Anxiety Is Fear-Based – Part 3

Video Transcript

Anxiety Is Fear-Based – Part 3

Since anxiety is fear-based, meaning you can’t behave anxiously unless you are afraid of something, you need to understand and address your fears to overcome anxiety issues.

With that in mind, there are two kinds of fears. Core fears which are the base threats you believe could cause you harm or unpleasantness, and Secondary or Feeding fears, which are the fears that feed into core fears.

There are many core fears, and there are many, many feeding fears. We explain many of these fears in Chapter 7 in the Recovery Support area.

As you discover each core fear that triggers your anxiety, you will also discover many feeding fears that activate your core fears.

Understanding and addressing these fears is key to overcoming anxiety disorder and attaining lasting success because the fewer fears you have, the less you’ll be anxious.

There are many ways to discover your fears. For instance, when you are anxious, ask yourself, “What am I most afraid of?” The answer to this question can uncover the fears that drive your anxiety.

Uncovering your fears might take some practice, but the effort is worth it.

Another way to identify fears is to ask yourself, “If the worst-case scenario comes true, what is the worst that can happen?” Then, “Why am I afraid of that?”

Here’s an example.

I used to be deathly afraid of panic attacks. When I drilled down to discover the core fears associated with my fear of panic attacks, one fear was uncontrollable, never-ending panic, which meant endless long-term suffering.

Going a bit deeper, there were other core fears involved, such as loss of control and a ruined life that I couldn’t do anything about.

Some people might also include the fears of death and dying and being embarrassed and rejected.

By discovering and addressing my core fears, I was able to overcome my fear of panic attacks, ending my 12-year struggle with panic disorder.

Discovering and addressing your core fears is essential to lasting success over anxiety disorder.

We’ll continue to unpack this in more detail in future videos.