For those of you who are Star Trek fans like me you might well remember an episode entitled “The Thaw” where the starship Voyager receives a distress call from an unknown settlement and responds. When Voyager arrives, the crew sees remnants of an environmental catastrophe on the planet’s surface and begins to investigate. They soon determine that the only life forms left on the planet appear to be located deep below the surface. The crew beams down to investigate further and discovers five hibernation pods with humanoid life forms inside. The occupants of these pods appear to be in a state of deep stasis. The Voyager crew beams these hibernation pods onto their ship for further study and soon discovers that two of the five humanoids inside are already dead. The ship’s doctor determines the cause of death to be heart failure that resulted from extreme fear which apparently was brought on by mental stress.
The hibernation pods themselves are controlled by a central computer. Concerned that simply shutting down the device will kill the remaining survivors a decision is made for two of Voyager’s crew (Kim and Torres) to use the pods to enter into stasis as well, in the hopes of learning how to revive the three remaining survivors. Upon entering into stasis, Kim and Torres see a carnival run by what appears to be a clown. They soon learn that this clown is the personification of the survivors’ fear which has grown steadily over time and now is so strong that it is in control and refuses to release the occupants from their dreamlike mental state. In the end, Voyager’s Captain (Catherine Janeway) tricks “fear” into releasing the survivors and her crew members by promising to trade her own life for theirs. However, once the survivors and her crew members are set free “fear” realizes that in fact he does not have the Captain but instead only a holographic image of her. With no one left to torment, “fear” (personified as the clown) is conquered and disappears forever.
In our day to day lives, extinguishing our fears may not be as easy as simply tricking them into going away. Our fears are real and we need real solutions when attempting to conquer them. Classical conditioning is one such method that addresses both our involuntary (or instinctive responses) and learned responses to various stimuli. Simply put, it is a method to help desensitize us to our fear and ultimately extinguish it. For example, suppose a child has an intense fear of dogs. Using the classical conditioning approach, the child would be placed in a neutral setting where he/she feels comfortable. The child would be allowed to play with their friends, toys, and so forth while new elements are periodically introduced in his/her environment. Perhaps the child would first be exposed to the sound of a dog barking and would continue to periodically hear this sound until he/she was not afraid of it. Next, a dog might be placed within sight of the child but kept at a far distance until again the child’s fear was neutralized. The dog would be brought closer and closer to the child until eventually the child’s fear of dogs was extinguished and the dog would no longer be perceived as a threat by the child.
Whether it’s a child or an adult, fear is something that can be dealt with and overcome. As Captain Janeway put it, “Fear exists for one purpose: to be conquered.” (Gadas, 1996) So if you find yourself afraid today, don’t allow your fears to control you and cripple your potential. Get help and focus on finding the solution to your fears not the fear itself.
Reference
Gadas, R. (Writer), & Rush, M.V. (Director). (1996). The thaw [Television series episode]. In R. Berman (Producer), Star Trek: Voyager. New York: New York CBS Television Station.
Reference:
- Social Phobia www.diva-portal.org/diva/getDocument?urn_nbn_se_uu_diva-1362-1__fulltext.pdf#search=% Phobias and the Brain serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web3/mwhite.html
