other words their reactions are involuntary.

In all three categories one question remains, a question that for many writers of self help books proves to be a proverbial oil well of riches to be struck as it is confronted - the question:  How do you conquer a fear?

A quick search for books on fears will show there exists a plethora of resources that all pose different methods and approaches to conquering fears, yet ultimately fear boils down to one thing, determination.  You will only conquer a fear if you are determined to conquer that fear.  If you are not determined to conquer your fear then the real issue is not the fear itself but what the fear represents and why you choose not to confront it.