How to get rid of fear and anxiety - advice from psychologists and useful techniques. "Hot ten" human fears. How to deal with fears? How to deal with intense fear

Quite often we begin to worry about little things and fear our failure. What if I don't succeed? What if I fail the exam? What if she doesn't like me? These doubts set you up for a negative outcome and prevent you from enjoying life and achieving your goals. But there is a way out!

How to overcome anxiety and find peace of mind

Luckily, there are many ways to regain your calm and confidence. The following methods, which, according to psychologists, are the most effective, will help you quickly overcome feelings of anxiety. Follow the tips below and you will regain your peace of mind in no time.

1. How to calm down: breathe deeply

Psychologists recommend: if you feel anxious, breathe. Deep diaphragmatic breathing helps you relax and thereby reduce anxiety. The fact is that being in such an active state associated with the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, the body goes into a state of relaxation and calm. During deep breathing, the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system is activated.

Show me a deep breathing exercise to help you calm down.

Inhale slowly for four counts, filling your stomach first, then your chest. Also hold your breath for four counts, and then exhale slowly, trying to stretch the exhalation into four counts. Repeat several times. This type of breathing immediately has a positive effect on your mental state.

2. How to calm down: Recognize your anxiety and come to terms with it

Remember that anxiety is just a feeling, like any other that a person experiences. Once you realize this, it will be easier for you to come to terms with your anxiety and accept it as something natural and normal.

Of course, such acceptance does not mean that you have to resign yourself to a life where you will constantly be haunted by feelings of anxiety. On the contrary, you simply don’t need to focus on your anxiety as something extremely negative, something that needs to be fixed quickly. With this approach, any attempt to stop worrying will only make the anxiety worse.

Coming to terms with your feelings of anxiety means recognizing that you are currently experiencing anxiety and accepting reality as it is. Without psychological stress, without making futile attempts to calm down.

3. How to Calm Down: Recognize that your brain is playing tricks on you

Sometimes the brain deceives us, and everything seems worse to us than it actually is. For example, a person who experiences a panic attack believes that he is dying of a heart attack.

Renowned psychiatrist Kelly Hyland recalls one such incident that occurred when she was a student and interning in a hospital.

“An experienced psychiatrist approached a patient who had all the symptoms of a heart attack and told him in a calm voice that all this would pass, he would not die, and it was just his brain deceiving him. And in fact, the patient calmed down and everything went away. It turned out it wasn't a heart attack."

Dr. Hyland says he often uses this method with patients. What helps the patient stop feeling shame, guilt and nervous tension due to the fact that he cannot reduce anxiety. Thus, sometimes the brain plays games with us, making us believe that everything is worse than it actually is.

4. How to calm down: control your thoughts

When a person experiences anxiety, thoughts become confused and inconsistent with reality. We imagine that something bad might happen, and the anxiety constantly increases. But very often the scenario we have imagined for the development of events is unlikely, and even unrealistic.

Imagine that you have to give a toast at your friend's wedding. The thought immediately flashes through my head: “ Oh no! So what do I say? This is a catastrophe!“But before you start worrying, think that in reality there will be no catastrophe. Even if you don’t manage to give a toast confidently and beautifully, you don’t know most of the people at the wedding and will never meet again. And those who giggle at your speech will not remember it the next day.

Psychologists recommend asking yourself the following questions if you are feeling anxious about upcoming events:

Is my concern justified?
Could this actually happen?
If trouble happens, what exactly will depress me?
Can I survive this?
What can I do?
If something bad happens, how will it be my fault?
Is there any way I can prepare for a negative outcome?

Every time you feel anxious, start answering these questions. You will see that basically we worry in vain, and any situation, no matter what it may seem to us, can be survived and we can move on with peace.

5. How to calm down: visualization will help

Calming visualization is an effective way to combat anxiety. Basically, human emotions and thoughts are occupied with information. We think of something as bad or good, right or wrong. All this only exacerbates the feeling of anxiety. Try to think in positive ways. Visualize and you will feel how your mind calms down and your thoughts become clear.

Show a mental visualization exercise to calm yourself down.

Imagine that you are in a beautiful park, meadow or on the seashore. Try to look at the nature around you, see leaves floating on the water, or clouds in a clear blue sky. Let your emotions pass through you when you admire the beauty of the landscape, the thoughts and feelings that you experience at such a moment. Let them float quietly through your mind.

