[lit-ideas] Re: Tune in and turn off
- From: Carol Kirschenbaum <carolkir@xxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2006 15:50:59 -0700
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
Other related posts: