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Psychology: Faculty Publications and Other Works Faculty Publications

5-2009

Phobophobia: , Fear of Fear, and the Climber Mind

Fred B. Bryant Loyola University Chicago, [email protected]

Kristin Bjornsen

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Recommended Citation Bryant, Fred B. and Bjornsen, Kristin. Phobophobia: Fear, Fear of Fear, and the Climber Mind. , 275, : 56-62, 2009. Retrieved from Loyola eCommons, Psychology: Faculty Publications and Other Works,

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. © Climbing Magazine, 2009. t

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膚 Ii- F E A R, F E A R OF F E A R, AND THE CLIMBER MIND

By Kristin Bjornsen and Fred Bryant, PhD

WHICH BEST D ESCR IBES your typical climbing experience? On the other hand, an ascent that evokes no fear is usually bland, unmemorable. A) "Runout? Meh—they call me the Iceman." As the alpinist Kelly Cordes, 40, puts it, B) "I sometimes feel afraid, especially on hairy climbs." "Those hazards represent the wildness of C) "I cry like a colicky baby every time I rope up." the mountains, in which I find tremendous appeal and beauty. If it were just about the If you answered A, then you aren't from Earth (this means you, movement, I'd stay in a climbing gym." Alex Honnold). If you said B, then you-like most of us-land somewhere m 吐 spectrum. And 」 f C, then you're in the wrong CALAM ITOUS CONUNDRUMS game, because climbing 一 especially alpinism, hairball trad, soloing, "NO PASSION SO EFFECTUALLY ROBS THE MIND OF ALL ITS highballing, etc. 一 is inherently dangerous and sometimes lethal. It's POWERS OF ACTING AND REASONING AS FEAR." natural and adaptive to be frightened, even though the literature - Edmund Burke, Irish philosopher teems with tales of courage that make fear seem unbecoming. But none of us are exempt from this biological response. The good news THE PROGENITOR OF THE WORD "fear" -the O ld English f.函一 re­ is, you can choose whether to make fear a friend or foe. £erred not to an emotion but to a calamity or disaster. In technical Maybe you're 40 feet out on a bad piece; or tiptoeing beneath terms, fear is a response to a specific, perceived or real threat- a a giant serac; or you're on a " safe" sport route, placing your faith calamity. Otherwise, it's , which typically lacks a specific in the rock, bolts, gear, and belayer. In all these situations, it's not source. In physical terms, when we encounter these "calamities," uncommon to get gripped, a feeling you might not always relish. a small, almond-shaped part of the brain called the amygdala trig-

Does fear help or hurt you? ly override irrational thoughts and assess Fear has helped my performance - situations ob」 ectiveiy . I' ll often 'turn off my it's kept me alert and forced me brain' - force my inner voice to shut up and to grow. The irony is that to get bet­ quit overanalyzing things I can't control (as ter at dealing with fear, you have opposed to important analyse s ) 一 and 」 u s t go to deal with it, which puts you in But this comes after that decision to 'go.' a situation that might be your last How do you deal with objective hazards? time dealing with it. We can't control objective hazards, but we In the hairiest situations-like on can control how we approach them - it's Great Trango, exhausted and going a dance. How active is the serac? What time on 48 hours without water - I'm too of day is it? How quickly can we move ? focussed on the moment (and too I try to stack these odds in my fa vor, but if ALPINISM: KELLY CORDES, 40 exhausted) to get freaked out. Fortu­ I'm not comfortable enough to accept them, Notable Ascents: new link-up (A16 R/X nately, I've developed a decent ab 山 ty to get into I retreat. M5 A2; 4,600 vertical feet) on , an intense'taskmaster'-type mode. Any ? Argentine , with Colin Haley; FA of Any tricks for handling fear? Avalanches. I've been caught in an avalanche be­ Azeem Ridge (5.11 R/X M5 A2; 7,400 vertical I narrow my eyes, flash my Blue Steel look, fore, partially buried. It was utterly horrifying. … feet}, Great Trango Tower, , with Josh and say, 'No way, Fear, not today.' Seriously, I Scariest movie or book? Wharton; FA Personal Jesus (M7 Al5; 3,300 get scared all the time. I think it's a healthy George W. Bush running our country was feet}, Nevado Ulta, Peru, with Jim Earl and important thing. Mainly, I try to conscious- scary enough

