fear

[fēr]

the unpleasant emotional state consisting of psychological and psychophysiological responses to a real external threat or danger. See also anxiety. Fear is a nursing diagnosis accepted by the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association, who defined it as a response to a perceived threat that is consciously recognized as a danger. Causative factors may include separation from one's support system in a potentially threatening situation such as hospitalization, diagnostic test, or treatment; knowledge deficit or unfamiliarity; language barrier; sensory impairment; and phobic stimulus or phobia.

Persons experiencing fear may verbalize increased tension, apprehension, diminished self-assurance, panic, or a jittery feeling. Objective signs include increased alertness; concentration on the source of fear; attack and fight-or-flight behaviors; and evidence of sympathetic nerve stimulation such as cardiovascular excitation, superficial vasoconstriction, and dilation of the pupils. Interventions are aimed at helping the individual to identify effective and ineffective coping behaviors, promote effective coping strategies, and maintain psychological equilibrium.

fear

(fēr),

Apprehension; dread; alarm; by having an identifiable stimulus, fear is differentiated from anxiety which has no easily identifiable stimulus.

[A.S. faer]

Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

fear

(fēr)

Apprehension; dread; alarm; by having an identifiable stimulus, fear is differentiated from anxiety, which has no easily identifiable stimulus.

[A.S. faer]

Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012

fear

The response to a real or imagined perception of danger. An abnormal degree of fear, or a fear inappropriate to its cause is called a phobia. Fear is accompanied by physical symptoms such as rapid heart action, muscle tension especially in the abdomen, dryness of the throat and sweating. These symptoms are mainly caused by ADRENALINE. It is believed that separate nuclei in the amygdala mediate different aspects of fear-conditioned behaviour.

Collins Dictionary of Medicine © Robert M. Youngson 2004, 2005

fear

(fēr)

Apprehension; dread; alarm; by having an identifiable stimulus.

[A.S. faer]

Medical Dictionary for the Dental Professions © Farlex 2012

Patient discussion about fear

Q. am sexy yet fear ladies

A. you are not very descriptive but from what i understand you have a very common problem and the best solution is going to therapy. a psychologist will diagnose you, see where the fear is coming from and help you getting over it. good luck!

Q. I fear whether this could affect my fetus too? hi everyone …..My growing confusion for the pregnancy is being messed up with the infection of Lyme, I feel my hands not in order with pain in joints and it was there before pregnancy but I did not pay attention and I am now in the first trimester and this Lyme infection is adding fuel to the fire. I fear whether this could affect my fetus too. I discussed with the doctor but didn’t get valuable input and I have been asked to wait for some more time. She didn’t refer me to the specialist also. This is causing me great concern/…………..I feel depressed………..

A. Hey…be cool….nothing like that…..It seems your ignorance has taken the form of depression, but just to make it clear, I too was infected with Lyme in my 2 nd pregnancy and my son is now learning guitar from his dad. I too had same doubt 6 years before and it all ruined down and I am pregnant again. I just followed my Gynecologist advice and didn’t doubt her. I am not a qualified professional to talk about the problem in detail but a women having had that trouble but had healthy pregnancy without any problem.

Q. i have fear from hightes ... is there any way how to treat it and make it go a way or at least help me a bit

A. Yes. It's possible to treat it, usually through sessions with a psychologist in the form of behavioral therapy or psychotherapist. It should be done by a professional, of course.

You may read more here:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/phobias.html

More discussions about fear

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References in classic literature

Then it happened as Tha promised, for the Hairless One fell down before him and lay along the ground, and the First of the Tigers struck him and broke his back, for he thought that there was but one such Thing in the Jungle, and that he had killed Fear. Then, nosing above the kill, he heard Tha coming down from the woods of the North, and presently the voice of the First of the Elephants, which is the voice that we hear now "

I have killed Fear.' And Tha said: 'O blind and foolish!

There is no Fear. Now I will judge the Jungle Peoples once more.'

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Growth was now routed by fear, and he ki-yi'd like any frightened puppy.

This was a different proposition from crouching in frozen fear while the unknown lurked just alongside.

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Dingaan and Umhlangana, brothers of the king, were there, for Chaka would not suffer them to depart, fearing lest they should plot against him, and he looked on them always with an angry eye, so that they trembled for their lives, though they dared not show their fear lest fate should follow fear.

Masilo heard, and said that it should be so, though the way was far, and he feared greatly to appear before him who was called the Slaughterer, and who sat twenty days' journey to the north, beneath the shadow of the Witch Mountain.

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Unless I am much mistaken he will laugh at you for your fears, and take immediate steps to put that precious brother of yours in prison where he belongs."

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He tried to teach it, and found a ray of hope in the fact that Go-bu-balu had mastered a few words of the language of the anthropoids, and that he could now cling to a high-tossed branch without screaming in fear; but there was something about the child which worried Tarzan.

Few, if any, had the temerity to visit old Bukawai, firstly because of fear of his black magic and the two hyenas who dwelt with him and were commonly known to be devils masquerading, and secondly because of the loathsome disease which had caused Bukawai to be an outcast--a disease which was slowly eating away his face.

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During all this time he saw no signs of natives, nor of his own pack, the members of which he feared had lost his trail during the terrific storm.

It was with considerable difficulty that the ape-man quieted the fellow's fears sufficiently to obtain a coherent statement from him as to the cause of his uncalled-for terror.

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