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Fear Is a Natural Human Emotion. but What Happens When It Takes Over Your Life? by Matthew Hutson

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Fear Is a Natural Human Emotion. but What Happens When It Takes Over Your Life? by Matthew Hutson Nonfiction PAIRED TEXTS stories that share a topic or theme Fear is a natural human emotion. But what happens when it takes over your life? By Matthew Hutson As You Read Think about how fears can be overcome. or years, Kyle Hargreaves, 13, had a secret fear. Kyle tried to control his fear, but he couldn’t. As It wasn’t a fear of snakes or spiders. It wasn’t time went by, the problem only seemed to get worse. a fear of heights or water. Kyle was afraid of Then one day, at a hockey game near his hometown of costumed characters, like the ones you see Reading, Pennsylvania, the sight of mascots caused Kyle Fhugging little kids at theme parks and the mascots you such distress that his dad thought Kyle was having a see goofing around at sporting events. stroke. Such characters caused Kyle to experience true terror. His heart would pound. Sweat would pour down What Is a Phobia? his face. He would have trouble breathing. Kyle was suffering from a phobia: an extreme, What’s wrong with me? Kyle wondered. irrational, and lasting fear of something. Illustration by Peter Strain; exopixel/Shutterstock.com (teen) exopixel/Shutterstock.com Strain; Peter by Illustration SCOPE.SCHOLASTIC.COM • MAY 2020 17 Specifically, he was suffering from to react swiftly. We become instantly alert, perhaps masklophobia: fear of breaking into a sweat or jerking away. Then the cortex, people in masks and which processes our thoughts, helps us decide what to costumes. do next. When people with Let’s say, for example, you’re hiking through phobias encounter—or the woods and you see something that looks like a in some cases, just think poisonous snake. Your amygdala tells your body to about—the thing they fear, they jump back. Then the cortex comes along and helps you react severely. They may decide either Yes, that is a snake, and I am going to move panic, vomit, or feel like away from it now, or No, that is just a branch, so I can they are going to relax and resume my hike. pass out. This complex biological reaction is all part of Millions of something known as “fight-or-flight,” which prepares Americans suffer our bodies to respond quickly to danger. When our from phobias. Scientists fight-or-flight response is activated—whether by a aren’t sure what exactly real threat or not—our hearts race, increasing blood causes them, but they do know they are related to fear. flow to our muscles so we can run fast or fight hard. Meanwhile, our brains pump hormones into our bodies Survival Tool that make us alert and focused so we can cope with the We all experience fear from time to time. It’s the situation at hand. feeling when our hearts pound at the top of a roller coaster or when we jump out of our seats during a scary Phobia vs. Fear movie. Fear is also what keeps us from wandering into But having a phobia is different from simply being traffic or getting too close to a campfire. That’s because afraid of something. With a phobia, the fight-or- fear is a survival tool—its point is to help us stay alive. flight response is triggered by something that isn’t as So how does it work? Biologically, fear is the result threatening as the person feels it is. And the feelings of a reaction that takes place mainly in two parts of of terror don’t go away. People with phobias often our brains: the amygdala [uh-MIG-duh-luh] and the understand that their fears are irrational, yet they feel prefrontal cortex. helpless to stop them. When we detect something that could be a threat, Given the intensity of the terror, it’s understandable the amygdala, which processes emotion, causes us that people with phobias sometimes go to extreme Common Phobias 19 million Americans suffer from phobias. These are some common ones. ) all images all Arachnophobia Pteromerhanophobia Ophidiophobia Trypanophobia fear of spiders fear of flying fear of snakes fear of needles Shutterstock.com ( 18 SCHOLASTIC SCOPE • MAY 2020 Nonfiction HOW TO FACE YOUR lengths to avoid the thing they fear. Someone with claustrophobia—fear of small, enclosed spaces— might walk up 30 flights of stairs rather than step into an elevator, for example. For Kyle, his phobia led FEARS him to avoid sports games, amusement parks, theme We all experience fear from time to time. restaurants, and any other place where he might Here are 5 tips from the experts on how encounter a costumed character. to