[lit-ideas] Re: Tune in and turn off

Donal wrote: 
Can't it be argued that fear is just a form of anxiety, and equally that
depression or "grief" are just forms of sadness?

ck: It can be argued ad infinitum, especially if the combattants deploy 
distinctly different definitions of the term "sadness." And all other feeling 
words and feeling states. And if the term "feeling state" isn't distinguished 
from "mood" in duration or intensity (for two), it can be argued some more. 
Furthermore, it can be argued  that the DSM (Diagnostic Statistical Manual) is 
simply a group effort at  fashioning a useful emotional dictionary that might 
be somewhat valid, with tons of qualifiers, for a decade, at most. 

I'm frustrated discussing Julie's questions about "fear" or "anxiety," for 
instance, without having some definitional framework: Are we talking about 
"fear" as the fight-or-flight response to stimuli that can be visually mapped, 
while occurring, in the amydala?  Are we talking about "fear" as anticipatory 
dread, generally recognized as anxiety? Or is this "fear" we're discussing 
right now a chronic phobia that is a conditioned response to something that no 
longer exists as a perceived threat to that individual's well-being in the 
outside world, if it ever did? 

I'm not trying to be obtuse. That part comes naturally. But seriously folks, my 
inner Socrates feels stymied. A total phobic response trumps all other types of 
fear, in intensity and range of sensations. How can Julie deem fear a 
fundamental emotion when phobic fear responses, a subtype, typically encompass 
such extraordinary and distracting sensations as tingly or numb hands and feet, 
the "feeling" of being choked, the "sensation" of not being able to breathe, 
the "sense" (good one, this) of imminent doom--all part of your standard panic 
attack. 

But does the term "fear" also encompass more subtle sensations that get dwarfed 
during a panic attack? Or are less dramatic expressions of fear--chronic, 
low-level generalized anxiety, to DSM for a sec--other than "fear"? Stretching 
the word "fear" to fit many distinct emotional states drains the term of 
agreed-upon meaning.  

And is "frustration" also a form of fear? Or is frustration a matrix of 
emotions that get dragged out as a habitual response to writing about emotion 
versus feeling versus sensory perception? 

Cream soda, anyone?
Carol

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