May 2009 • Climbing.com 57 「叮鬪「 l~~\I gers the release of adrenaline from the adrenal glands (situated on to 5.10s. Even our heroes don't want to be seen as weak: when the 如 dneys) and of norepinephrine from the locus coeruleus (in the Messner a nd Habeler climbed Everest in 1978, Messner repeatedly brainstem). Adrenaline sets off fear's physical effects: the racing removed his goggles to film and consequently became snowblind. heart, shallow breathing, sweaty palms, and sewing-machine legs. After Habeler later wrote about guiding a sobbing Messner down Norepinephrine, meanwhile, causes the mental effects: hypervigi­ from high , Messner ended their partnership. lance, impaired problem-solving, and tun:1el vision. Both are part • FEAR ITSELF (AKA PHOBOPHOBIA). This can manifest either as of our body's hardwired fight-or-flight response (more later). fear of feeling f~ar or of showing it (see above). As the French climber While fear's physical manifestations are universal, the triggers acknowledged, "I'm afraid to be afraid." vary. Here's a list of climbers' usual suspects: • PERFORMANCE ANXIETY (AKA " JITTERS"). Although • DEATH. Soon after Cordes began climbing, he, while solo, botched this dovetails with the aforementioned fe ars, pre-climb nerves about a rappel in the Tetons. "The 100- to 150-foot fall was horrifying, what could go wrong (or right)-or nerves about having people as were mafly p.arrs of my self-rescue," Cordes recalls. " It was a watch you, say, at a comp-can affect performance. " It's the time huge wake-up call. " Perhaps you, too, recall a climb on which you before the climb that's the most intimidating," says highball master thought, 'This is it.'Death is arguably man's greatest fear, though Kevin Jorgeson, 24. " Once you're climbing, if you've prepared as the Roman philosopher Publilius Syrus noted in 42 BC, "The right, it 's 」 ust climbing." fear of death is more to be dreaded than death itself." • FALLING. From infancy, humans instinctually fear falling. Climbers • YOUR DEATH 'S IMPACT ON LOVED ONES. Think of Rob inure themselves to heights over time, but not completely. Surprisingly, Hall -trapped on Everest in 1996-talk­ mg via sat-phone to h'f1s w1 e an namm g their unborn daughter before he died. As ARESPECT FOR RISK FOSTERS ALOW LEVEL OF CHRONIC the Austrian P~ter Habeler 一 the first (with "HEALTHY" FEAR - IT'S A KIND OF LIFE INSURANCE. ) to climb Everest without oxygen-noted, "If I fall off a mountain, to me it does not mean Cordes- who can whistle up Great Trango-confesses, "I'm a wimp a thing. I come off, maybe five more seconds, and then I am dead. above a perfectly good on a sport climb, [though] on truly danger­ It's my wife, it's my two boys that are left behind." ous things, that fear probably serves a more important purpose." • INJURY /PAIN. Choss, bad landings, rotten ice etc. -all can Faced with any of the above threats, we climbers experience break you. But as with the fear of death, the fear of suffering can anything from mild. nervousness to sheer terror, depending on ge­ be worse than the suffering itself. netics and past experiences/mental training. At the lowest end of • FAILURE OR "WEAKNESS." Some climbers are more scared of the continuum, a total lack of fear can make you careless. In the failure than death. This can fuel great achievement . .. or foolhardy ideal, low-to-middle end, a little nervousness keeps you on your decisions 一 e.g. , courting runours when you're shaky. Conversely, toes . . . sans debilitating panic. (See "The Balancing Act," p.62, fear of failure can prevent people from truly testing their abili­ ~or fear-taming tips.) And at the high end, panic can torpedo your ties 一 as in, they don't want to be seen dogging 5. lls, so they stick control, something that can befall even guides. Take the 1865 first

Climbing's scariest aspects? Fortunately, I didn 't in 」 ure anything. a w With , when you're Describe a time you've faced redpolnt jitters. b close to sending, it's the fear of On Powerade (5.14c), which had very dynamic ~ not succeeding - and the respon­ moves. Whenever I seriously attempted it, a: sib 巾 ty for your own failure. With my mind would get furiously anxious! But then trad, alpinism, and multi-, I tried it once when tired. My mind wasn't pre­ it's the fear of being injured. pared for success, so I had no pressure. I was Time when you felt the relatively relaxed, and to my surprise, I sent. most gripped? Any secrets to keeping your head? I was trying to redpoint an an­ I stay confident in myself. The night before, cient aid route, and at the end of I visualize myself step-by-step sending P5, I couldn't find the belay. [the route]. Breathing and some yoga meth­ I started getting pumped, travers­ ods control nerves, too. Once on the route, ing right, left, up, down, right 」 ust stay positive about your ability. If the again. My last gear was a small mind keeps not working right, maybe it's bet- cam in a rounded crack 15 feet ter to try the route another season REDPOINTING: JOSUNE BEREZIARTU, 37 down - not enough to stop a fall. Finally, my Scariest movie or book? Notable Ascents: Bimbaluna (5.14d/15a), arms couldn't hold anymore. I fell 65 feet-the I don't like them anymore-they make me feel Saint Loup, Switzerland; La Travesia de Arroita cam didn't stop me. Spanish TV was filming , terror! Though, I'm an absolute fan of (5.14d), Balzola Cave, Basque Country; Logical and when you watch the film and hear the Alfred Hitchcock movies ... except one: I've Progression (5.14c/d), Jo-Yama, Japan soundtrack, you can tell how frightened I was! never watched Psycho

