When you are afraid, you start going into fight or flight mode. Your body starts prioritising what is needed for immediate survival - screw routine body functions, if you don't make it past the next few moments there won't be a routine to return to. You stop digesting food. Cell repair slows or stops. You stop producing saliva, which is why your mouth goes dry when you're nervous just before making a speech or going into a difficult conversation. Your heart rate and breathing increase to ensure better blood flow. A cocktail of hormones like epinephrine and oxytocin are cued up and produced, which amplifies your body's ability to act (and remarkably, in the case of oxytocin, reminds you to seek help).
Don't be mistaken about what happens when you feel fear. Your body is readying itself to help you face what you fear in the way it knows how.
What causes us to feel fear?
1) Fear occurs to us unconsciously. Do you pause to think, hey, very angry looking snake! Maybe I should be scared. Of course not, it would be too late! Fear becomes much clearer when we examine what happens inside your brain. When you are afraid, the fear/anger/aggression/anxiety centre of your brain - the amygdalas (get used to this name, it's gonna keep popping up) lights up. And we've covered all the changes that happen in your body: your blood pressure, your hormones, your heart-rate. But remember how amygdala is like a train interchange with direct routes to different parts of your brain? There is a direct neural link between our amygdala and your pre-frontal cortex, the rational thinking part of your brain. And if we look closely enough or we think things through, sometimes we realise, argh! it's not an angry snake, it's just a prank toy that your annoying friend had thrown at you. Or if you've handled angry snakes enough times, your amygdala does not light as much. Your blood pressure and your heart rate do not increase as much, you realise what you need to do is to stay calm and slowly back away.
Finally, notice how fear, anger, aggression, and anxiety are processed by the same part of the brain, the amygdala. This is no coincidence. These 4 emotions are closely tied to one another; aggression maybe triggered because one is nervous, angry, or fearful. Being fearful may cause one to react angrily, as a self-defense mechanism. Fear, like all our emotions, happens to us. Mostly, we can't control how it originates. But we can control how it develops by understanding what exactly is causing fear and by choosing the response that dispels it
2) We fear what we are unconfident or uncertain about. Think back on your ancestors doing something they weren't confident or certain off - hunting a massive animal without a weapon, or eating a berry they've never seen before. Doing so would mean a very high chance of seriously harming themselves. Today, after many cycles of evolution, we have been wired based on these experiences.
Think about it. Are you ever fearful of something you've done before, and are good? Brushing your teeth, putting on your clothes, indulging in your favourite hobby (whatever it is)? Of course not. You know you can perform these functions easily. You are confident.
But many of us would have felt fearful and anxious the first time we ventured into something new: using a pair of chopsticks, riding a bicycle, swimming, going on a first date. We were uncertain about these functions, and we were not confident about performing them. However, once we have demonstrated to ourselves that we are able to perform these tasks, we are no longer afraid. The same applies to more challenging tasks. Some of us struggle with: public speaking, starting a business, having a very difficult conversation with the CEO... You are uncertain and unconfident if you can succeed. But once you have proven to yourself you are able to do it, even for the more challenging tasks, you are no longer afraid. People might start off feeling scared about public speaking, but after speech 3797, you're pro The catch, of course, is that sometimes, we are too scared to start.
Even if we were certain of something OR confident about something, many of us will still feel some amount of fear. We might be theoretically certain how we should use a pair of chopsticks, but if we have never succeeded in using them properly, we remain unconfident and will still feel nervous if we had to use them, especially when others are observing. You might also be confident about
3) we fear what is painful. Boxer. climbing 100 flights of stairs or doing 100 burpees. But pain is not just physical but mental. Failure is painful. Being judged is painful.
This is why you procrastinate. You either fear what you have to do bevause you don't know how to do it (you don't fear brushing your teeth for example), or you fear doing something becaue you know it will be effortful
4) we fear what we cannot control
Learn more about your amygdala, the amygdala hijack, the thalamus, the pre-frontal cortex, and how your brain works here.
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Summary:
- Fear and anxiety (and anger + aggression) are always
A monster or a monster in his brain - Charles Whitman
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Around noon on Aug 1st, 1966, Charles Whitman entered the University of Texas where he was formerly a student.
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But he was not going to school to learn. Or to teach. He carried with him 9 different guns and over 700 rounds of ammunition. He headed up to the observation deck at the top of the university tower. Along the way, he killed the receptionist and 2 other unfortunate passers-by.
