What fear is, how it works, and how to manage it (with Eva Holland)

“Fear of fear is part of what we have to untangle. Sometimes the real fear never arrives, but you’ve already worked yourself into a state of crisis.”  –Eva Holland

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf talks to Eva talk about how she came to write a book about fear, how fear has affected her own life, and how fear was a part of researching and writing her book (2:00); how fear is defined in the scientific, physiological, and emotional sense (9:00); what Eva learned about existential fears in the context of losing her mother (15:00); how Eva came to be aware of with her fear of heights, and how she came to deal with it (20:00); what science has to say about intuition, what it’s like to “smell fear,” and what military research has revealed about how we manage fear (27:00); how the experience of trauma is related to certain kind of fear, and what therapies have been developed to help cure PTSD (33:00); the notion of “fearlessness,” and what it’s like for people who don’t seem to experience fear in the way others do (40:00); a beta blocker therapy that is being developed in Amsterdam to treat fear memories (46:30); and how the fear of fear complicates fear itself (53:00).

Eva Holland (@evaholland) is a correspondent for Outside magazine, and the author of Nerve: Adventures in the Science of Fear. Her work has been nominated for a Canadian National Magazine Award, anthologized in The Best Women’s Travel Writing and The Best Canadian Sports Writing, and listed among the notable selections in multiple editions of The Best American Essays, The Best American Sports Writing, and The Best American Travel Writing. She lives in the Yukon Territory.

Notable Links:

• Yukon (Canadian territory)
• Stephen King’s It (novel)
• Phobia (anxiety disorder)
• Prolonged exposure therapy (form of behavior therapy)
• Amygdala (clusters of nuclei in the brain)
• Intuition (ability to acquire knowledge without conscious reason)
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (mental disorder)
• EMDR therapy (form of psychotherapy)
• Oklahoma City bombing (domestic terrorist attack)
• Alex Honnold (American rock climber)
• Patient S.M. (woman whose brain prevents her from feeling fear)
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004 movie)
• Beta blocker (medication used manage heart rhythms)
• Propranolol (type of beta blocker)
• How narrative therapy makes life feel more coherent (Deviate episode)

This episode is brought to you by AirTreks, an industry leader in multi-stop international travel. The AirTreks website offers suggested pre-planned travel itineraries to help you get started, but can customize to fit your journey.

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.