# RKS: FACE-OFF WITH FEAR - An Endeavour To Understand Fearfulness vs Fearlessness
# RKS: FACE-OFF WITH FEAR
- AN ENDEAVOUR TO UNDERSTAND FEARFULNESS VERSUS FEARLESSNESS
1st May 2022
FEARFUL - FEARLESS - FEARSOME
The Rule Of Brain
Dear Reader,
People’s everyday life seems profoundly emotional: each human has experienced at least one emotion 90% of the time. There have been listed overall 27 emotions in humans.
The top 3 most central emotions are joy, followed by satisfaction, and sadness. Fear is the most dreaded emotion and the negativity associated it is inescapable. Although an everyday featuring emotion, the ranking of experiencing fear is 15th in females and 17th in males.
EMOTION TYPES
Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (1832-1920) is a German Physiologist, Philosopher and Professor who opened the Institute for Experimental Psychology at the University of Leipzig in Germany. He, and not the famed Sigmund Freud, is the acclaimed Father of Psychology and who proposed in late nineteenth century that all emotions can be described by three dimensions:
- Pleasurable to non-pleasurable - emotional valence
- Arousing to subduing - result of prompt
- Strained to relaxed - outcome of emotion
BIOLOGY BEHIND EMOTIONS
Research has indicated that emotion includes 2 components:
- Affective component: This is reflected by the immediate response to feelings.
- Cognitive component: Humans have ability to think, reason and recollect (cognitive ability) and the emotions are doctored accordingly.
The affective component is dictated by the deeply embedded limbic system of brain, whilst the cognitive aspect is controlled by the front of brain (frontal lobe).
When the fear emotion is considered, it originates in the amygdala and the hypothalamus decides the fight AND flight response. Simultaneously, the frontal lobe rationalizes whether to fight or flight.
THE DICTATING CHEMICALS IN EMOTIONS
There is a direct connect between 3 chemicals in brain (neurotransmitters) spread all over the brain and the 3 basic outcomes of emotions.
- PUNISHMENTS: Caused by negative emotions such as sadness and influenced by serotonin (5-HT).
- REWARD: Result of positive emotions such as happiness and influenced by dopamine (DA).
- FIGHT or FLIGHT: Precipitated by anger & fear (which are neither truly positive or negative) and influenced by norepinephrine (NE) or noradrenaline (NA).
THE ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN INTERPRETATION OF EMOTIONS
Cross-cultural research has surprisingly revealed that an emotion that is considered negative in one culture can be considered positive in another! This is on account of the cognitive component of emotion.
- Easterners (Asians) embrace sadness when they experience it, whereas Westerners feel that they should not have to face sadness.
- Anger and its expression may have a more positive connotation in East Asian cultures - Japanese express more anger to display authority; Americans express anger because of frustration.
- Westerners typically report happiness as uplifting and exciting, but Easterners tend to report happiness as a serene, calm state.
- Westerners (Canadians and Americans) report surprise to be more positive compared to Easterners (Koreans and Chinese) who consider this as a negative motion. Asians are thus not open to welcoming of change contrary to what is believed.
Emotions are referred to as meta-moods since they are feelings (affective component) which are clubbed with a meta level of experience that consists of thoughts and memories (cognitive component) relevant to the mood.
EMOTION INTER-RELATIONSHIP
An emotion could be co-associated with another, can cancel an opposite emotion, or could be standalone.
- Connector emotions: Stimulate same valence emotions whilst inhibiting opposite valence emotions. For example, when one is joyous the grief is forgotten; however sadness can be co-present with fear.
- Provincial emotions: Stimulate same valence emotions only - if one feels grateful the opposite emotion such as sorrow cannot be cancelled; but fear and anxiety are both unpleasant and can be present as combined.
- Distal emotions: Emotions such as embarrassment are standalone and are typically experienced in isolation.
EMOTION INCIDENCES
FEAR
Fear is a legit human emotion that is protective since it enables either a fight or flight reaction when faced with immediate danger. There are three kinds of people in this world.
- Fearsome: Those who intimidate others.
- Fearless: Those who are NOT intimidated by fear or the fearsome.
- Fearful: Those who are EASILY INTIMIDATED by fear or the fearsome.
FEARSOME, FEARLESS & FEARFUL - THE BASIS
- FEARLESS: If the 5-HT hormone in brain is adequate it does not suppress the protective fear response but prevents one from becoming unreasonably fearful [Steimer T. Dialogues Clin Neurosci 2002; 4: 231-249].
- FEARFUL: Naturally if there is lesser 5-HT in the midbrain (periductal grey matter) the NA hormone cannot be restrained from exhibiting an overdefensive fear response [Mokhtar M & Singh P. Neuroanatomy, Periaqueductal Gray. (Updated 2021 Jul 31). In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan].
- FEARSOME: DA neurotransmitter in the midbrain (nigrostriatal system) makes fear extinct by increasing signalling (enhancing synaptic plasticity) across the amygdala [Milton AL. Version 1. F1000Res. 2019; 8: F1000 Faculty Rev-1948]. Thus, becoming fearsome could stem by expelling all fears - whether inborn (innate), or acquired (through experience).
Summarising, an increase in brain's DA concentrations translates into a fearsome personality; adequacy of 5-HT spells a fearless attitude whilst mere presence of NE, which is unsupported or uninfluenced by 5-HT and / or DA, makes one fearful.
FEAR VS ANXIETY
Both fear and the resultant anxiety are alerting signals - they appear to prepare the body for different actions.
Fear emanates from amygdala whilst anxiety is influenced by a brain portion called stria terminalis. Incidentally, stria terminalis is a major nerve connecting pathway between the amygdala and the hypothalamus thereby facilitating reciprocal communication between these two structures.
Anxiety is a generalized response to an unknown threat or internal conflict, whereas fear is focused on known external danger. The origins of anxiety are unclear or uncertain and could be stress, worry, tension, shame, angst - besides fear.
WHAT HAPPENS IN FEAR & ANXIETY?
When one is frightened or seriously anxious, the mind and body work very quickly. As a result:
- Heart beats very fast – maybe it feels irregular
- Breathing is very fast
- Muscles feel weak
- Sweating is excessive
- Stomach churns or bowels feel loose
- Concentration difficulties
- Dizziness
- Freezing on the spot
- Inability to eat
- Experiencing hot and cold sweats
- Dryness in mouth
- Tense muscles
All these complaints and manifestations occur because of a hormone called ACTH (adrenocorticotropin hormone). The fear enabled by NE in the amygdala influences the hypothalamus via its stria terminalis connectivity. The hypothalamus liberates a hormone called CRF (corticotropin-releasing hormone) which stimulates the release of anxiety manifestations-causing ACTH from the neighbouring pituitary gland [Wang F et al. Front Psychol 2020; 11: Article 21; https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00021].
CONQUERING FEAR
TAKE HOME MESSAGE
People experience at least one emotion 90% of the time. Nobody can remain emotionless for more than 6 of seconds in a minute, 6 minutes in an hour, or more than 144 minutes in a day!
41% of emotions are positive as compared to 16% of instances being only negative emotions; mixed positive and negative emotions simultaneously occur 33% of the time.
DR R K SANGHAVI
Experience & Expertise: Clinician & Healthcare Industry Adviser
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