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Once he reached the deck, he started shooting. Round after round, he shot. It didn’t matter who, he simply opened fire. He would go on a rampage for 96 minutes. Finally, with the assistance of many civilians, 2 police officers managed to gun him down. During that time, Whitman would kill 14 people and severely wounded 31 others.
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Sounds like a real psychopath.
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But that’s only half the tragedy. Before he went on his killing spree, Whitman had also murdered his mom, killing her in her sleep. Then he went home and killed his wife, stabbing her thrice through her heart, also in her sleep.
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Monster. Thankfully they gunned him down. Who knows how many others he would harm? That can be the only conclusion.
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But let’s give Whitman*(if you're interested, there's a short biography of Whitman at the end of this page) a tiny benefit of 2 minutes before we condemn him to eternity.
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Whitman assiduously kept a diary – the Daily Record of C. J. Whitman. He wrote regularly, on a range of issues.
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Just before killing his mom, he wrote (pre-emptively):
“I do not quite understand what it is that compels me to type this letter. Perhaps it is to leave some vague reason for the actions I have recently performed. I do not really understand myself these days. I am supposed to be an average, reasonable, and intelligent young man. However, lately (I cannot recall when it started) I have been a victim of many unusual and irrational thoughts. These thoughts constantly recur, and it requires a tremendous mental effort to concentrate on useful and progressive tasks.”
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When he killed his mom, Whitman wrote:
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“To Whom It May Concern: I have just taken my mother's life. I am very upset over having done it. However, I feel that if there is a heaven, she is definitely there now [...] I am truly sorry [...] Let there be no doubt in your mind that I loved this woman with all my heart.”
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After killing his wife, he added to this note:
“3:00 A.M. BOTH DEAD.”
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Whitman finished the note saying:
“I imagine it appears that I brutally killed both of my loved ones. I was only trying to do a quick thorough job… If my life insurance policy is valid please pay off my debts [...] donate the rest anonymously to a mental health foundation. Maybe research can prevent further tragedies of this type [...] Give our dog to my in-laws. Tell them Kathy loved "Schocie" very much [...] If you can find in yourselves to grant my last wish, cremate me after the autopsy.”
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He stored these notes into an envelope: on which he wrote “I could never quite make it. These thoughts are too much for me.”
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As he described in his final note, Whitman had left a sum of money asking for an autopsy before he was cremated.
What did the autopsy find?
There was a pecan-sized brain tumour pressing down on his amygdala, which regulates fear, anger, anxiety, and aggression. Did this tumour cause him to act the way he did? Scientists can't completely be sure, but the dominant view is that it was not just the tumour.
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Whitman had a life of
What's interesting was that Whitman saw a therapist for headaches; the therapist had encouraged him to come back for subsequent sessions, but he never did.
But it brings forth a very interesting question – when you have an injured arm, you no longer have full control over the arm. When you have a damaged brain, naturally you also do not have full control over your brain. The difference is that while your arm deals solely with physical tasks, every thought, every emotion, every idea, every bit of your personality comes through your brain. And with a damaged brain, is it really surprising we appear to be damaged humans? This becomes more obvious as we examine other examples:
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Phineas Gage - the guy with a hole blown through his brain
S.M. - the lady without fear
Epilepsy - they must be possessed
The Amazing Human Brain
The Amygdala - fear, anger, aggression, and anxiety
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*A little more info about Charles Whitman
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As a boy, Whitman was described as a polite child who rarely lost his temper. This was an interesting point because he had grown up in a family marred by domestic violence. His father was an admitted authoritarian who demanded perfection from the other family members. When they failed, Whitman's father and his violent temper would blow up, emotionally and physically abusing his and children. Whitman was intelligent—an examination at the age of six revealed his IQ to be 139, and his grades were good. He was also an Eagle Scout who left home to join the Marines immediately after turning 18. Whitman often wrote about his desire to be independent of his father.
He was a good soldier, quickly earning sharpshooter ranking, and was placed under the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps scholarship program, which sent him for studies at the University of Texas, where he met his future wife, Kathryn Leissner, whom he married in 1962.
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It was planned that upon completion of his studies, Whitman would have been commissioned as an officer. However, he struggled in university and was called back to active service because of poor academic performance, Whitman returned to the Marine Corps in 1963. By mid-decade, he was honourably discharged. Whitman went back to the University of Texas at Austin in the spring of 1965. He originally took up mechanical engineering but later switched to architecture.
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By 1966, Whitman was suffering from severe headaches and consulted a therapist at the university to discuss concerns he had over his mental health. The doctor recommended Whitman attend another session the following week, but he never returned.
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