6. How to calm down: stop criticizing yourself

Another way to help overcome anxiety is to use special cards. On the card you write: “ I observe my thoughts, feelings, emotions, perception of the outside world in order to understand myself, and not to criticize" It is better to use several cards that you can put near the mirror, in the car, in the kitchen so that they are always before your eyes.

This method will definitely bring results. You psychologically set yourself up for a positive outlook by preventing anxious thoughts from taking over your mind.

7. How to calm down: start thinking positively

Anxiety is a state in which our head is filled with various negative thoughts, and we constantly engage in intense internal dialogue with ourselves. Try to control your thoughts. To cope with negative attitudes, start thinking positively.

Such positive statements help you relax, feel more confident, and of course reduce anxiety. Apply positive thinking whenever anxiety begins to control your thoughts. Train yourself to think positively under any circumstances, and soon the quality of your life will noticeably change for the better.

Show a positive thinking exercise to calm down

Come up with positive thoughts yourself to replace your worries and anxiety. For example, instead of fueling feelings of anxiety with various “ what if I don't succeed», « what if", encourage yourself: " Yes, I'm worried. But I can handle this. I am in complete control of my feelings and emotions. I'm calming down. I am calm and enjoy every minute of my life».

8. How to Calm Down: Live in the Present Moment

Typically, people experience anxiety about upcoming events, worrying that something bad might happen in the future. They do not notice at all that they actually live here and now, and do not pay attention to what is happening at the moment in their lives.

Listen to the advice of psychologists - stop, breathe deeply and focus all your attention on what is happening in your life at this very moment. Even if it's something serious and unpleasant, by focusing on the present moment, you can solve the problem faster and more effectively and reduce anxiety about the future.

9. How to calm down: continue doing your usual activities

Don't let worry and anxiety distract you from the things you would do if you were feeling better. There is nothing worse than putting aside your business and giving in to thoughts about how bad you feel. You need to continue living your normal life.

If you wanted to go to the cinema, or you urgently need to go to the dry cleaner, then just go. Don't change your plans by deciding to stay home and think about your life. This will make your anxiety even worse.

Psychologists advise sticking to the usual rhythm of life, or doing something interesting, something that brings pleasure and makes you distract yourself a little. Follow this advice and you will see how quickly you will get back to normal!

Constant worry and anxiety, as well as the associated nervous tension, negatively affect the quality of life. We worry more and more about the future, expect troubles and failures, although for the most part such expectations are not justified. We feel psychologically depressed, reproach ourselves for unreasonable anxiety, and thereby aggravate it even more. Follow these recommendations from psychologists who have repeatedly proven their effectiveness and have helped many people improve their lives!

Breathlessness, cold or heat throughout the body, rapid heartbeat, everything inside is compressed... This condition is familiar to every person.

Some people experience fear quite rarely, while others experience these feelings every day. Fears vary in the intensity of the experience - it can be either simply anxiety and physical restlessness, or a state that terrifies a person.

In the generally accepted view, situations associated with violence, shock events, and accidents are considered frightening. However, “ordinary” situations that seem favorable at first glance can be no less frightening and traumatic. For example, minor road accidents, medical procedures or surgical interventions, domestic quarrels and scandals.

In psychology, there are several types of fears:

A phobia is an anxiety state that occurs in certain situations. A person is afraid of something specific - heights, closed spaces, large crowds of people.
Fear that arises as a result of a traumatic event (road accidents, situations involving various types of violence, emergencies, surgical interventions).
Anxiety associated with events that may occur in the future (fear of death, fear of illness of loved ones, fear of failure).

Working with fears

In our society, it is generally accepted that fear is bad, and being afraid is shameful. People try in every possible way to overcome their fears: periodically encountering the same fear, they force themselves to get used to it (train themselves not to be afraid), engage in extreme sports (so that the body gets used to the release of adrenaline and in other terrifying situations it would not be so scary) , hold their breath (again, so that the body gets used to the release of adrenaline and hypoxia and is more stress-resistant in alarming situations).

But which of these are really effective? How to deal with fears and is it worth fighting them?