58 Climbing.com • May 2009 PIIIIII'11111 l111r 11111 Plltlll 11111 l11rt l •Clllr

Plltlll 缸111 1111 矗■ ca,, Pl111• 11111 11•1111-1111 l •cller PIIIIII 11111 1111 Ira• worth it? But the most inspiring lines in boul­ dering are the big ones. When I see a line- the excess CO2 produced by exercising :::J a true, pure, beautiful, undone gem - unless muscles 一 important for a sprint past hang- o it's physically impossible, I'm drawn to climb it ing seracs or that final crux. ~ Any tricks for handling fear? Fear also can keep us vig il ant-to 昷 I whittle down the objective to include just my double-check our anchors, watch for climbing as the risk. If I can control my loose rocks, etc. It warns us we've nearly climbing, I can be safe. I usually spend a day breached our safety margins and should assessing the landing, moves, and conse­ proceed cautiously or back off. Indeed, a quences. I'll sacrifice ethics for safety in most respect for risk often fosters a chronic low cases by employing a rope to clean and test holds. If there are [external) risk factors level of " healthy fear." As the Swiss Erhard like weather or rock quality, I'll pass. Day two Loretan 一 the third person to climb all HIGHBALLING: KEVIN JORGESON 24 1s all about trust. Trusting your skills, instinct, 14 8,000-meter peaks-noted, "Fear and Notable Ascents (FAs): Ambrosia (5.14 X; 45 and spotters dread are my li fe insurance." feet), Bishop, California; The Beautiful What's in your head before a crux? Fear may also give meaning to climbing. and Damned (V13 X; 35 feet), Bishop, California; Breathe in. Breathe out. Go As the great Italian alpinist The Duel (V10 X; 25 feet), Hueco Tanks, Texas Any phobias? said (from The Quotable Climber), "Beware Spiders. Drowning. if you do not experience fear in the moun­ What about highballs most frightens you? Scariest movie or book? tains. Not to do so would mean that one The consequences. What if you fall? Is it really The Blair Witch Project. was devoid of feeling and no longer able to ~ 移~三 experience the supreme joy of knowing that one has mastered fear. " The American al pin- ascent of the when, after three climbers fell to their ist Mark Twight argued, "The moment of terror is the beginning deaths, the two surviving mountain guides "for the space of half an of life." And Josune Bereziartu, the only woman to climb 5.15a, hour . .. paralyzed by terror, cried like infants, and trembled in such has a similar take: "Fear makes us human. Without it, we are just a manner as to threaten us with the fate of the others," Edward robots. Our doubts, , and nerves make us fight and try harder Whymper recounted in Scrambles Amongst the . in every aspect of life, and give meaning to those efforts." Moreover, facing fear can increase confidence and ability on FEAR AS FRIEND and off the rocks. Researchers in a nd England found that "FEAR MAKES US HUMAN. WITHOUT IT, WE ARE JUST ROBOTS." confidence gained through can actually generalize -Josune Bereziartu to other aspects of life and even help people overcome phobias. "Climbing isn't a parallel life, " Bereziartu says. "The sensations As WE SAID EARLIER, adrenaline and norepinephrine rev you into and emotions you experience climbing absolutely help you deal fight-or-flight mode. Once here, your body's first response is typically with normal life problems." . to freeze-to "stop, look, and listen," assessing the situation. This And fear deepens friendsh甲一 as with soldiers in battle, shared can be life-saving and adaptive (e.g., freezing in place when you struggle in epic conditions builds camaraderie not found elsewhere. notice you're about to rap off the rope), but when a rock's careering toward you, the "deer in the headlights" response can kil l. FEAR AS FOE In all animals, the freeze-up is usually followed first by an at­ "FEAR IS THE MIND-KILLER." tempt to flee and then 一 if that's unsuccessful-to fight. Interestingly, -Dune, by Frank Herbert climbing can require we first move toward danger (fighting) rather than away (fleeing), say by climbing up into a runout, aiming for a UNFORTUNATELY, FEAR CAN KILL. You probably remember a time good hold or piece-not downclimbing. Take Jorgeson's highball when you've panicked-when you froze on a trad lead or down­ VlO The Duel, Hueco Tanks. At the crux move, 20 feet over a non­ climbed helter-skelter like a spooked horse. Turns out, too much landing, "I let my mind wander to the landing, the fa ll," Jorgeson adrenaline, and/or noi:epinephrine impair survival. Sweaty palms says. Doubt rushed in, and though Jorgeson paused only seconds, it and quaking legs, for example, don't help with precise movement felt like hours. "I forced myself to initiate the next move, knowing on the knobs of Bachar-Yerian (5.11 R). And hyperventilating it would silence those thoughts," Jorgeson says. "It did." excessively (or while at rest) causes you to expel too much CO2, Whether we climbers fight or flee, it's often best to embrace leading to increased blood pH, , and blackouts. this evolved surviva-1 response. (Thrillseekers, aka Type T per­ Norepinephrine also has a dark side. While a little bit increases sonalities-who crave adrenaline rushes 一 represent roughly 15 alertness, too much inhibits problem-solving, impairs long-term percent of the populace, though likely a much hi gher percentage planning, and makes us pessimistic. Fear also causes " tunnel of climbers. More cautious souls find this adrenal stimulation un­ vision," narrowing your focus and shrinking the range of solu­ pleasant.) Why embrace? Well, adrenaline primes our muscles for tions you consider. This traps you in your initial mental model of greater power, numbs us to pain, and causes . This reality-correct or not. Take the Korean War paratrooper who fast, shallow breathing can increase aerobic stamina by expelling fell to his death while wearing a perfectly functional parachute that

