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The fear of fear often becomes more limiting than the original trigger.

Every time we avoid a feared experience, we strengthen the fear cycle over time.

Freedom comes from building trust in your ability to handle discomfort.

For many people, it’s not only the original fear that causes suffering. It’s the fear of experiencing fear itself. Because of the discomfort somatically and emotionally, it can lead to avoidance, distraction, self-blame, shame, and admonishment.

This phenomenon, often called fear of the fear, occurs when we become hypervigilant about our own emotional and physiological responses. Instead of simply feeling anxious in a stressful situation, we begin fearing the sensations of anxiety. Over time, the fear of these sensations can become more debilitating than the initial trigger.

This perpetual cycle can dominate a person’s life. Individuals begin avoiding places, conversations, opportunities, social interactions, conflict, intimacy, uncertainty, or even joyful experiences, not necessarily because those situations are dangerous, but because they fear how anxious they might feel in them.

We put time, energy, and effort into short-term ineffective strategies such as avoiding, denying, and distracting only to further strengthen those neural pathways and automatic responses.

The brain is designed to protect us. The amygdala—the brain’s alarm system—is constantly scanning for potential threats. Under stress, humans may fight, flee, freeze, appease (fawn), or shut down or collapse (flop) when threat feels overwhelming (Kozlowska et al., 2015). These responses are adaptive during genuine danger. However, the brain can also misinterpret discomfort as danger.

For example, imagine someone experiences a panic attack while driving on a highway. Although the panic subsides, the brain begins associating highways with danger. Soon, the person is no longer only afraid of driving, they fear panicking while driving. The fear becomes layered.

Their thoughts shift from “I’m nervous driving” to "What if I panic? What if I lose control? What if I can’t escape?”

The Anxiety About the Anxiety Cycle

The cycle often looks like this:

A triggering situation occurs.

The body experiences anxiety sensations.

The person interprets those sensations as dangerous.

Fear intensifies the symptoms.

The brain learns:........

© Psychology Today