BASIC BOOKS, October 2017Wouldn’t a life without fear be lovely?
It might seem that way. Intense fear not only feels exceedingly unpleasant, it can, in its extreme forms, disrupt life. The one in five American adults who are affected by anxiety disorders such as phobias and posttraumatic stress disorder might feel that ridding themselves of fear entirely would be a blessing.
But there is something much worse than too much fear—too little of it. For fear is an emotion with deep and vital benefits, not only for the people experiencing it, but for those around them.
Fear’s most obvious advantage is that it motivates escape in the face of danger—or the avoidance of danger in the first place. Without fear, basic urges for self-preservation evaporate.
Neuroscientists have learned this from studying people in whom injury ...
