Easing Fear and Dread

Fear and dread are related to our neuroception. It is true that we have experienced bad things happening that are due to external factors. We can’t un-know this.

It doesn’t help to try to talk ourselves out of feelings of dread and anxiety because fear happens in our unconscious, not our verbal conscious level of mind. When someone else does this, it feels minimizing and condescending.

Don’t be silly. You’re exaggerating. It won’t happen to you. We protest. You don’t know that. Bad things happen all the time!

Our predictive brain, with its negativity bias, tries to apply what it knows to other situations. If this bad thing could happen in this situation then …

This strategy to try to protect ourselves feeds catastrophic thinking which is harmful because it alarms our nervous system and creates more hypervigilance. A certain level of planning and preparedness is helpful, but entertaining worst-case scenario thinking drains of us strength and resilience, leaving us afraid and anxious. It doesn’t work to protect us.

Our brain developed to visually take in and respond to immediate threat. Watching video footage of traumatic events (like we do on the news and social media) alarms the brain and increases hypervigilance. Our brain doesn’t know this traumatic event is happening far away and is not an immediate…