Confronting the Fear of Fear

Welcome to another insightful entry at Restored Minds! Today, we dive into the fascinating and often overlooked concept of the "fear of fear." As always, we draw from expert advice to shed light on how this meta understanding can play a pivotal role in your emotional and psychological healing journey.

Understanding the Fear of Fear

In a recent episode, Matt Codde, licensed clinical social worker and the founder of Restored Minds, delved into the fear of fear itself. This meta discussion not only sheds light on how to confront fear but also emphasizes the significance of understanding our fear towards emotions, which is a crucial step towards lasting recovery from stress, anxiety, chronic pain, and other psychophysiological disorders.

"We have a fear of feeling emotion, and we perceive emotion as dangerous or bad. And so when we perceive something as bad, we resist it."

Understanding that we often perceive emotions, particularly fear, as dangerous, leads us to resist experiencing them. This resistance can manifest in various ways, such as repression, suppression, and escapism. Instead of facing our emotions, we might binge-watch TV, excessively use social media, or even turn to substances like alcohol to alter our state.

The Danger of Escapism and Repression

Matt explained how these forms of escapism and repression do not resolve the underlying emotions. Rather, they may provide temporary relief but ultimately keep the fear intact. This leads to a vicious cycle of repeated, unresolved emotions.

"When it comes to the fear of emotion, the first thing we have to confront before confronting the emotions is the fear of the fact that. Or confront the fact that we're afraid of feeling it."

Confrontation Over Escapism: A Paradigm Shift

For effective recovery, Matt emphasizes the importance of confronting our fear of emotions head-on. He advocates for an approach that involves feeling the emotions within our bodies, bringing a non-resistance and non-judgmental attitude towards these feelings. This process marks a significant paradigm shift from trying to eradicate fear to understanding and interacting with it courageously.

"We can't go and confront fear if we're afraid of feeling it to begin with."

Practical Tips to Confront the Fear of Fear

Here are some actionable steps you can incorporate into your daily routine to start confronting the fear of fear:

1. Mindful Awareness

   : Sit quietly and observe your body's sensations, particularly when you're anxious. Identify where you feel tension or discomfort.

2. Non-judgmental Attitude

   : Allow yourself to feel these emotions without labeling them as 'good' or 'bad'.

3. Gentle Self-Inquiry

   : Ask yourself why you might be feeling this way. Understanding the root causes can demystify the fear.

4. Daily Practice

   : Regularly set aside time to practice these techniques. The more you engage with your emotions courageously, the less intimidating they will become.

Conclusion

By bringing awareness and courage to our emotions, we can start to change our relationship with fear fundamentally. Remember, as Matt said:

"If we start this process from a general fear of emotion itself, when emotion surfaces up, we're often going to get very reactive and very resistant, and it will work against the healing process."

We hope this blog brings valuable insights and tools to help you on your journey toward a healthier emotional state. Thank you for being a part of the Restored Minds community. Stay tuned for more enriching content!