Afraid: Understanding the Purpose of Fear and Harnessing the Power of Anxiety

Provides a broad and entertaining overview of fear from evolution, to modern day challenges, and how clinicians treat trauma, anxiety, and PTSD today.
About a third of the world population suffers from an anxiety disorder, and half of Americans have had at least one traumatic experience like rape, assault, shooting, or natural disasters. The news is full of stories about our dying planet, civil unrest, political fighting, and other anxiety-inducing subjects. On social media, digital tribes have lined up against each other and people worry they may get ?canceled? for any number of perceived offenses. Fear and anxiety are with us everywhere we go.
Fear is one of the most deeply rooted biological mechanisms that has evolved over hundreds of millions of years in the brains and bodies of animals and humans with one key mission: to increase our chance of survival. Fear is deeply woven into our biology, culture, politics, and day to day life. We sometimes don?t even know what we are afraid of. What we know for sur