"Fear Disorder"?

Has anyone ever felt like they have a "Fear Disorder"? Sort of like GAD, in the sense that it's pervasive and non-specific, but the general feeling is not anxiety per se but fear--just constantly being afraid. Of course you can say it's a semantic difference but that's not how it feels to me.

P.S. I know (or "think" I know) it comes from my parents, who grew up overseas in the aftermath of World War II.

welcome to pc! i dont believe i've heard that term but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. i was thinking along the lines of anxiety disorder or panic attacks. have you been given a dx on this with a pdoc for treatment?
perhaps more info would help if you feel comfortable enough to share.

I’m not sure what you mean. You are not afraid of anything specifically? Or you are afraid of everything? Or just a sense of fear? Are you jumpy?
I am definitely afraid, all the time. I have specific fears, just a whole lot of them, so I usually just say I am afraid all the time of everything. I am not necessarily experiencing anxiety though. I use the word anxiety to describe more physical reaction and fear to mean a more emotional response, but they can and often happen at the same time. When I am anxious my chest tightens and I feel surges of adrenaline… But, I can be afraid of something without physical sensations of any kind, too. Is this what you are saying?

So your parents taught you to fear?

Sort of, yes--I'm not necessarily anxious, as you put it (at least consciously) but I'm aware of the fact that I live in a constant state of fear (which is perhaps more emotional as you say). I am somewhat jumpy, as well.

I don't have any really *specific* fears--like bridges, flying, spiders, etc., which would make it more of a phobia from what I understand.

What (if any) are your strategies for reducing the *emotion* of fear?

Not in those exact terms, but yes. (Another way of thinking about it is perhaps *extreme* overprotectiveness.)

I think that you have to examine your fears and see if they are realistic or not. If your parents were overprotective (which does send the message that the dangers out there are many!) I would think that today you just have to do an inventory of your life and show yourself that you are pretty safe. That ingrained message will be hard to overthrow but you can do it with some focus...........

Hi Reader,

I feel like I have a generalized fear too. No diagnosis but just a sense of it.

My Dad was in England during WWII and I think he came back with some PTSD and when he came back to Canada he drank, everybody self medicated, it seemed, with alcohol. For some, that was okay, but for my Dad, well lets just say, alcoholism runs in the family and so for him, it was like a poison.

Anyway, all of this to say that I think I was affected by this. I attend an Alanon Adult Children of Alcoholics Group, even though my parents are both passed away. My Mother drank too and died quite young. But, I do think my Dad's greater issue was likely PTSD.

So, I have a constant cloud of fear hanging over me, not just from that. I have other trauma too, but I feel that our home life had a presence of fear that everyone just was used to and so it stayed. Like if there was a measurement for fear in a home setting, I think our would have been quite high. Perhaps, it could also be called a sense of having to walk on egg shells.

If this has nothing to do with you, you can just ignore it.

Ice

Hi Reader,

I am like Ice Statue in some ways. I grew up with fear like the invisible guest at every meal and the ghost who lived with us - I did not question it at the time it was just there. My dad came home from the war without ptsd, but with a strong use of alcohol. But my mom was someone with an extreme sense of fear and need for control and She told me every possible danger to every possible thing i might ever want to do. She read me rape stories out of the paper - to keep me safe she said. Underneath this was an unspoken nightmare of abuse that came from her ex-minister, satanist father and brother who used her in ritual activities and other abuses. when i came along after my brothers we were used in ritual abuses and more ordinary abuses at home. I blocked all rememberance of most abuse - though not all abuse. AND...

I lived with a constant state of hypervigilism and fear that i never questioned openly until i was around 29 and had my own small baby. I seldom feel truly relaxed and free from all fear. I think that is one reason I have had chronic pain problems and addiction to pain pills. Some of my earlier pain meds gave me a sense of being free from the tension and strain of anxiety and it was enough to cause me to become addicted to it later on when a period of fear lead to pain which lead to pain pills and which ended up in addiction and eventual recovery.

sorry if this was an over-kill response. i have struggled with fear my whole life and i wish i could be free from all sense of fear. that would be so cool.

leslie and her pixies

Hello there.

You've hit it right on the head--the root of anxiety is fear. Learning what those fears are and what they are about is just what a therapist can help us with. When we understand the fear more, can name it and be aware of it and how it works in us (affects us) the symptoms can lessen and we can feel so much better.

Thanks I just read this. Interesting both my parents lived through World War Two too, one as an adult and one as a child. Neither of them ever touched alcohol, I think because of fear of what might happen if they allowed themselves to indulge.

But yeah there is fear in the air at my parent's home—everything's a danger (we always had an electric stove why? of course because a gas stove "could explode *at any time*" emphasis on the "at any time"--even though electrical wiring can start fires too).

Sometimes I think that whole generation was fundamentally damaged by the war—that's why their kids (the 60s generation) rebelled in the direction of love, peace, trust, etc. (sometimes too much so).

sounds familiar

sorry about the rape stories

i'm sure it was justified by saying it was "for your own good"?

ironically two of the most valuable responses to post qualified themselves at the end questioning their value! (i used to do the same, sometimes still do)