Fear is a state that occurs in a person when he is faced with a real threat to his life. The first and natural reaction in this case is freezing. This is the deepest and most important reaction. Freeze in order to stop and orient yourself in the situation, to understand how to escape. Freezing, the person chooses the necessary tactics of behavior further. There are only three of them:

Struggle. This is the most primitive method of protection. If the situation requires a certain aggressiveness and a person feels the strength to fight, then he enters the fight.
Escape. If the threat is so strong that it is pointless to fight, then the person runs away.
Further freezing (numbness). In the case when fight or flight is impossible, or the situation does not suggest such methods of behavior, the body moves to the only possible alternative behavior - further freezing. The energy that could have received a natural release in previous behavioral tactics remains inside the person, disturbing his emotional state. Some people may still vent these feelings after some time, feeling helpless or experiencing outbursts of anger. For the rest, this “frozen” energy remains undischarged.

Having experienced certain traumatic events, a person intuitively begins to help himself. He avoids places where subsequent injury may occur. This prevents him from being injured again, but creates chronic tension throughout the body. We must constantly be on our toes, try not to get into the same situation. At some point the tension will make itself felt. This may not necessarily be any disease or muscle tension; it often manifests itself in hypervigilance (a person is constantly “on guard”), obsessive images, hyperactivity, excessive emotionality and fearfulness, night terrors and nightmares, sudden mood swings, outbursts of anger and irritability.

There is an alternative behavior - a person, on the contrary, as if on purpose, begins to find himself in similar stressful situations in order to again and again experience emotions that were not experienced in the past and try to experience them now, to end this vicious circle of fear. Not all consequences of events that frighten us pass quickly and without leaving a trace; many develop into psychological traumas with which a person lives for years, and sometimes for the rest of his life.

Many people expect from such articles that they will be given a number of recommendations on how to cope with their fears themselves, without turning to a specialist for help. Indeed, there are such recommendations, but it all depends on what kind of fear is present and how pronounced it is.

Whether it's mild anxiety when flying, or moderate anxiety before public speaking, you can overcome it on your own using various breathing techniques. It’s another matter when this fear prevents a person from living a full life. For example, a person has a pathological fear of contracting fatal diseases, and this causes him to be in constant anxiety. Or a strong fear of closed spaces, and in our time it is impossible to completely avoid them.

It is important for every person to take care of their mental health. If our body is sick, we go to the doctors to be cured. It is clear that because of a simple runny nose, no one will run to the ENT specialist, and if it is appendicitis, surgical intervention by specialists cannot be avoided. It’s the same with mental health. If this fear does not interfere with a person’s full life and does not put him into a state of chronic anxiety, then you can use the techniques below to reduce it, but if this fear disrupts the usual rhythm of a person’s life and interferes with his further development, then you cannot do without the help of specialists.

Whatever fear it is, it is needed for something, it has meaning for a person. And the first thing they do when working with him is to recognize his right to exist. Fear is a basic, biological, extremely necessary feeling. It is impossible to completely get rid of it. Fear helps us survive and protects us from potentially dangerous situations.

It is important to understand what is behind each specific fear, what is its real reason. If we are talking about a specific trauma, it is important for a person to experience the fear that lives in him again, but in a safe environment. The therapist creates conditions in which the client will not be so anxious, he will be able to relive the terrible events that happened and throw out the feelings that remain inside him. Having not entered into a fight then, the individual may experience a flash of anger, despair or powerlessness, and instead of flight, he is left with a feeling of helplessness. All this is usually complemented by feelings of shame and guilt. It is important to express this bundle of feelings while receiving enough support and sympathy. It is necessary to complete the interrupted defensive reactions of fight or flight, and exit the state of torpor.

In the treatment of such conditions, much attention is paid to physicality. Fear and trauma live in the body, you need to find access to them and help them get out. Traumatic symptoms are created not only by an incomplete bodily response, but also by an incomplete nervous system response.

If for some reason it is not possible to see a specialist, it is important not to be alone with your own fear. You can turn to a loved one to whom you can tell about your experiences and receive enough support and understanding from him, including physical support (friendly hugs, the feeling that you are not alone).

If this is a sudden attack of fear and there are no loved ones nearby, you can follow several rules:

"Ground yourself." A person must feel his support. They can be not only external, but also internal. Our main support is our legs, what we stand or sit on. The support is felt better while standing. You need to focus on your sensations and feel the surface on which the person is standing, feel the strength that is in the legs and throughout the rest of the body.
Focus on breathing. Breathe deeply and slowly, the exhalation should be longer than the inhalation. Concentrate your sensations on the movements of your abdomen, you can even put your hand on it and feel how it breathes.
Concretize your bodily sensations: what I really feel, what sensations I have in my body. If these are not unexpected attacks, but some specific fears, you can try to explore your fear yourself:
1. Define clearly what kind of fear it is.
2. Where in the body is this fear felt and what are its manifestations? The very detailed description of the physical sensation already reduces some of the fear. What exactly is felt in the body, where there is warmth or cold, tingling, tension, some part of the body may not be felt at all. Under what circumstances does this fear intensify and what helps to reduce it?
3. Draw your fear, give it a name.
4. Try to strengthen those bodily manifestations that accompany fear. If it is trembling in the knees, then increase the trembling in the knees.
5. Feel what this trembling makes you want to do (approach someone, or, conversely, express aggression).
6. You can also imagine yourself as a feared character, such as a spider or a bully. Often a person is afraid of what is in himself.

In conclusion, here are a few examples of working with fears from personal practice:

Irina, 29 years old, came to psychotherapy with a panicky fear of dogs. “When I pass by the yard dogs, I start to shake all over inside, I shrink, I have the feeling that they are all going to pounce on me and bite me to death. I’ve been afraid of dogs for a long time, but I used to avoid them and that’s it, but recently we moved, we have a yard dog living in our entrance, everyone says she’s harmless and kind, the neighbors feed her, but I’m still afraid, every time I get out of the elevator with horror and I think, suddenly she is there. At least don’t leave the house.”

While working with her, we found out that once in childhood she was attacked and bitten by a dog, and a familiar one at that. The first stage was working with her childhood trauma and the fact that she did not receive enough support and comfort as a child. Next, we worked through the fear of being stabbed in the back by people we know, those whom we know and trust. And at the last stage of the work, I asked Irina to identify herself with her image of fear - to imagine herself as a dog herself. In the course of this work, such hidden traits as anger and aggression were revealed. After working with fear, when she met the dogs again, she, of course, felt anxiety, but not panic.

Dima, 9 years old, was brought by his mother with a fear of the dark. “Afraid to sleep without light, afraid to go into a room when there is no light, cannot turn on the light himself, asks someone to do it, often has nightmares.”

With Dima, we explored where his fear lives in his room, what it is like. And at home he and his mother in a dark room with a candle checked all the scary and frightening places. A technique that also helps a lot when working with children is when someone strong is next to the child in fear and will protect him from all dangers. In one of the classes, we made up stories with him based on pictures, where he composed several scary stories. In one story, Superman appeared, who came to the boy’s aid and destroyed the spiders. Dima said that he would like to become such a superman himself in order to protect everyone.

In the course of further work, it turned out that the boy would really like to protect and protect his mother from all worries. Dima's parents divorced 4 years ago. According to his mother, the boy took this event calmly, but in reality he had strong internal experiences. We worked with Dima further on his revealed experiences, but the image of Superman helped him in the future when he encountered situations that frightened him.

Maxim, 41 years old. I made a request: “I feel anxious when someone swears or has a conflict, when I meet aggressive people on the street, I want to run away, I’m afraid that if a situation arises when I need to protect my family from hooligans, I won’t be able to stand up for my loved ones. I’m a grown man, but I’m afraid like a boy.”

The work was carried out with the body, with bodily clamps, because the man was pinched in the shoulders, hunched over, and complained of frequent abdominal pain. Once in his childhood, when he was still a very small boy, his parents often had conflicts, and it happened that it even came to a fight. At that time he was sitting huddled in a corner, hunched over and holding his stomach. The quarrels ended, but the parents did not consider it necessary to talk with their son, explain to him what was happening and somehow support him. He was alone in this horror.

Over the course of long-term therapy, when we established trust and Maxim realized that I cared about his experiences, he was able to cry and survive with support the difficult reality that he faced as a little boy.

There are a lot of methods of working with fear; all existing methods and techniques cannot even be described. Behind each specific fear, different people may have completely different traumatic situations, which are often not always on the surface. One person's fear of heights and another's fear of heights can have completely different roots. It is important for everyone to assess how strong their fear is and how much it affects a person’s quality of life. If this fear does not interfere with a person’s full life, you can try to deal with it yourself, but if the fear greatly affects a person’s quality of life, you cannot do without the help of a specialist.

