Fear and Avoidance? /phobias

[Plenum]

I have often been curious about the word and condition of 'fear'. I'm sure we have all experienced it, but what does 'fear' really mean or imply? I mean, what is the mechanism or understanding behind it?

let's take an obvious example, say, a fear of spiders.

everyone can recognise they might have an aversion to getting close to and hugging a spider, but in some people, this is escalated into a 'phobia', or a really disproportionate emotional response to the idea of a 'spider'.

and likewise, every individual has certain 'phobias', which are over-reactions or disproportionate responses to a seemingly 'average' situation.

but what is really going on here?

in the case of a real phobia of spiders, it is highly likely that that individual had a 'bad experience' with spiders in their life. Maybe they were a child, and a really huge spider suddenly appeared in their room or bed. They were absolutely terrified.

and from that point on, the 'spider' was linked or associated with that emotion. That of 'terror' or 'unplesantness', or 'extreme threat'.

every time the word 'spider' is mentioned, the associated emotion is also brought to mind.

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but what is going on here?

is one avoiding the spider, or is one avoiding the associated unpleasant emotions that have been associated with the spider?

to me, it is more likely the latter, as psychologists can treat phobias using desensitisation therapy, and gradually showing that spiders in 'real life' are really not that scary, if handled in a safe manner. So after the desensitisation is complete, the 'spider' concept can be brought to mind without the associated unpleasant emotions that were previously linked.

but that begs the question - if the spider was causing the phobia, and the avoidance was really about the unpleasant emotions linked to the spider, rather than the spider itself, is not the avoidance of discomfort the real true fear?

and likewise with social phobias/anxieties. One is not avoiding the social interactions for themselves, but rather because of the emotional states associated with social interactions (past memories).

so is not the deepest phobia/fear that of unpleasantness, discomfort, and pain? if we could just allow ourselves to experience pain, discomfort, unpleasantness, and work through those states, then perhaps the avoidance response would never need to be invoked in the first place.

and yet, there are certain physical and physiological mechanisms in place for us to be highly sensitive to pain. It's part of the survival appartatus, for a good reason. But it does not serve a deeper purpose when applied to emotional/mental pain, even though it might be necessary at times to create a distance from our painful experiences/memories.

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but ultimately, if we are not willing to engage and work through 'painful stuff', the avoidance/fear/phobia response will continue to cause distortions in our behaviour, much like the phobia of spiders causes an excessive response to a mental calling to mind of a concept.