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Don’t panic: stress also has benefits

3-8-2023

Translation: Megan Cornish

Can fear go from foe to friend? A psychiatry and neurology expert tells all – and provides tools to get acute anxiety under control.

Fear has taken us a long way. From an evolutionary point of view, it has ensured the survival of our species. However, our living conditions have changed dramatically over thousands of years, while our brains have remained the same. Hunter-gatherers? They’re in the past. Today we spend most of our time sitting and watching. As a result, we no longer need the acute system jolt to the extent that we did back when our everyday lives were far more hostile.

But what actually happens to us when we get scared? It’s important to note that «normal fear» is different from «pathological fear» (unfounded, inappropriate, strong, and frequent). Not in terms of quality, but in terms of duration, intensity and appropriateness in relation to the triggering stimulus and the extent of avoidance behaviour. Both cases affect the same areas of the brain, regardless of whether the fear is triggered by a real danger or it’s an overreaction to an objectively harmless stimulus. In these situations, our bodies switch to an increased arousal state in a flash, the cerebral cortex is highly aroused, and the hormone adrenaline is released.

Welcome, worry – the usefulness of fear

I got this knowledge from anxiety expert Dr Constanze Dennig, specialist in psychiatry and neurology (website in German) and author. In her current book «Willkommen Angst – Vom Nutzen der Furcht» (Welcome, worry – the usefulness of fear) (book only available in German) she outlines that fear also has a good side – if you understand it and know how to use it. She uses real-life examples to explain how it manifests in the brain, where there’s a difference between «normal» and pathological fear, which systems in our modern society exploit and fuel it – and how to counteract it. Because the supposedly negative feeling is actually also a powerful engine for development, change and self-acceptance.

Fight or flight: how we react to fear

What do the great geniuses of our history have in common with the worst despots? Fear was a driver in their decisions. Because you can process it both constructively and destructively, according to the author: «Evolution has successfully relied on this reaction in the human brain. Fear activates all of our physical options to run away from or fight against its trigger – that is, to face it.»

The book also contains practical examples of how fear can be transformed – including the following story: «Ms M is the mother of two school children and is constantly worried that her sons could be hit by a car on the way to school. In the first few weeks, she finds monitoring them using the GPS function on her mobile phone very reassuring: she stares spellbound at her screen to follow her children’s route to school. After a few weeks, however, she notices that she keeps forgetting to do it. She no longer regularly checks her sons’ routes to school. Her concerns about a car accident move further and further into the background the longer they are both out alone and nothing happens.» Ms. M confronted her worst fears – and learned from them. Today she is just as relaxed as her children. By experiencing the dreaded event not happening, her fear lessened and finally gave way to a new composure. Her mind has taken control of her worries.

Tricks to get acute stress under control

The book wants to do (and certainly does in part) what shelves full of advice fail to do: it doesn’t want to comfort us as if we were children; it corrects some misconceptions and turns foe into friend. «If you look at normal fear from all sides, you can summarise that it’s better than its reputation. Unfortunately, the quality of fear is only revealed in hindsight. Only when you have endured it are you rewarded for enduring and overcoming it,» says Dennig: «But we are not helplessly at its mercy. When dealing with this primarily unpleasant feeling, knowledge about it helps, as do rational ways to combat it.»

Small actions can deal with anxiety more effectively than complicated, elaborate strategies. Here are some of the fear expert’s tricks:

Exercising helps: «Exertion, sport and physical work» are a reliable way to convert and reduce vegetative reactions.

Spiralling thoughts? It’s not just physically distracting the brain from brooding that works; creating a to-do list to solve the problem is effective too. Controlling feelings of anxiety also works by analysing the causes.

Lights on: Controlling neurotransmitters «through light» works: spend at least an hour and a half outdoors in daylight or use a daylight lamp.

Positive routine: Creating order through repetitive time sequences ensures «internal security».

Thinking outside the box: Controlling your own perspective is dictated by the simple motto «The common is common, the rare is rare». Check for realistic danger as soon as a feeling of fear arises.

Objectification and controlling fear through awareness: keep a «stress diary» with the duration and cause in one column and the actual, realistic risk potential as a percentage in the other column.

If you want more or different tips and additional information about dealing with fear, it might be worth taking a look at Constanze Denning’s book (in German):

Reference books

Willkommen Angst

German, Constanze Dennig, 2023

Header image: Shutterstock

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Janina Lebiszczak

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oliver.fischer@digitecgalaxus.ch

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