DBT Describing Emotions - FEAR

“Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.” ― Jim Morrison

Fear Words

Fear     Horror     Shock     Anxiety     Hysteria     Tenseness     Apprehension     Jumpiness     Terror      Dread     Nervousness     Uneasiness     Edginess      Overwhelmed     Worry     Fright     Panic

Prompting Events for Feeling Fear

• Having your life, your health or your well being threatened
• Eating in a similar or the same situation where you have been threatened or gotten hurt in the past or where painful things have happened
• Flashbacks
• Silence
• Being in situations where you have seen others threatened or hurt
• Being in a new or unfamiliar situation
• Being alone (e.g. walking alone, being home alone, living alone)
• Being in the dark
• Being in crowds
• Leaving your home
• Having to perform in front of others (e.g. school, work)
• Pursuing your dreams

Interpretations of Events That Prompt Feelings of Fear

• Believing that you might die, or that you are going to die
• Believing that you might be hurt or harmed or that you might lose something valuable
• Believing that someone might reject you, criticize, dislike or disapprove of you
• Believing you will embarrass yourself
• Believing that failure is possible, expecting to fail
• Believing that you will not get help you want or believe you need
• Believing  that you might lose help and assistance you already have
• Believing that you might lose someone or something you want
• Losing a sense of control, believing that you are helpless
• Losing a sense of mastery or competence

Biological Changes and Experiences of Fear

• Breathlessness
• Feeling nervous, jittery or jumpy
• Clenching teeth
• Wanting to run away or avoid things
• Feeling nauseous
• Wanting to scream or call out
• Getting cold
• Feeling your hairs standing on end
• Feeling of heaviness or fluttering (butterflies) in stomach
• Choking sensation, lump in throat
• Getting clammy
• Fast heartbeat
• Muscles testing, cramping

Expressions and Actions of Fear

• Fleeing, running away
• Talking yourself out of doing what you fear
• Running or walking hurriedly
• Freezing or trying not to move
• Hiding from or avoiding what you fear
• Engaging in nervous fearful talk
• Shaking, quivering or trembling
• Leaving or crying for help
• Shaky or trembling voice
• Talking less or becoming speechless
• Sweating or perspiring
• Screaming or yelling
• Breathing fast
• Darting eyes or quickly looking around
• Crying or whimpering
• Diarrhea, vomiting
• Frozen stare
• Hair erect

Aftereffects of Fear

• Narrowing of attention
• Being hyper-vigilant to threat
• Losing your ability to focus or becoming disoriented
• Being dazed
• Losing control
• Imagining the possibility of more loss or failure
• Isolation
• Remembering and ruminating about other threatening times, other times when things did not go well
• Depersonalization, dissociative experiences
• Numbness or shock

Typical Secondary Emotions of Fear

• Intense anger, shame or other negative emotions