A Schizophrenic and a Dog

Fear is a basic emotion, shared by all animals.  Fear allows every species to survive in their environment.  It keeps us alive by presenting us with a flight or fight reaction.

Consider the meerkat…a scout stands above grounds, watching the sky for hawks and eagles.  When it spots such a predator, it signals to the other meerkats and they all retreat into their underground burrows.  Flight.  Then consider a herd of water buffalo…threatened by a pride of lions.  They form a circle around the calves, standing their ground so that the lions cannot get to the calves.  Fight.

Now consider the human brain in its defective form…due to mental illness or a traumatic brain injury.  Fear can present itself in the form of a panic attack, paranoia, irrational phobias, and so on.  Sometimes, the brain presents the world as a terrifying place. more…