In the 1900’s, neurologist Sigmund Freud developed what is known as psychoanalysis, emphasizing the relationship between unconscious conflict and past traumatic events. Freud believed that a person’s experiences as a child greatly influence the type of personality traits and psychological problems they will face later in life. Fear is among the most frequent types of emotions originating from experiences one faces in the past, often expressed as certain phobias later in life. To this day, I suffer from Arachnophobia, more commonly known as the fear of heights. In order to fully understand the reasoning behind this ongoing fear, I will give an explanation of the sympathetic nervous system and the role it plays.
In the presence of fear, our bodies tend to respond with what is commonly known as “fight-or-flight” response. This response to stress associated with specific psychological actions within the brain’s sympathetic nervous system, which is driven through a series of interconnected neurons. It is located within the spinal cord, allowing the rest of the body to function according to the situation at hand, whether it be a fight or flight reaction. The sympathetic nervous system is what stimulates neurons to react in response to fear.
This reaction through the release of the body’s sympathetic neurons relates to Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis as it emphasizes unconscious conflict and past events. When I was younger, my mom and I went on a trip to Yosemite, during which we hiked up Half Dome. Once we reached the top, a young girl walked toward an area with bushes surrounding one side. Little did she know there was a slit down the side of the cliff that could only be seen from the opposite side of the bushes. The girl was no more than 2 feet away from falling through the rock before my mom saw from the other side and ran as fast as she could to hold the girl back; she was successful. In this situation, my mom’s sympathetic nervous system entered the “flight” mode, releasing a rush of neurons and adrenaline in order to save the girl’s life. After witnessing this near-death experience first-hand, I have never been able to face open heights, as that early childhood experience influenced my psychological development of a phobia.