There are big differences in how believers perceive various traumatic situations. For them, these are not just annoying troubles, fears that need to be overcome. We understand that God does not give suffering beyond our strength, they are all bearable and make sense. One must go through this suffering in order to experience spiritual transformation.

Psychologist, Gestalt therapist Elena Serova

Are you so afraid of something that it interferes with your daily life? Pointless worries are not good for anyone, but you can still look at fear as an opportunity to learn more about yourself. Fighting fear gives you control over yourself, teaches you to analyze and plan, and recognize the strengths and weaknesses of human nature.

Of course, thinking alone will not make you an outstanding strategist, but by gradually overcoming moments of crisis, you will learn to look at troubles more easily and become a confident and strong person.

How to overcome your fear: explore its roots

The enemy, the proverb says, needs to be known by sight, which means you have to analyze the sources of fears as deeply as possible. What is meant?

In a calm environment, think about the following questions:

Why do you experience this particular fear? Find a rational explanation: whether you are afraid of surprise, the unknown or physical harm, humiliation in public is an important difference from a psychological point of view;
Narrow it down to what the situation would have to be to cause or not to cause you to have a panic attack (for example, you can handle going up in a closed elevator, but you start shaking in a glass one). This will help you clearly identify critical situations and not be afraid of adjacent ones - simply by association;
Study the mechanism of fear from the inside - how do you become afraid? Your task is to find the “trigger” that triggers the most unpleasant experiences. It could be something from the situation (fear of the dark, crowds of people), a special smell, the sounds of a siren, a melody, someone’s thrown phrase, the threatening facial expressions of a person nearby, or even the feeling that you are losing control of the situation or your body. Knowing the reasons, you can mentally prepare for an attack of fear;
During the next attack, find strength and focus on the end of the panic episode - how exactly does anxiety subside? Try to remember well the thoughts and sensations that return you to reality and bring you a feeling of security. In calm moments, think about and consolidate these sensations, learn to evoke them yourself, and manage them at will.

This method best copes with common female phobias, for example, how to overcome the fear of the dark. This training seems complicated, but its practice is extremely important for overcoming the problem - looking it straight in the eye and finding more and more rational foundations for calm and self-control, you will become stronger and braver even in those moments in which you previously lost your head from fear.

How to overcome anxiety attacks and depression

Very often we are afraid because we are not mentally ready to bring to light the emotions and experiences hidden deep in our souls. However, it is precisely such skeletons in the closet that can cause depression and a constant depressed state. Think about how you would benefit if you found a way to live with them, carefully processed them, or got rid of them.

To avoid becoming the owner of a full-fledged phobia, you need to fight anxiety at a very early stage. The vague feeling or actual emotional paralysis you may experience during a panic attack is overcome by controlling your own mind. How can you practically help yourself not to be afraid?

Detach yourself from emotions. We experience not so much the problem as our exaggerated reaction to it. Notice the moment when a wave of anxiety rises inside, and try to realize that this is just your personal reaction, and not part of reality. And there is no need to be afraid of the reaction - it is a product of your own mind and does not pose any danger.

This technique has been used by mentors for centuries to train fighters; composure and control of feelings are considered the most important way to overcome the fear of fighting. Do this exercise as often as possible, and you will notice that you have become calmer and more balanced.

“What’s the worst that will happen to me?” This proven exercise from the arsenal of psychologists has helped thousands of people calm down, and it will help you too. If you are faced with an uncomfortable situation that usually frightens you, for example, a presentation in front of a large audience, and there is no option to refuse, do not panic.

You can calm down if you answer yourself the question: what is the worst thing that will happen to me if I do what is required of me? Usually, the unconscious expectation of failure is much more painful than what can actually happen to you. P

say out loud what the saddest possible outcome of the situation is, and look at it from a different angle - this is not fatal, this is just a possible option for the development of the plot. Just in case, prepare an escape plan, several emergency measures, think about how to get out if something goes wrong.

By preparing for the worst, you will feel more confident and stop giving in to the unknown.

Depressive anxiety: how to cope

If you're depressed, most of the tips outlined above probably won't bring you any tangible relief, and here's why. Being in a depressed state, a person loses the ability to think rationally; it is impossible to persuade himself. At the same time, negative emotions are overwhelming, and there is no way out of the crisis in sight.

Anxiety syndrome is accompanied by fears of such strength that the usual consolations of loved ones and auto-training do not work; it seems that the whole world is against you and no one can solve your problem. In this case, it is better, without waiting for the sad outcome of the stressful state, to contact a specialist - a psychologist, psychotherapist, or be checked by a neurologist.

Panic attacks and severe agitation are relieved only by drugs that can be purchased with a doctor’s prescription, for which you must first obtain his consultation and undergo a medical examination.

It is almost impossible to overcome anxiety syndrome and severe depression alone, do not hope for a miracle, do not wait until your psyche is completely exhausted, seek help from qualified specialists!

How to overcome the fear of death

This anxiety occurs in people regardless of their age, nationality and profession. The fear of death may bother you a little or affect you deeply, at the level of a phobia - be that as it may, do not let such symptoms go by the brakes.

It is no secret to psychologists that the lack of clear priorities, as well as the feeling that life is mired in material worries, is the main reason for the fear of death. Sometimes this phobia develops in those who suddenly lost a loved one or saw with their own eyes the death of a person, and this episode left a deep mark on the soul.

In both the first and second cases, you need to overcome the problem together with a psychologist. Building a life from scratch - deciding on goals, finding your own meaning of existence, seeing the hand of providence or coming to terms with the blind chance that rules the world - this is a task that psychotherapists solve every day together with their clients.

Some methods that people turn to seem dubious - conspiracies, seeing a psychic. After all, you won’t be able to know for sure whether their help is working or is it just quackery. But no one has canceled the effect of self-hypnosis. Whatever method you choose, it is better to be sure that it will not harm your psyche.

Accept yourself and your flaws

In addition to the methods listed above, a very important achievement will be to allow yourself to be who you are - sometimes a little worried and confused, sometimes scared. The main thing is to feel that it is not anxiety that controls you, but you it. There is nothing wrong with being afraid of certain things, because every person has small oddities.

And those around you will not be as strict towards you as they might seem. Don’t be afraid to look stupid in a situation that really threatens your health and well-being, but otherwise try to restrain your emotions, and your loved ones will hardly notice your weakness.

Also, don’t forget to celebrate your own successes in overcoming the problem. Leave the nagging to yourself, because you will not be able to completely get rid of a phobia in one day.

But small everyday feats are a good reason to give yourself a little indulgence, rejoice in your ability to control your emotions and give yourself a nice gift, even some trifle. You can reward yourself for every small victory that you manage to win over yourself in critical conditions.

Throughout life, each of us experiences many emotions: joy and admiration, sadness, anger, envy, and many others. One of the most powerful, of course, is fear. People are afraid of many things: insects, heights, darkness, closed spaces. They experience fear of the unknown, are afraid of loneliness, poverty, death, worry about loved ones, etc.

It is impossible to completely get rid of this feeling, but it is possible and necessary to fight it and overcome it. It is necessary to realize your fear and learn to manage it - this is what psychologists advise. We have combined their recommendations and you can read them on the Popular About Health website.

How to deal with fears within yourself, taking into account human psychology? Our conversation today will focus on exactly this:

What is it - our fears?

Psychology defines fear as a normal emotional process, only with a negative connotation. This is an anxious internal state caused by a possible or actually threatening disaster.

As we have already said, each of us has our own fears. There are also phobias, the hallmark of which is stability and irrationality. To make your life easier and avoid nervous breakdown, you need to learn to cope with all this.

How to deal with fears within yourself?

There are many techniques known to help a person cope with fears and phobias. Some people recommend pushing negative emotions and thoughts away and not paying attention to them. Then everything will go away by itself.

Others, on the contrary, are based on artificially intensifying fear, pushing oneself to the maximum. According to this method, having reached the top point, the wave will definitely decline.

Another technique suggests examining your fear in detail, sorting out all its components. You can also do auto-training and convince yourself that there is no fear at all or that it has already been successfully defeated.

These techniques help some, but not others. The result depends on the person himself, how much he can control his own consciousness, as well as on what the fear or phobia itself is based on. In some cases, it is quite difficult to get rid of them without the help of a specialist. But in most cases, some practical recommendations can help.

If a wave of fear hits, to adapt to the situation, slowly take a deep breath and exhale slowly. Yes, at least ten times. This will help you concentrate and turn on your subconscious. A way out can only be found with normal thinking, and not in a frightened state.

If you are afraid of the dark, sounds in an empty apartment, brownies, ghosts and other things, act realistically and naturally. Get over yourself and find the source of the rustles and sounds. If you're afraid to stay in the dark, simply turn on the night light.

If you are afraid of confined spaces, take a one-time antidepressant or beta blocker. Overcome yourself: ride in elevators on purpose, stay indoors for a few minutes.

If that doesn't work, see a therapist. A course of hypnosis and relaxation will help you cope.

If you want to avoid worries about your personal life, the main advice is not to attract or predict troubles. There is a well-known, popular theory that thoughts are material. Everything we think about does not disappear anywhere. All the energy of thought is concentrated around us, predicting and modeling further events.

That is why, if you are very frightened by the prospect of loneliness, do not torment yourself by constantly thinking about it. On the contrary, often imagine yourself surrounded by a close-knit family and true friends. Thus create an environment of success and happiness and, of course, do not sit idly by, but take action.

You can also overcome fear for your loved ones. The main thing is not to stress yourself out and not predict future troubles. If you don’t do this, you yourself will create the preconditions for negative events (see point above).

Better keep yourself busy with something. Concentrate on an interesting book with a positive plot, watch a movie, listen to relaxing music, or call someone you like. If all else fails, close your eyes and mentally predict a happy outcome.

Another way to overcome fear is to really heat up the emotion. Namely, get angry at yourself, at a frightening situation or at a person from whom you expect something bad. Psychologists say that anger will definitely displace fear. Then you will begin to act more calmly and, quite possibly, change the situation.

In addition to all of the above, it must be noted that fear has not only disadvantages, but also advantages. In particular, it helps to protect yourself from dangerous situations. When we fear something, we become more careful.

The ancient instinct of self-preservation is triggered, which saves us from negative and dangerous situations. The main thing here is not to hide, but to overcome yourself in order to find opportunities to avoid danger. Thus, we move on in life, gain new experiences and become more perfect.

Well, if you can’t cope on your own, you can always find help from a psychologist or psychotherapist. Good luck to you!

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We all, one way or another, experience fears in our lives. Everyone has their own fears, but this does not change the essence, because their nature is always the same. But still, what do people fear most? What is the nature of fear and is it possible to overcome it?

To answer these questions fully and exhaustively, you will probably have to write more than one three-volume book, because this topic is deep and extensive. But we will still make a small attempt to at least partially clarify these things. And it’s worth starting with the definition of fear as such.

What is fear?

Fear is an internal state of a person, which is caused by an expected or actually threatening disaster. considers fear as an emotional process with a negative connotation.

According to the theory of differential emotions by American psychologist Carroll Izard, fear is a basic emotion, in other words, it is innate - its physiological component, facial expressions and specific subjective experiences are determined genetically.

It is fear that prompts a person to avoid danger, adjust his behavior in a certain way and perform various actions that, in his opinion, can protect him.

Every person has his own fears: from the banal fear of insects or mice to the fear of poverty and death. There are even phobias - persistent irrational fears of something. In short, as many people there are as many fears. But there are fears that are common to many people, i.e. people are afraid of the same thing. Right now we will look at the ten most “popular” fears that seize people around the world.

Top 10 fears of people

Verminophobia

Verminophobia is the fear of various microorganisms and bacteria. People suffering from such fear constantly wash their hands, clean their apartments and houses, and are afraid to touch “dirty” things so as not to catch some kind of infection.

People with verminophobia are almost always intellectuals and occupy good positions, for example, they are inventors, economists, lawyers.

Fear of bacteria can develop into obsessive-impulsive disorder, and make a person its slave for life.

Strange fears

The category of strange (and not so strange) fears includes the fear of airplanes, snakes, cockroaches, spiders, rats, mirrors, demons, monsters, psychotherapists, heels, a turned off TV, etc.

All these seemingly completely different fears have one thing in common - they affect people with a well-developed imagination, for example, models, health workers, artists, show business stars, etc. For people who think in terms of images and emotions, fear evokes the strongest sensations, which is why they can be afraid of completely simple things.

Fear of poisoning

Fear of poisoning (fear of being poisoned) is considered an independent fear and is practically not associated with any other fears. About 5% of the world's population suffers from this fear, and, as a rule, these are people with. In addition, the fear of poisoning in most cases is unconscious.

Fear of being a coward

The fear of being a coward is specific to men with an exaggerated sense of responsibility for others. Often among them there are very strong and serious people, managers and entrepreneurs.

But such fear is not alien to the fair half of humanity. Girls and women who bear great responsibility are also sometimes afraid of appearing or being cowards.

However, it is this phobia that often helps people control themselves, remain strong and persistent.

Fear of intimacy

Contrary to the popular belief that only adolescents around the age of 16 suffer from fear of intimate contact, it is quite common in adult men and even women.

But what is more surprising is that people with a higher libido than others suffer from fear of intimacy. The cause of a phobia may be a bad first experience, grievances from childhood, or suppressed emotions.

Fear of public speaking and open spaces

Social phobia is known to almost all people, because... From time to time, each of us is afraid to show our emotions or feelings in front of the public. And often this fear becomes obsessive and develops into a phobia. When worsened, the fear of public speaking can be complemented by a fear of open spaces.

People suffering from such fear have systematic and imaginative thinking. But the most interesting thing is that individuals also have open spaces.

Fear of madness

Another peculiar, but persistent and widespread fear. However, it is characteristic only of those people who think abstractly. In most cases, they are spiritually developing, religious individuals, as well as physicists and philosophers.

Fear of old age

Fear of old age is practically not found among young people, but occurs in men over 50 and women over 40. Women are afraid of losing their beauty and, as a result, their usual way of life, and men are afraid that they will not be able to realize themselves and leave heirs.

Fear of death

You might think that the fear of death is the most common, but this is not entirely true. The fear of death is associated with many other fears, and, by and large, is hidden behind each of them.

The fear of flying on an airplane, the fear of being poisoned, the fear of being bitten by a snake - all this comes from the fact that a person is afraid of dying. People who are least susceptible to the fear of death are those who are convinced that death is not the end, but a new beginning.

Fear of loneliness

And it is the fear of loneliness that occupies the leading position in the presented rating, because... it worries most people on the planet. If we look at ourselves, we can see that we constantly make sure that someone is with us, even if sometimes we really want to be alone with ourselves.

The basis of this fear is that a person strives for happiness. And given the fact that man is a social being, it is inherent in his nature that he can only find happiness by being among his own kind.

And this is where we can talk about whether there is any way to get rid of fear, to stop being afraid? We do not pretend to provide a panacea, but we can give some practical recommendations.

In any situation when you feel that fear is taking over you, under no circumstances should you give in to it or start panicking. You must learn to control your fears, and this is the most important thing in the fight against them.

The second thing to do is to try to analyze the situation: see its scale and seriousness, and also think about whether it is possible to find some kind of help.

The third is purely physiological: if you are afraid, start breathing deeply. First, take a deep breath, then exhale completely. Repeat this at least ten times. Such a move is to get involved in the situation, activate brain activity and calm the mind. After this, finding a way out of the situation will be much easier.

Fourth is talking to yourself. If you are afraid of something, turn to yourself, say your name, give yourself the command to calm down. Try to understand what is happening, who and what is around you, how you feel, etc. Along with calmness, both blood pressure and heartbeat will normalize, and panic will disappear.

If you can’t get rid of fear, use a trick - get angry at yourself, at what is happening to you, at the circumstances of the situation, at one of the people. Remember that anger will scare away your fear and neutralize it. And instead of fear, there will come a desire to act in order to change the situation and resolve the situation.

If you are overcome by any mental fears, drive them away. Always remember that you are human and fear is normal and that it is temporary. You are worthy of joy, happiness and prosperity - turn your gaze to them, and your fears will go away by themselves.

If anxiety becomes an obsession, it may be your intuition talking, trying to signal something. Think about what your fears are telling you and find the answer to this question. In many cases, fears are pointers to the right path.

And finally: do not forget that when a person overcomes fears, he discovers new opportunities for himself, becomes stronger, expands the boundaries of his personality, improves and moves forward, and also begins to see the world in new colors. Therefore, do not give in to your fears, take them as a new chance and an opportunity to become better. By overcoming your fears, you become a different person.

Go towards what you are afraid of!