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WHAT IS FEAR?

Fear is a human emotional state of avversion or apprehension for a real or supposed danger.So it is often useful in presence of dangerous situations because fear is our emotional reaction against them and helps us to defend ourselves and to avoid danger.Fear is irrational and instinctive , but is also influenced by cultural features end each era is characterized by its tipical fears.What is out of our control and power frightens us.
Fear involves the whole organism and it is caused by external stimuli and by a well defined situation (people , events , objects ).
Fear depends on the brain that receives signals of danger , so it starts from the mind , but involves our body too because fear shows itself also throgh physical elements , such as : tremble , thrills , increase of the heart rate and blood pressure , sweating , decrease of salivation , pallor in the face.
Fear can generate insecurity and a cautious life style , influencing our daily routine ( for example I have a terrible fright of dogs , so I avoid to go out by myself when there
aren't any people in the street and when I meet them I change my way ! ).
To overcome one's fears we should face and not to avoid them , we should gradually get used to the feared objects or situations , with a gradual exposure to them.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF FEAR

In the children the most common fear is the fear of the dark , of monsters , ghosts , thunders , lightnings , of the strangers. In the teenagers there is the fear of growing up , of the future ( of marrying and setting up a family , of getting a job ) , of violence (social and houseold) , of loving , of getting red , of the exams.In the adults is frequent the fear for one's health , illnesses (which sometimes becomes hypochondria) , of death , of getting old.
But there are many other kinds of fears : of flying , of closed or open spaces ( claustrophobia and agoraphobia respectively) , of the elevator , not to be happy , of the foreigners (for the increase of the immigration) , accidents , of devastating natural phenomena such as earthquakes , alluvions , burst of volcanos (and so to go in fear of one's life) , of doctors , heights , animals , pain , of suffering , of crowd.
Some fears are linked to modern society and present historical context : terrorism , nuclear weapons , the outbreak of the third world war.The home itself can become the place of our fears if it is theatre of violence ( arguments , sexual abuses).
Woman is more afraid than man , maybe because she is weaker and more undefended against the brutality of the world and of some men.Woman and man can have also different kinds of fear : for example woman is often afraid of sexual abuses , of giving birth , instead man is often afraid of not to getting a job , sexual impotence.
Fears show themselves also through the dreams that are linked to our daily life , to our desires , aspirations, worries.Through the nightmares we express things we are obsessed with in a strange , frightening and not clear way , under a surface that often hides the real meaning of the dream , so we sometimes wake up sweating , crying , screaming and panic-stricken.
As a twenty-one years old girl , I am afraid of performing and public speaking.

HOW THE FEAR IS REPRESENTED IN THE ARTS

This human sentiment is represented by many horror films , where are showed usually unreal situations that frighten people.It is told in many books , for example by the writer Poe.Fear is represented in pictures too , where the most famous one is "The cry" by Munch who wants to represent man expressing his sentiments of fear , insecurity , dismay and anguish.

DIFFERENCES AMONG "FEAR , ANXIETY AND PHOBIA"

Fear is related to a present situation , whereas anxiety is related to a future one that our mind anticipates feeling a future danger that could happen.Anxiety is an interior agitation or worry caused by uncertainty and that leads to avoid the possibility of encountering the feared situation or thing.It is a reaction of fear in front of an event that normally isn't considered frightful , an unpleasant sensation without a well defined stimulus-situation.
Phobia is a strong , excessive , lasting , irrational and unreasonable fear of something whose real propotions are enlarged by our mind , feeling a danger much bigger than it is.So it is disproportionate in respect of the real situation and it can’t be rationally controlled .Phobia is an anguished and usually immotivated fear that can have also a pathological character , influencing the daily life of a person.It depends overall on biological and genetic structure of the individual and on his family context bacause we can transmit our fears to the others ( for example my mother suffers from anxiety and me too!).