Extended Definition Essay: Overcoming Fear

Outline

I.                   Introduction

A.    Definition of Fear

B.     Thesis Statement

II.                Body

A.    Common Examples of Fear

1.      Ghosts

2.      Public Speaking (Stage fright)

3.      Needles

4.      Enclosed Areas

B.     Causes of Fear

1.      Result of learning

2.      Traumatic accident or experience

3.      Historical and cultural influences

4.      Human nature

5.      Different adaptations that have been useful in one’s past

C.     Overcoming Fear

1.      Ways to overcome fear

a.       Analyze the fear

b.      Try gradual desensitization

c.       Look at what others are doing

d.      Confront what it is you are afraid of directly

e.       Change the way you think and act

f.       Try different methods of overcoming your fear

-          Forget method

-          Confront method

-          Fun method

III.             Conclusion

A.    Summary

B.     Recommendations

 

 

Final

“Overcoming Fear”

 

“Who sees all beings in his own self, and his own self in all beings, loses all fear,”
says Isa Upanishad. “Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2010). It could also be defined as a feeling of intense or sudden apprehension or anxiety. Each and every one of us has their own fears and it could be very difficult for one to overcome his fears.

            There are numerous fears or phobias that people may acquire. One of the most common fears that one can have is the fear of ghosts, also known as spectrophobia. People may develop the fear of ghosts from watching horror movies, reading books about ghosts, or even from their personal experiences. Another commonly known fear is the fear of public speaking or glossophobia. A lot of people may fear speaking in front of a large crowd and they may even have sudden nervous breakdowns just because they are afraid of getting up on stage to start speaking. The fear of needles or aichmophobia is also a common example of fear. Some people fear needles because of the thought that it can cause them pain or because of the thought that they can acquire diseases that may be transmitted through needles like HIV or AIDS. A lot of people are known to be claustrophobic, which is a person who fears enclosed areas. These people fear enclosed areas because they may be scared of the thought that they can lose oxygen in enclosed or crowded areas or because they have experienced something very traumatic in an enclosed place.

            People are not born with fears. Something or someone may have caused a person to have those fears. Fear could be developed as a result of learning; this was proved through John B. Watson’s “Little Albert” experiment in 1920, “which was inspired after observing a child with an irrational fear of dogs. In this study, an 11-month-old boy was conditioned to fear a white rat in the laboratory. The fear became generalized to include other white, furry objects, such as a rabbit, dog, and even a ball of cotton” (Beck, Levinson, & Irons, 2009). Fear could also be developed from a traumatic accident or experience. For instance, if a person gets stuck in an elevator, that person may develop the fear of elevators or the fear of enclosed spaces, also known as claustrophobia. One’s fears may also be caused by historical and cultural influences. For example, a man grew up in a place where numerous wars had happened; he may acquire the fear of wars, guns or firearms in general. The capacity of fear to become a part of human nature is also one common cause of fear. Various fears may be different adaptations that have been useful in one’s past. These fears may have developed during different time periods.

            Many useful ways could be done in order for one to overcome his fears. These may depend on the greatness of a person’s fear, the cause of his fear or on his willingness to overcome his fear or fears. The first step or way for one to overcome his fear is to analyze his fear. A person must discover and have knowledge about his fear so that he will know what he should do to overcome it. Another way is to try gradual desensitization. This means that one must gradually expose himself to his fear so that he could get used to his fear and eventually overcome the fear to where he has inflicted gradual desensitization. Looking at what other people are doing can also be a way to overcome fear. For example, a person fears heights; he can observe the people who usually go to high places and he can examine their age or health condition so he can apply these things to himself and acquire further knowledge about his fear. One may also directly confront his fears. If one fears darkness, he may try sleeping with the light turned off every night so he can learn to overcome his fear of the darkness. One more way to overcome fear is to change the way one thinks and acts. A person may control his thoughts and he may choose to be optimistic rather than being pessimistic towards overcoming his fears. Lastly, one may use different methods in order to overcome his fears. One may use the “forget method, which is completely forgetting or avoiding the fear that one has; the confront method, which is directly confronting your fears or the fun method which is overcoming one’s fear in his own fun way” (Beaver, 2012).

According to Psychology Today,

Fear is a vital response to physical and emotional danger. But often we fear situations that are far from life-or-death, and thus hang back for no good reason. Traumas or bad experiences can trigger a fear response within us that is hard to quell. Yet exposing ourselves to our personal demons is the best way to move past them. (Psychology Today, 1991)

Some of the most common fears are of ghosts, public speaking, needles, and enclosed areas. Fear may be caused by a result of learning, a traumatic accident or experience, historical and cultural influences, human nature, or by different adaptations that have been useful in one’s past. People may use various ways to be able to overcome their fears. These ways may include those that have been mentioned above, namely, analyze the fear, try gradual desensitization, look at what others are doing, confront the fear directly, change the way one thinks and acts, and try different methods of overcoming the fear that one has. 

