麻豆传媒

Fear is good 鈥� it plays an important role in our survival. But too much fear is a problem. Freud used psychoanalysis to unearth deep-seated fears so that patients could address them head-on. These days, the treatment for a phobia 鈥� such as an irrational fear of spiders or dogs 鈥� is more likely to involve gradually increasing an individual鈥檚 exposure to the feared object, while they learn techniques to reduce their anxiety.

But in the future, psychologists may directly tap into the unconscious mind to treat phobias without traumatising people. That at least is the hope of a team of researchers in Japan and the US. They identified a distinctive pattern of brain activity associated with a fear they had induced in volunteers, and found that it could be reduced simply by rewarding them when their brains displayed it 鈥� and all the while the subjects were not conscious of this brain activity.

What about modulating our own irrational fears and anxieties? Whether it is triggered by a tiger or a spider, fear, like any emotion, is underpinned by physical signals in the body. These include a stronger and more rapid heartbeat as well as changes in patterns of blood flow. Such bodily signals are critical to the experience of fear, even though they are usually registered unconsciously.

Lowering their intensity will reduce the intensity of the emotion. When you are stressed, you can do this by slowing your breathing rate. This sends a powerful signal that you are not feeling anxious to part of your brain involved in processing emotion, which then helps regulate your heart rate. For the best results, breathe in for a count of four and out for eight, and within 5 minutes you should notice a significant reduction in anxiety. , although there鈥檚 no one type that works for everyone. 鈥淕enerally, slower music, of moderate volume, can help to slow down respiration and help us to relax,鈥� says Maria Sanchez-Vives at the Cortical Networks and Virtual Environments in Neuroscience Research Lab in Barcelona, Spain.

Other techniques can help you control the kind of fear and anxiety that comes before an interview or speaking in public. Although it is a contentious topic, there is evidence that 鈥減ower poses鈥� 鈥� such as standing with your hands on your hips and your feet spaced well apart 鈥� . But faking it until you make it doesn鈥檛 always work. A classic study found that people who fake-smiled by holding a pen between their teeth or lips became happier and more relaxed. Unfortunately, however, .

Finally, remember that your unconscious mind can trick you into feeling afraid when you have nothing to fear. In a phenomenon called emotion contagion, we unconsciously 鈥渃atch鈥� emotions via other people鈥檚 non-verbal signals, such as their tone of voice, posture and even body odour. Empathy specialist Christian Keysers at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, thinks that when we detect the signals of an emotion like fear in others, our bodies reproduce the relevant physical signals, which our brains interpret as our own. Some people tend to do this more than others. And it is hard to consciously safeguard against, except by avoiding people who are fearful 鈥� whether that鈥檚 face-to-face, on social media or even reading about them. The flip side of this, however, is that you can cultivate positive emotions simply by spending more time in the company of happy people.

This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淐ultivate your unconscious鈥