The Role of Fear

The role of fear in an over-activated nervous system

Fight, flight, freeze, or fawn

We can think of the nervous system as being in either a fight-or-flight or rest-and-digest state. When we are calm and relaxed and otherwise functioning as if we’re not under threat, then our bodies are in a rest-and-digest state. However, if something threatens our well being, our nervous systems get activated into what’s more fully known as the fight-flight-freeze-fawn state.

In this activated state:

We might get defensive, aggressive, or angry and we might lash out verbally or physically to protect ourselves (fight).
We might do everything we can to get out of the situation or flee an attacker by literally running away, or possibly by leaving the room or quitting a job, or perhaps verbally by changing the subject or cracking a joke (flight).
We might freeze and not know how best to respond. In that time we might be assessing the situation carefully, we might hope that by not saying anything the situation will move on or someone else will come to the rescue, or we might tense up, prepared to take an action when the opportunity arise or to buffer ourselves against another physical or verbal attack (freeze).
We might try to placate the person who’s posing a threat by trying to make them happy in some way, which in day-to-day settings often comes across as people-pleasing (fawn).

Conscious triggers

There are probably some things you’re already aware of that likely trigger a fight-flight-freeze-fawn response.

These might include:

Fear of your symptoms.
Fear of hurting yourself worse, making the symptoms worse, or developing new symptoms.
Fear that there is or could be something “wrong” inside you that you can’t control and that is the source of pain and symptoms.
Fear of what people might think of your and/or of what they might do to you.
Fears around normal life threats, such as illness, injury, poverty, violence, accidents, etc.
Fears around letting your guard down and/or relaxing.

Unconscious triggers

However, there are likely fears and triggers that you’re not aware of, but that are still wreaking havoc with your nervous system. These might include:

Fear of repressed feelings and emotions, especially from your childhood — with repressed issues, you genuinely won’t realize they’re there until you start doing the work.
Fear of addressing known or repressed issues and trauma from your past.
Fear related to internal conflicts.
Fear of the internal critic.
Fear that there’s something fundamentally “wrong” with you (e.g. you don’t fit with what societal norms dictate).
Fears around normal life threats, such as illness, injury, poverty, violence, accidents, etc.
Fears around letting your guard down and/or relaxing.

Most of the issues above can become ever-present, which means that unless you work to address them, your body will be in a constant state of fear and your nervous system will remain over-activated. The fact that so many fears exist at an unconscious level makes them especially pernicious and difficult to deal with. However, with the work described on this site, you can begin to address them and lay them to rest, allowing your body to finally return to that coveted rest-and-digest state.

Learn more

In the articles below, I dive deeper into topics, tools, and techniques regarding this component of healing. This is where I share what I did to heal and where I’ll add updates as I learn new information on these issues. So make sure to look through these posts as well.

Hyper-vigilance and the fear-symptom cycle

Hyper-vigilance and the fear-symptom cycle

Fear and chronic health problems: Part 1

Other Resources

I’m still researching this and will add resources I like as I come across them.

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