How Fear Distorts What We Know

it requires that we continuously fill our minds with fear

Next is the ruminative quality of fear. Fear makes us review, ceaselessly and tortuously, all its frightening possibilities. This is connected to the hypnosis and the lie of fear. Not only do we have to stare at and be aware of all the possible threats at once, we must keep reviewing them for extra insurance that we haven’t missed anything. And we do this to try to satisfy the demand of fear—by reviewing the situation over and over we hope to find a way to get it under control, that it may never threaten us again. The attempt, of course, is futile. What’s more, it requires that we continuously fill our minds with fear. Each time we fail to achieve a guarantee of control, we become more anxious.

How Fear Distorts What We Know | Psychology Today