It may be difficult for one to overcome his fears but eventually, one must learn to overcome or confront his fears because these may lead him to unreasonably hang back from certain situations. Furthermore, overcoming one’s fears could serve as an advantage to a person because it will help him to go beyond his capabilities and to familiarize himself with a lot of new experiences.

 

 

Draft

“Overcoming Fear”

“Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2010). It could also be defined as a feeling of intense or sudden apprehension or anxiety. Each and every one of us has their own fears and it could be very difficult for one to overcome his fears. How can one overcome his fears?

There are numerous fears or phobias that people may acquire. One of the most common fears that one can have is the fear of ghosts, also known as spectrophobia. People may develop the fear of ghosts from watching horror movies, reading books about ghosts, or even from their personal experiences. Another commonly known fear is the fear of public speaking or glossophobia. A lot of people may fear speaking in front of a large crowd and they may even have sudden nervous breakdowns just because they are afraid of getting up on stage and start speaking. The fear of needles or aichmophobia is also a common example of fear. Some people fear needles because of the thought that it can cause them to feel pain or because of the thought that they can acquire HIV or AIDS from a needle that has been used on a person who has these diseases. A lot of people are known to be claustrophobic, which is a person who fears enclosed areas. These people fear enclosed areas because they may be scared of the thought that they can lose oxygen in enclosed or crowded areas or because they have experienced something very traumatic in an enclosed place.

People are not born with fears. Something or someone may have caused a person to have those fears. Fear could be developed as a result of learning; this was proved through John B. Watson’s “Little Albert” experiment in 1920, “which was inspired after observing a child with an irrational fear of dogs. In this study, an 11-month-old boy was conditioned to fear a white rat in the laboratory. The fear became generalized to include other white, furry objects, such as a rabbit, dog, and even a ball of cotton” (Wikipedia, 2012). Fear could also be developed from a traumatic accident or experience. For instance, if a person gets stuck in an elevator, that person may develop the fear of elevators or the fear of enclosed spaces, also known as claustrophobia. One’s fears may also be caused by historical and cultural influences. For example, a man grew up in a place where there were once numerous wars that had happened; he may acquire the fear of wars, guns or firearms in general. The capacity of fear to become a part of human nature is also one common cause of fear. Various fears may be different adaptations that have been useful in one’s past. These fears may have developed during different time periods.

Many useful ways could be done in order for one to overcome his fears. These may depend on the greatness of a person’s fear, the cause of his fear or on his willingness to overcome his fear or fears. The first step or way for one to overcome his fear is to analyze his fear. A person must discover and have knowledge about his fear so that he will know what he should do to overcome it. Another way is to try gradual desensitization. This means that one must gradually expose himself to his fear so that he could get used to his fear and eventually overcome the fear to where he has inflicted gradual desensitization. Looking at what other people are doing can also be a way to overcome fear. For example, a person fears heights; he can observe the people who usually go to high places and he can examine their age or health condition so he can apply these things to himself and acquire further knowledge about his fear. One may also directly confront his fears. If one fears darkness, he may try sleeping with the light turned off every night so he can learn to overcome his fear of the darkness. One more way to overcome fear is to change the way one thinks and acts. A person may control his thoughts and he may choose to be optimistic rather than being pessimistic towards overcoming his fears. Lastly, one may use different methods in order to overcome his fears. One may use the forget method, which is completely forgetting or avoiding the fear that one has; the confront method, which is directly confronting your fears or the fun method which is overcoming one’s fear in his own fun way.

According to Psychology Today, “Fear is a vital response to physical and emotional danger. But often we fear situations that are far from life-or-death, and thus hang back for no good reason. Traumas or bad experiences can trigger a fear response within us that is hard to quell. Yet exposing ourselves to our personal demons is the best way to move past them” (Psychology Today, 1991). Some of the most common fears are of ghosts, public speaking, needles, and enclosed areas. Fear may be caused by a result of learning, a traumatic accident or experience, historical and cultural influences, human nature, or by different adaptations that have been useful in one’s past. People may use various ways to be able to overcome their fears. These ways may include those that have been mentioned above, namely, analyze the fear, try gradual desensitization, look at what others are doing, confront the fear directly, change the way one thinks and acts, and try different methods of overcoming the fear that one has. 

It may be difficult for one to overcome his fears but eventually, one must learn to overcome or confront his fears because these may lead him to unreasonably hang back from certain situations. Furthermore, overcoming one’s fears could serve as an advantage to a person because it will help him to go beyond his capabilities and to familiarize himself with a lot of new experiences.

 

 

References

Beaver, N. (2012, June 23). How to overcome fear. Wikihow. Retrieved July 23, 2012 from

http://www.wikihow.com/Overcome-Fear.

Beck, H. P., Levinson, S., & Irons, G. (2009). Finding Little Albert: A journey to John B.

Watson's infant laboratory. American Psychologist, 64, 7. pp. 605–614.

Oxford University Press. (2010, April). Fear. Oxford Dictionaries. Retreived July 23, 2012 from

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/fear.

Psychology Today. (1991-2012). All about fear. Psychology Today. Retrieved from

http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/fear.