THE PROBLEM OF FEAR AND ANXIETY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21360, 13 June 1931, Page 17

THE PROBLEM OF FEAR AND ANXIETY

By Stuart Moore, 8.A., M.D., M.R.C.P. \' , How does it come about that fear and anxiety are commonly regarded as the greatest causes of human suffering? There is another opinion. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread, and so achieve their own destruction. This opinion recognises fear as the guardians of our, lives; What prudent king going to war does not seek to ■ discover all the dangers that are to be feared? His fears lead him to examine and judge the facts. He decides what he should do to annul the dangers he fears or to take the risk and even tq enjoy, doing so. But we have stumbled on another attitude to fear and anxiety. They can actually be sources # of pleasure. This view is expressed when we say “ Stolen’ fruits are sweetest ” or when we speak of the spirit of adventure. We enjoy our fears and anxiety in business, in sport, in voyages of discovery. Fear, too, can drive out fear. A boy could' be 'afitald that he would rob the orchard, but the, appearance of his father round the corner would abolish all fear of that, * ■ Yet fear, however, paralyses us. Why? Fear, strictly speaking, relates to a definite object, of dread. Fright results when we are unexpectedly confronted with a fearsome object. . The . mind has, been caught unprepared. All available mental energy "is. summoned to meet and deal -with the injury. Anxiety is an expectation of disaster, even if its nature is unknown. In this condition all. available mental energy is kept ready to oppose the -effects of the expected injury. Hence it is that fright, anxiety, and even fear paralyse our minds. The fear that destroys us is the fear of a fear or of anxiety—an expectation of a danger that is not and cannot be understood. Once a man is afraid of anxiety he is done for. His fear increases the anxiety and the increase in anxiety .increases the fear. This reciprocal reaction allows fears and anxiety to reach the mountain tops. What can be done? The cause of the anxiety can never be discovered, while anxiety itself is being feared and fled from'. There is no way out as there is when we are confronted by..a danger about us which we understand. The only way out is by magic. Hence it is we have the host of prescriptions for abolishing fear—the magic of forgetting, of denying its evidence, the magic of suggestion and auto-suggestion. There are other magical ways of getting rid of fear that we use without understanding what we are doing. Through the night of doubt and sorrow. Onward goes the pilgrim band, Singing songs of expectation, Marching to th 6 promised [and. s We suffer in order to get relief. The suffering, however, is not understood and gives rise to a fresh fear. This fear is, however, checked by ingenious mental devices, which prove it is ridiculous. A breathing space is got for the unfortunate, but not f.Qr long; he must suffer again very soon or his anxiety will return. Once a man is afraid of anxiety and flies from it fay magic, he is in its grip for life, for anxiety is an active force that has -to be held down all the time. Lucky is the man who hits upon some form of suffering that exactly counterbalances his anxiety and leaves him with a definite limited disability that is tolerable or even enjoya'ble. The dreadful effects of anxiety can only be radically prevented by learning the cause of our neurotic anxiety. That, ultimately, is a thing within us, even although we would do so much to persuade ourselves that it comes from without.