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We naturally view any risk we witness as a personal threat--even when it is on the opposite side of the globe and we see it only on TV. Is popping a pill the answer?
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Excerpted with permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (www.wiley.com), from False Alarm: The Truth about the Epidemic of Fear. Copyright ?2005 by Marc Siegel.
In early 2004 my daughter, Rebecca, was taking a bath. She was almost three years old. When the tub's Jacuzzi device turned on, she became petried. I raced to her side, to find her standing straight up, bright red from crying.
This article was originally published with the title Can We Cure Fear?.
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2 Comments
Add CommentFear is felt when a person recognizes an event, an object or another living being as a threat. Therefore, convincing oneself that the threat does not endanger one's safety, fear becomes unnecessary and is "dealt with". That is why I think fear is both a series of chemical reactions and a state of mind.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn regard to your daughter's case, I reckon replacing her innate response. Her mind relates to a past expirience with bubbles where she felt threatened. If she experiences positive emotions related to bubbles her innate response of fear might be replaced by a response of joy. In NLP the technique is called "anchoring".
She was "petried"? I guess that means she was paralyzed by the fear of becoming a character in the Dick Van Dyke Show.
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