{"id":9985,"date":"2018-03-09T06:00:13","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T11:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=9985"},"modified":"2018-03-04T10:22:30","modified_gmt":"2018-03-04T15:22:30","slug":"fear-and-the-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2018\/03\/fear-and-the-brain.html","title":{"rendered":"Facing Fear to Reduce It"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-9986\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2018\/03\/bullying-3089938_1280-300x141.jpg\" alt=\"bullying-3089938_1280\" width=\"300\" height=\"141\" \/>You may not realize that even though you can&#8217;t always\u00a0control your\u00a0initial reaction to\u00a0fear, you can \u00a0control your\u00a0response to perceived fear. The biochemical reaction to fear lasts about 90 seconds, after that you have a choice. But you have to identify what you are fearful of to know how to\u00a0stop ongoing\u00a0\u00a0fear.<\/p>\n<p>Fear is a chain reaction in the brain that isn&#8217;t consciously triggered, but can be consciously extinguished. You can learn to turn off the fear response. \u00a0It takes some work but you can be free of fear that is unrelated to real time danger. \u00a0If you\u00a0are willing to face your irrational\u00a0fears, you can\u00a0overcome them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Physically<\/strong>: Teach yourself how to relax and calm down\u2014deep breathing, meditate on the Word, practice muscle relaxation or any calming method that requires the physical body to relax. This is key to breaking the conditioning of fear. Train your mind and body to relax in \u00a0order to turn off fear and anxiety responses.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fearful thoughts<\/strong>: Take your thoughts captive. Unlearn the fearful thoughts that triggers the fear reaction. Think about the feared object and do self-talk. &#8220;This isn&#8217;t going to hurt me. There is no imminent danger. I can do this. I can face this fear.&#8221; God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power (his to overcome) and a sound mind (need to take thoughts captive). When the thoughts associated with fear are irrational, replace them with truth.\u00a0Fear can also be rooted in a lack of trust in God, feeling alone or not having the resources to deal with \u00a0problems. \u00a0God is a never ending resource. Call on His name anytime you feel afraid. \u00a0When fearful thoughts enter your mind, put on the mind of Christ. Rehearse his promise to keep you in perfect peace if you keep your mind stayed on Him. If you need resources to help you deal with fear, seek help from your community, church or a social worker who can direct you to life help.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Behavior:\u00a0<\/strong>Allow yourself to be exposed to the feared object and move through the fear response. Face the fear, be exposed to it, take\u00a0charge of your thoughts to overcome fear. \u00a0A therapist trained in exposure therapy can help with this.<\/p>\n<p>Fear is a response that helps us survive when we are in danger. Fear is \u00a0helpful when we need to\u00a0run away from a dangerous situation or be more cautious.\u00a0However, being gripped with fear when there is no immediate fear event leads to anxiety.Fear left unchecked results in phobias, PTSD, anxiety \u00a0panic disorders, etc. disorders . So pay attention to fearful thoughts and work on moving through the fear rather than avoiding it. Once you exposure yourself to the fear and see that nothing terrible happened, it will boost our confidence and allow you to master that fear.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You may not realize that even though you can&#8217;t always\u00a0control your\u00a0initial reaction to\u00a0fear, you can \u00a0control your\u00a0response to perceived fear. The biochemical reaction to fear lasts about 90 seconds, after that you have a choice. But you have to identify what you are fearful of to know how to\u00a0stop ongoing\u00a0\u00a0fear. Fear is a chain reaction&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4099],"tags":[135,3834,2201,137],"class_list":["post-9985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stress","tag-anxiety","tag-exposure-treatments","tag-facing-fear","tag-fear"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Facing Fear to Reduce It<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2018\/03\/fear-and-the-brain.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Facing Fear to Reduce It\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You may not realize that even though you can&#8217;t always\u00a0control your\u00a0initial reaction to\u00a0fear, you can \u00a0control your\u00a0response to perceived fear. The biochemical reaction to fear lasts about 90 seconds, after that you have a choice. But you have to identify what you are fearful of to know how to\u00a0stop ongoing\u00a0\u00a0fear. Fear is a chain reaction&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2018\/03\/fear-and-the-brain.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-09T11:00:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-04T15:22:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2018\/03\/bullying-3089938_1280-300x141.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Facing Fear to Reduce It","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2018\/03\/fear-and-the-brain.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Facing Fear to Reduce It","og_description":"You may not realize that even though you can&#8217;t always\u00a0control your\u00a0initial reaction to\u00a0fear, you can \u00a0control your\u00a0response to perceived fear. The biochemical reaction to fear lasts about 90 seconds, after that you have a choice. But you have to identify what you are fearful of to know how to\u00a0stop ongoing\u00a0\u00a0fear. 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Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. 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