Imagine this you're standing just outside the largest most important thing in your life. Let that be a job interview, restaurant to propose to your partner, the gym on AP week. You're heart beats fast, sweat appears, the tightness in your chest makes it harder to breathe. Have you ever wondered why these things occur? Is it your body telling you do not do this thing for death will come, as a sort of defense mechanism.
Well don't get your hopes up because it's not any of that. All these symptoms are a byproduct of the mind's overreaction to stress, commonly known as anxiety. Basically the mind is overriding the body functions as it starts to imagine that the result of the next action will result in a termination of self, or death. A blank bullet to make a comparison, the sound of it is loud and terrifying but nothing will actually happen. Sad how the complex organ that is the brain takes advantage over the best automatic survival mechanism human's have. We all must make sacrifices for higher mental functions.
The amount stress people have is varied but the American Psychological Association has found that about 25% of Americans are experiencing high levels of stress (rating their stress level as 8 or more on a 10-point scale), while another 50% report moderate levels of stress (a score of 4 to 7 ). That's a lot of false positives. In modern America this can be tied to the newborn "fear culture". There has been a lot of debate on whether a person can have a personality tied to high anxiety, but results are hard to come by with the rampant expansion of media. With so much coverage in the day-to-day on horrific events or the worst possible conclusion people are influenced to have a glass half-empty mentality.
In conclusion, don't worry too much, it ruins your response to true fear.
That's a really interesting way to look at optimism!
ReplyDeleteSay a person is the opposite, though; say they are too carefree and don't worry about anything... Would that have a similar negative effect on their response to fear, or would they just "suffer" a more drastic or, let's say, violent transition?
A person who would be totally carefree would have the same reaction to fear as people who would be filled with anxiety not more so. It's just that people with anxiety force themselves in the 'fear state' under false pretenses.
DeleteThe only problem would be their mental reaction to the biological sequences as the fear response and release of hormones is mostly unconscious so they could possibly have a shock reaction to the sudden cascades of hormones. I guess one just has to compromise on what to get worked up about.
Hi Lucy, this is definitely very interesting! If people falsely adapt to a "fear state" in a moment of anxiety then how do we distinguish fear from anxiety?
ReplyDeleteFear is the true threat of termination of self. When you are not in the situation where dying is a real possibility then it is anxiety.
DeleteAs you mention there seems to be a rise in the levels of anxiety humans experience recently. Do you think this is purely due to our culture? Might there be a situation where higher levels of stress could actually be beneficial in modern times, such as making someone more successful due to a fear of failure? Perhaps this is the more fit condition as far as evolution is concerned.
ReplyDeleteThat could be the case in making people more cautious, but the 'fear state' diverts attention from other systems leaving the body as a whole more vulnerable in the long run. Still a healthy medium for progress is required.
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