Anxiety, Fear and Phobia
Fear is an emotion that most often concerns our relationship with the future. The dimension of time is indeed important in understanding fear. Fear presupposes uncertainty about a future event, for which we cannot be sure. It has been said that “fear is an inconstant sadness arising from the idea of a future thing whose outcome we doubt” (Spinoza, Ethics, Part III). When uncertainty is removed, fear disappears and is transformed either into despair (when what we fear is certain to happen) or into relief and joy (when what we fear has no chance of happening). As fear focuses our attention on an uncertain future, it prevents us from concentrating and enjoying the present. Moreover, fear limits our capacity for growth, both individually and socially. The undermining of our sense of security due to fear ultimately leads to a state of stagnation and deadlock.
Emotions such as anger, prejudice, aggression, and even violence and hatred can be secondary and rooted in fear. Fear, especially when prolonged, creates barriers to the expression of one’s abilities and contributes to isolation. To live in fear means to live in loneliness.
It is important to make a distinction between fear and phobia. Fear is a warning signal that arises in response to a threat, real or imagined. In many cases, it is natural and necessary, as it mobilizes us to protect ourselves. Fear encourages us to proceed with caution, seek help, gather information, and distinguish between real and imaginary threats.
On the other hand, a phobia appears as an irrational and unexplained fear of specific objects or situations. Although the individual recognizes its irrationality, they cannot free themselves from its dominance, resulting in a reduced ability to act. Phobias can take many forms (claustrophobia, agoraphobia, social phobia, etc.) and may significantly affect one’s personal, social, and professional life.
What must be understood is that the cause of a phobia is not identical to its object. The phobic object represents a deeper anxiety or traumatic experience that is not directly related to it. In reality, the individual assigns meaning to their anxiety through the phobia.
The phobic object functions as a “mask” for a deeper anxiety or trauma. It is not the phobia that creates anxiety; rather, anxiety is projected onto the phobic object in order to become manageable. However, avoiding the phobic object does not eliminate anxiety, but instead perpetuates and intensifies it.
A phobia is a closed door. Avoidance creates the illusion of overcoming it, but at a cost: it leads to mental exhaustion and depletion. Moreover, it acts like a magnet, attracting precisely the situations we fear. Avoidance strategies ultimately prove ineffective and unproductive.
When we avoid, we feel that our skills are undermined and that we cannot cope effectively. We lose touch with our desires, interests, and ambitions, experiencing life as vulnerable and trapped. The price we pay for a false sense of security is high: it is a negative form of security, based on avoidance rather than growth and fulfillment.
The goal of psychotherapy is to understand the underlying, diffuse anxiety that gives rise to phobias. Psychotherapy shifts attention from the phobic object to the primary anxiety. It is a process of moving from the visible result to the invisible cause, from the surface to the deeper structure that shapes it.