Beyond Fear

Beyond Fear
Dorothy Rowe

Dorothy Rowe shows us how to have the courage to acknowledge and face our fears – only through courage can we find a sustaining happiness.‘Beyond Fear’, first published in 1987, has changed the lives of thousands of people. In this edition, the renowned psychologist Dorothy Rowe examines the changes in the psychiatric system since 1987 in the context of showing how most of our suffering comes from our greatest fear, that of being annihilated as a person, when we shall disappear like a puff of smoke in the wind, never to have existed.We feel this fear whenever others humiliate or belittle us, or whenever we discover a serious discrepancy between what we thought our life was and what it actually is. The greater our fear, the more desperate our defence against it, the most desperate of defences being what psychiatrists call mental disorders. Yet, by knowing ourselves we can go beyond our fear and face life with courage.

DOROTHY ROWE

Beyond Fear

20th Anniversary Edition

HARPER PERENNIAL London, New York, Toronto and Sydney

To my dear friendsHelen, Galen, Marc and Naomi

Contents

Cover (#u81caa2de-fd33-50a6-bbea-b820bd46adef)

Title Page (#u93fbaad4-7448-5f96-9b32-b94e6739d9b8)

Dedication (#ucc81ff83-b5d1-56b7-850e-73181883fb8a)

Introduction (#udc2cfaf7-bc38-5f09-b574-809d7252804d)

Fear and the Fear of Fear (#u43754c46-7ede-5199-8fbd-dd2ccbad5832)

1 The Nature of Fear (#u61b7da52-9ec3-5ca4-81ea-777558d110e9)

• Fight or Flight (#ulink_f34c0943-5080-53c9-9296-6d5c068fe4b8)

• Unavoidable Conflicts (#ulink_80d324fc-35a3-5a69-8789-66b53de41adb)

• Fear of Life and Death (#ulink_7d922cd9-3516-5308-b59b-8c8d8bfcefe5)

• Fear of Not Being Good Enough (#ulink_29587adc-f24a-5e78-9d51-1b9f7616a348)

2 Understanding the Nature of Fear (#u8ca21155-e266-5ead-94f2-f7d32206b4fd)

• Brains and Minds

• Our Greatest Fear (#ulink_060bdc18-3ffb-594f-91a9-3bdee1bf833a)

• A Choice of Defences (#ulink_ef654c6c-7730-51e0-940a-46e4e6cea9e0)

3 Fear Denied (#u02fe888a-0d75-51c5-af0c-3b05df142868)

• Denying Fear as ‘Character’ (#ulink_94f83524-b4ba-5071-950e-32b4b18a61cc)

• Denying Other People’s Pain (#ulink_d9c82d6a-9def-5f63-9eb0-4bd28bef02f1)

4 Learning How to Deny (#ue301e1cf-e3fe-53ce-9b1e-fce3e55635e7)

• The Perils of Childhood (#ulink_dfb01653-e2c7-50c7-ac17-3b4b0b1cf3f4)

• The Perils of Sexuality (#ulink_271ddbdc-3112-52f0-b318-5fabca663db8)

• Denying Who You Are (#ulink_c9bebf26-97fb-5164-86f5-8676fb0d143e)

5 How Society Responds to Mental Distress (#ufed9c68a-ce69-5b67-90fd-f01f7f117b62)

• What Has Stayed the Same? (#litres_trial_promo)

• What Has Changed, and for the Better? (#litres_trial_promo)

The Alternatives (#litres_trial_promo)

6 Choosing a Defence (#litres_trial_promo)

• Popular but Confusing Diagnoses (#litres_trial_promo)

• Choosing a Desperate Defence (#litres_trial_promo)

7 A Bodily Solution? (#litres_trial_promo)

• Not Frightened, Just Ill (#litres_trial_promo)

• From Fear to Illness (#litres_trial_promo)

• Punishing the Body to Ease the Mind (#litres_trial_promo)

8 Turning Fear into Depression (#litres_trial_promo)

• The Story of Depression (#litres_trial_promo)

• Public Discourse - Muddle and Confusion (#litres_trial_promo)

• Do Pills Cure Depression? (#litres_trial_promo)

• The Way Out of the Prison (#litres_trial_promo)

9 Turning Fear into Anxiety, Panic and Phobias (#litres_trial_promo)

• Panic and the Fear of Panic (#litres_trial_promo)

• Relinquishing Panic, Phobias and Fear (#litres_trial_promo)

10 Turning Fear into Mania (#litres_trial_promo)

• The Manic Defence (#litres_trial_promo)