What are the most frequent fears seen in therapy?

Fear is one of those experiences that, just because it is unpleasant, does not stop being completely normal. Being alive involves facing this emotion with relative frequency, among other things because in most cases it helps us face the dangers and risks to which we expose ourselves.

However, everything has a limit, and there are cases in which, without realizing it, we learn to fear things in a way that works against us. For this reason, psychologists tend to see frequent fears during their therapy sessions; These are psychological problems that lead some people to unconsciously self-sabotage, either because of a trauma, a poorly managed grieving process, or simply due to a lack of education in managing emotions, among others Causes.

If you are interested in learning about the characteristics and effects of the frequent fears that lead many people to seek psychological help, keep reading.

Why is it so common to be afraid?

First of all, let's start by seeing in a summarized way what exactly fear consists of and why it is so common. This can be defined as one of the fundamental emotions of the human being, triggered by situations that are interpreted as dangerous; its importance is such that virtually all members of our species experience it and express it with the same facial expressions, regardless of what culture they belong to (with the exception of very young babies and a few cases in which there are certain neurological dysfunctions that affect the system highly strung).

What does this tell us about the nature of fear? That has evolved as a mechanism of adaptation to the environment through natural selection: Thanks to the fact that we are able to experience this emotion, our body and mind respond to those places and living beings that could pose a threat, and also communicate to the rest what happens immediately, in a way semi-conscious. As we are a social species and are often surrounded by people, we are predisposed to notice the small details of other people's faces and to detect subtle changes in facial expressions, so it is very useful to be able to detect danger signals in fractions of a second by intuiting what others are feeling the rest.

Now, although surely the neurobiological mechanisms that trigger the fear reaction have not changed much in the last thousands of years, what this emotion can make us feel has been changing and diversifying. That is why among the most frequent fears that are seen in therapy, not all of them have to do with fearing physical harm. As we will see, many people have learned to fear phenomena that are very abstract and have little to do with death or injury.

• Related article: "What is fear? Characteristics of this emotion"

The frequent fears that are seen in the psychologist's office

What evolved hundreds of thousands of years ago as a resource to survive and avoid at all costs the danger of accidents or falling victim to predators, today also serves to cope with a world dominated by psychosocial processes complex: societal pressure to fit expectations, financial instability, fake news, and theories of conspiracy etc

Taking this into account, let's see what are the common fears that are expressed in therapy sessions psychological, although remember that some of them may overlap with each other and share characteristics common. The most frequent phobias, as they have their own characteristics that are different from those of "normal" fears, will have a separate section below.

1. fear of death

The fear of death is among the most widespread both among those who go to a psychologist and among those who have never been to a psychology center; however, It can present itself at levels of intensity so high as to cause many problems and prevent you from enjoying a good quality of life.. Sometimes it leads to self-check routines and is associated with hypochondria; in other cases it is a more existential fear, which leads us to ask ourselves to what extent we are special as individuals.

• You may be interested in: "Fear of death: symptom or cause?"

2. Fear of losing what was taken for granted

This phenomenon is closely linked to anguish when thinking that if certain unforeseen events occur (for example, losing all our money or suffering a incurable disease) we can end up losing our essence, what we assumed would never change in us and in our way of live. Is a type of malaise that is especially frequent in times of economic crisis.

3. fear of rejection

The fear of rejection is linked to catastrophic thoughts about what it would mean not to have the acceptance of a certain social group, or of a specific person (for example, our partner). It tends to predispose us to behave as a submissive person and incapable of defending their opinions and interests with assertiveness.

4. Fear to loneliness

This is another of the frequent fears that have to do with social life, and it presents some differences with respect to the previous one. What is scary here is the unwanted loneliness itself, the fact of living without feeling a meaningful emotional connection to almost anyone.; it is not about worrying about losing a social relationship with specific people we already know.

5. Fear of looking like a relative

This fear appears above all in people who have grown up in broken families. The idea that ancestors, cousins, and siblings are a reflection of what we could become under certain conditions makes many people wonder. feel terrified and have a very biased and pessimistic view on aspects such as genetic predisposition to develop mental illnesses, personality traits anti social etc

6. Fear of losing control of what is done

Typically, this type of fear takes the form of a fear of harming loved ones or endangering oneself. It is linked to self-esteem problems and/or the fact of having developed a real psychopathology, such as schizophrenia or intermittent explosive disorder.

7. fear of wasting time

This is another of those frequent fears associated with existential crises; those who suffer from it feel stuck in life and they suffer a lot of discomfort at the idea of ​​not doing anything significant with those projects in which they invest their efforts.

What are the most common phobias?

When we talk about phobias, we are referring to a type of pathological fear that is part of anxiety disorders, and that is characterized by a sudden rise in anxiety levels in a matter of seconds before certain stimuli, which also do not pose a real objective danger. If in the list of frequent fears that we have seen before that emotion is experienced as a diffuse discomfort, in the phobia a reaction appears more similar to a panic attack, leading the person to feel that he is losing control of his body and that he needs to immediately leave the place where he is exposing himself to this stimulus.

On the other hand, although there are several types of phobias and what triggers their symptoms varies greatly, in general the latter are almost always the same: dizziness, tremors, rapid breathing, rapid increase in blood pressure, catastrophic thoughts about what will happen next, feeling fading etc

These are the most common phobias:

• Phobia of heights
• Phobia of airplanes and flying
• animal phobia
• Social phobia
• Claustrophobia

Although this form of fear causes a lot of discomfort and is reflected in much more spectacular symptoms than the frequent fears we saw before, paradoxically it is easier to treat them in psychotherapy; the phobia is usually well defined, and it is not very difficult to help a patient face those pathological fears with such specific triggers.

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