Writing About -- Fear and Phobias

"It’s what people know about themselves that makes them afraid”, those words were spoken by Clint Eastwood in the movie, High Plains Drifter.

Perhaps all courage comes from a sense of conviction, self worth and faith in themselves. Then again there is this, A Hero may sometimes be a desperato but a bully is always a coward. Some of the great feats of courage have been borne out of desperation , even hoplessness. Some attach themselves to a higher cause.

Still there are those pesky fears and Phobias. SO where do they come from? Many neuroscientists believe that there is a clear involvement of biological factors. For example, functional brain imaging studies have shown that there is an increased blood flow and cell metabolic actiity on the right side of the brain in phobic patients. It has also been demonstrated that identical twins may develop the same type of phobia, even when they were reared separately soon after birth, and educated in different places.

Whoever suffers phobia feels an enormous fear every time he or she encounters (or even imagines...) the original phobic stimuli which unleash the panic attack. At least four of the following symptoms are usually observed:

Breathlessness,
heart fluttering (palpitation),
chest pain or pressure,
a sensation of suffocation or drowning,
dizziness and vertigo,
a sensation of detachment from reality ("air head"),
tingling sensations in several part of the body,
heat or cold waves,
sweating,
dry mouth,
a sensation of fainting,
trembling or shaking,
a fear of dying or becoming mad,
or losing control.