Dogs, being criticised, vets, germs, being turned down... There are a lot of worries. Do we still need fear, which was once thought to be essential for survival? How can we deal with this tough feeling that can slow our growth at times?
She added to the rush to buy toilet paper during the coronavirus crisis. Worry about running out. Fear may make people act in strange ways, but it has helped our species live for a long time.
We were born with some worries and picked up others through trauma or our upbringing.
All worries come from the need to survive. When we sense danger, our first instinct is to be careful. Camillo Zacchia is a clinical psychologist and vice president of Phobies-Zéro. He says that our feelings keep us safe.
Reason tells us to be careful on cold roads, stop smoking, bike with a helmet on, and stay away from fire.
The expert says there are three main types of fears: the fear of dying or getting sick, the fear of going crazy, and the fear of being judged.
Camillo Zacchia says people are afraid of death, going crazy, and being seen as crazy. A palliative care psychiatrist named Elisabeth Kübler-Ross is one of those who think that all of our fears come from death.
If you go hiking in the woods with a bear, you might get cold. That being said, your brain will move quickly. The thalamus sends information from our senses to the amygdala, which is our body's internal alarm system. The sympathetic nervous system is then activated.
Adrenaline and cortisol are let out. This makes your heart and lungs work harder, makes you sweat, increases blood flow to your muscles, slows down digestion, and makes your pupils bigger.
It's also possible to feel dizzy, shiver, have a tight throat, get a stomach knot, sweaty hands, and hair follicles that are raised. "The body is experiencing a complete fight-or-flight response, meaning that when faced with a threat, there are two options for survival: fighting or fleeing," he states.
Anthropologist and assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University, Samuel Veissière, says that fear has shaped how we have evolved. It keeps us alert so we can act when there are real dangers.
He says that this feeling doesn't belong in a safe, wealthy society like ours, where there hasn't been war or hunger in three generations and crime is low.
The brain reacts the same way to real and imagined danger, like a bear or the fear of getting sick. "According to the anthropologist, scientists have put forth a hypothesis suggesting that the mechanisms in our brain that detect threats may not be well-suited to our modern living conditions," he explains.
We keep looking for risks and dangers, which used to be helpful but is now alarmist. So, many fears in the modern world are unfounded or overstated.