Dean Burnett

Social learning and cues are incredibly powerful, and the brain’s ‘better safe than sorry’ approach when it comes to dangers means if we see someone being afraid of something, there’s a good chance we’ll be afraid of it too. This is especially true during childhood, where our understanding of the world is still developing, largely via the input of others who we assume know more than we do

The fight-or-flight response is biologically demanding and draining and often unpleasant to experience, so the brain remembers this as ‘The last time I met that thing, the body went haywire, so I was right; it is dangerous!’ and thus the phobia is reinforced, not diminished, regardless of how little actual harm the individual came to.

Depression manifests in many different ways. It’s a mood disorder, so mood is affected, but how it’s affected varies. Some end up with unshakeable despair; others experience intense anxiety, resulting in feelings of impending doom and alarm. Other people have no mood to speak of, just feel empty and emotionless regardless of what’s happening. Some (mostly men) become constantly angry and restless.