Scared to Life: Harnessing the Power of Fear

What would be your reaction to the sudden death of a friend or family member in a motor vehicle crash? What if you found that if they had been wearing a seatbelt or helmet that they would have likely survived? What goes through your mind when someone close to you has a heart attack or develops a cancer that is clearly related to the use of tobacco? How about those who engage in risky sexual behavior only to become pregnant or develop a sexually transmitted disease?

And what if you yourself don't wear a seatbelt or helmet when riding on a motorcycle, or if you smoke cigarettes, or you don't use condoms or other forms of protection? Do hearing about unexpected violent events cause you to take to heart the risks that you are exposing yourself to - or do you just think of the other person as unlucky?

What do you do with the momentary fear that these kinds of events can provoke?

I began thinking about these issues as they relate to health after hearing a radio program featuring David Roepik from the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. He was on the discussing his book, Risk! A Practical Guide for Deciding What's Really Safe and What's Really Dangerous in the World Around You. During his interview, he pointed out the irrational nature of the thinking of those who are afraid to fly in the aftermath of 9/11, despite the fact that flying in a commercial airliner is safer than driving a car to work. At the same time, as a culture, we are inappropriately unafraid of the likelihood of a cardiac arrest, which remains our most common cause of death.

I've come across two interesting sources that may allow us to tap into the power of fear and use it to change some of our own life behaviors.

The first relates to one's motivational state. Have you been wanting to quit smoking, or begin to exercise regularly, or to make some modifications in your eating habits? If the answer is yes, a fear-provoking event can trigger these kinds of changes - as long as you have a plan to sustain your efforts (e.g., the intention to use a nicotine patch, take smoking cessation classes, begin an exercise class, or see a dietician). As an example, at the age of 55 my father-in-law knew that he ought to quit smoking but was unable to do so. It was the death of a friend (who had been a heavy smoker) from esophageal cancer that resulted in his immediate cessation of tobacco use.

Another source I found described the role of "action framing" to strengthen the persuasive impact of fear. With the example of breast cancer prevention, the authors found that women were more likely to do breast self examination based on a fear that they might die due to a failure to detect cancer at a treatable stage as opposed to detecting it at a stage earlier enough to recover from it.

As it relates to heart disease, consider the possibility that the greasy hamburger and French fries that you just consumed might in fact be your last - if you as well are obese, have high blood pressure and diabetes or a positive family history.

The ability to experience fear and react appropriately to the source of that fear is a key survival capability that most rational human beings employ as a means of living safely. The "fight or flight" response is a classic representation of how we can react to a heightened sense of fear or threat. Instead of allowing fear to overwhelm us, perhaps we can use the fear-provoking events in our lives for good and to bring about positive changes in our own behaviors.

As my favorite medical joke goes, "How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb?" The answer is, "One - but the light bulb has to want to change." Do you?

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