conquer what scares you. But avoidance makes phobias worse, says Amit Etkin, Get some rest. Sleep is always important, a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University. If you 1 but it’s even more important when you’re don’t interact with the thing that scares you, your brain stressed, says Stephanie Woodrow, a mental will never accept that it’s not harmful, and the fear can health counselor who specializes in anxiety become even more exaggerated. That’s why people with disorders. Get at least eight hours of sleep, especially the night before an event you’re anxious about, like a phobias are encouraged to work with a mental health big test or a swim meet. professional, such as a psychologist or a counselor, to face their fears in a safe and healthy way. Don’t avoid what you’re afraid of. Getting out of your 2comfort zone can help you grow. But if you’re dealing with a Getting Help phobia, experts recommend working with a professional. And that is exactly what Kyle decided to do. Not Limit caffeine. If you’re feeling anxious, long after the hockey game, his dad took him to the 3 caffeine can make the problem worse by Child Study Center at Virginia Tech. There, Kyle was making you jittery, says Woodrow. So if you’re scared of public speaking, for example, skip treated with a technique called Exposure Response that energy drink or soda before your big class and Prevention, in which patients with phobias are presentation. gradually exposed to what frightens them. For example, a patient with arachnophobia slowly moves closer to Talk to someone. Feeling like a fear or phobia is taking over your life is a sign that it’s time to seek help. Talk to a trusted a spider. Over time, when nothing bad happens, the 4 adult, such as a parent, guardian, teacher, school counselor, or feeling of fear around spiders lessens. coach, and let them know you are struggling so they can get you Kyle’s treatment began when he was greeted by a the support you need. man carrying a bunny costume. Kyle started to panic Exercise. Exercise, says Woodrow, releases but didn’t run away. He knew he needed to face his 5feel-good hormones in the body called fear. Once Kyle felt calm, the man put on the body endorphins, and endorphins can reduce of the costume but not the head. Kyle again became anxiety. Go for a walk, take a dance break, or anxious, but eventually he relaxed. Then the two played kick a ball around. basketball. After a while, the man put on the head and other costumed characters joined the game. Kyle was anxious every step of the way. By the end of to interact with costumed characters several times a the day, though, his fear had dissipated. week for a month. That evening, he and his dad went to an annual To celebrate Kyle’s new, fear-free relationship with ) event at Virginia Tech called “Gobblerfest,” where they costumed characters, his family decided to take all images all interacted with many mascots. Kyle felt no trepidation a trip. at all. At one point, he even high-fived one of the Where did they go? Shutterstock.com ( images) Shutterstock.com (all mascots. To prevent his phobia from returning, Kyle had Disney World. • TURN THE PAGE SCOPE.SCHOLASTIC.COM • MAY 2020 19 Folktale CONQUERING FEAR On a quest for bravery, young Miobe must face a terrifying beast. nce upon a time in a village in Ethiopia, there he saw its golden orb, he smiled with relief, for he had lived a boy who was so shy and fearful of the survived the first night. “I am becoming brave,” he said world around him that his family and friends and as he walked on. O neighbors called him Miobe: “frightened one.” Soon he came to a village. I don’t know these people at “Why do you call me that?” the boy asked. all, he thought. They might be unkind to a stranger. But They laughed. “Because you are afraid.” he straightened up and walked into the village, saying Miobe pondered these words. He decided he must aloud, “I will conquer you, fear.” find a way to overcome his fear. So, he packed a sack He found the village elders muttering among and set off into the world to find what he feared—and to themselves. As Miobe came near, they looked up and conquer it. sneered. “Who are you?” “I’m traveling the world to become brave.” The elders laughed. “Fool! No one can find bravery That night, he slept under the wide umbrella of the where it does not exist.” sky and stared up at the darkness. Before drifting off “What do you mean?” Miobe asked. to sleep, he whispered to himself, “I see you, but I will The elders sighed unhappily. “We are doomed,” conquer you, fear.” said one man.
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