60 Climbing.com • May 2009

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面 What are comp climbing's biggest mental Does fe a r he lp o r h urt yo u? 曌 challenges? I wouldn't say I have fear, but I do get 钅 Trying not to think about how the other girls nervous. And I love the feeling of getting ner- 9 a: before you did, staying calm if you fall vous and excited! When I'm sitting in isola-~ and keeping your breath steady, and keeping tion and I can hear the crowd screaming and in mind you're there to have fun! cheering for the girls before me, I get the Time when you we re most g ri pped? biggest smile. It gets my nerves riled up.... My first ABS Championships, in Any tricks for ha ndling fear? 2006. My goal was to finish in the top five, Breathe, breathe, breathe. Also smile and but I was ninth going into finals. I remember think positively. falling and not being able to breathe, I was so How do you de a l with the comp a udience? freaked out! That night, I calmed down and When I climb in front of people, I try harder. COMP CLIMBING: ALEX PUCCIO, 19 told myself it's only a competition, with more And I feed off the crowd's energy. Notable Ascents: A Maze of Death (V12), to come... . I also reminded myself there are Any phobias? Bishop, California; Trice (V12), Boulder, Colo­ better things than competitions, like climbing Highballs, hiking out in the dark, and flying! rado; winner of the 2006, 2007, and 2008 outside, and I should just have fun. So in finals, ABS National Championships that's exactly what I did, and I ended up first

The Balancing Act

LIKE CAYENNE PEPPER in your chili, you don't want too much fear (panic) and was left-ha nded, rather tha n a sta ndard rig ht-handed one. Officials you don't want too little (complacency). Here's how to find the perfect balance: la ter discovered the m a n had clawed through his uniform —and skin-trying to find the ripcord, just a few inches left . 10 Tips for Quelling Panic (to Keep You Calm) Don't ignore yo ur fear- instead, be mindful of what it's telling you, and then A similar " mental shutdown" can happen to climbe rs. In his move through the fear, whether it sends yo u up or down. Some tips: book High Drama, H a mish Maclnnes recounts an incident on the 1. Breathe deeply. If you feel panic rising, stop at a ledge or stance and use soft­ Grand Teton in which a climbe r became so terrified of d ying tha t bell y meditation. Deep breathing triggers the vagus nerve, which passes through the diaphragm and dampens the fight-or-flight response, loweri ng blood pres­ he unroped from his partner a nd tried to descend a steep g lacier sure and heart rate, and all owing yo u to more calmly (and honestl y) eva luate alone. When rescuers reached him, the frig htened climber w restled your predicament. Begin by inhaling slowly through your nose while you think, with them and had to be knocked unconscious to keep him from 'Soft.'Next, exhale via mouth, thinking,'Bell y.'Throughout, let your belly gently rise and fa ll. Do this for three to seven minutes if yo u can. dislo d gi ng the e ntire p a rty. Afterward, the victim remembered 2. Keep a pliable mind, hunting new perspectives ro form a game plan. Nor­ nothing and was grateful to his rescuers-h e'd te mporarily lost epinephrine gives us tunnel vision, so we fixate on cues that support our per­ his mind a nd was simply trying to protect himself. cep ti on of rea li ty while ignoring others. Fight that, and run through all options 3. Avoid thoughts of dying. Imagining yo ur crumpled body will only feed fear, since the mind can respond simi larly to the experienced as to the imagined. FEAR AS THE CANARY IN THE COAL MINE 4 . Repeat a mantra such as "I am calm" or "I am in control" six, 10, however "FEAR IS JUST A REMINDER TO GET IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME." many t 叩 es. Phrase repetition triggers the brain to produce serotonin, the hap­ piness neurotransmitter. -Scott Arne, Illinois mountaineer 5. Separate the stakes (an event's consequences) from the odds (i ts likelihood). With lightning, for example, though the stakes be deadly, the odds are slim. IN THE r Soos, miners would sometimes encounter poisonous gases 6. Become an expert. When things go awry, yo u need to know your systems. Old-school mountain clubs used to insist pupils ti e knots standing in a cold such as carbon monoxide that could asphyxiate them before a n y shower with the lights off, to si mulate ski ll-set reca ll under epic conditions warning of d a nger. For safety, they carried a caged canary: if the 7. Mentally rehearse the climb. Research shows th is increases self-confidence highly sensitive bird dropped d ead , the miners would beat a hast y and lowers fear levels. 8. Stay hydrated, fed, and warm. Thirst, hunger, and hypothermia make us retreat. But the canary served a nother function: the very act of car­ foggy brained, crank y, and fatalistic. rying it reminded the miners that th e ir 」 ob was inhere ntly p erilous. 9. Expose yourself graduall y to yo ur Achilles heel-be it slabs, falling on The canary re minded them to stay vigilant and to be safe. sport climbs, snowfields, choss, etc. 10. Read The Rock Warrior's Way, by Arno llgner (warriorsway.com), a A little hea lthy fear while climbing is our vertical "canary." comprehensive guide to mental training for climbers. Since in climbing, having either too much or too little fear can be 4 Tips for Fueling Fear (to Keep You Vigilant) · dangerous, the key is finding the optimal personal b a l a n ce 一） ust 1. Rein in yo ur ego. ln 2007, one-third of the National Park System's 3,593 enoug h fear to keep you on your toes but not so much you turn a search-and-rescue operations were due, in part, to inexperience and poor fun o utdoo r excursion into a terrorfest . judgment. Ho11estly assess your abilities and remind yourself of times when On J a nuary 8, J o rgeson completed his m ost frightening FA: yo u've messed up -you're not invincible! 2._ Rid yourself of summit feve r. By clinging to the "I must get to the top" Ambrosia, a 45-foot 5.14 solo o n Grandpa Peabody, the Buttermilk, mindset, yo u override yo ur body's warning systems. "People don 't rea lize how California. H e prepped for m o nths, but spent mere minutes o n the often a lpin is ts 一 at least those who've been around a while 一 retreat," says rock when he finally did it. "If I don't fear what could ha ppen, I Kelly Cordes. In contrast, during the disaster in August 2008, eight of the 11 who died summ itted after 5 p.m., we ll past the traditional turnaround tim e. could get too relaxed," he says. "Fear keep s m e safe." Cl"'"' 3. Observe-pretend a blind mouse sits on your sho ulder and every few minutes you need to update him on the weather, terrain, how yo u're feeling, etc. Associate Editor Kristin B」ornsen h o lds a bachelor's in biochemistry This fosters a keen awareness of your surroundings 4 . Communicate openly with partners. Research shows that individuals in and is most scared of lightning. Fred Bryant, a professor of psychology groups often take risks they wouldn't take alone-no one wants to appear at Loyola University Chicago, is most scared of Richard Simmo ns. timid before his peers. Another trap is "groupthink," in which no one thinks critica ll y about the situation because everyo ne craves a consensus. -KB&FB

62 Climbing.com • May 2009