The special operations community spends thousands of dollars as well as several years in order to train each individual to the level of proficiency required of their missions. For this reason the SOF leadership has become much more proactive in ensuring that this effort is not wasted, and that the members of their units remain physically, mentally, and emotionally fit for world-wide operations at a moment’s notice.
These efforts include the study of various methods and techniques that are focused on the psychological well-being of Navy SEALS and other special operators. In order to develop these methods and design the appropriate training programs for their adaptation, the Navy leadership has dedicated teams for the purpose of studying fear, how it affects the human brain, and ways to combat these effects.
Studies conducted by psychologists reveal that “emotion” involves the entire nervous system. There are two parts of the nervous system, however, that mainly control our emotions and how our bodies react to them. These two parts are the Limbic System and the autonomic nervous system.
The Limbic System and Fear
The limbic system is a set of brain structures located on top of the brainstem and buried under the cortex, which mainly control our emotions—such as fear and anger—and motivations, particularly those that are related to survival.
Certain structures, the amygdala and the hippocampus, are limbic system structures that play important roles in memory. The amygdala is responsible for determining what memories are stored and where the memories are stored in the brain. It is thought that this determination is based on how huge an emotional response an event invokes.
The amygdala are two very small almond shaped masses of tissue on each side of the brain, which regulate emotional responses, hormonal secretions, and memory. The amygdala is responsible for fear conditioning or the associative learning process by which we learn to fear something.
The Autonomic Nervous System
The autonomic nervous system is made up of two parts, whose functions oppose or cancel out each other. The first is the sympathetic nervous system , which starts in the spinal cord and travels to a various parts of the body. It is responsible for preparing the body for the “fight or flight” reaction produced by awareness and fear of danger or threat.
The other part of the autonomic nervous system is called the parasympathetic nervous system . It extends from the brainstem to the spinal cord of the lower back. Its function is to bring the body back from the emergency status that the sympathetic nervous system puts it into.
The Physiology of Fear
Fear stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the actions that our brains are programmed to execute when facing danger or threat. When the brain registers a situation that induces fear, it begins a chemical reaction in our bodies, sometimes referred to as the “fight-or-flight” reaction. The first thing that happens is an almost immediate release of a hormone called adrenaline (also known as the fight-or-flight hormone).
Imagine you are driving along, and suddenly two cars ahead of you collide forcing you to quickly slam on the brakes, dangerously change lanes, and decide what you are going to do—stop and help or say a prayer and keep driving. You will notice that your legs are suddenly shaking, your heart is racing, your palms are sweaty, and you are breathing very fast.
All these reactions in your body are the result of epinephrine, also known as adrenaline, having been released into your bloodstream. Adrenaline also causes a surge of energy or “arousal.” Almost at the same time as adrenaline is released, the adrenal glands also release another hormone called norepinephrine. This hormone causes you to become more aware, more awake and better able to react to a stressful or threatening situation. It also shifts the blood flow from areas that may not be quite as necessary, like the skin or some internal organs such as the liver or kidneys, to others, such as your lungs and certain muscles, which would be essential for fleeing from danger. This is why you would probably feel a tingly feeling all over your body after a close-call-type event.
Finally, we have a chemical chain-reaction, which takes a few minutes, and that results in the release of cortisol into the blood. Cortisol regulates the fluid flow and the blood pressure in our bodies. All of the following reactions occur in our bodies as a response to fear or stress:
The natural response to fear can cause men in combat to lose the ability to perform the simplest of tasks (reloading their weapon, relocating to a covered position, etc.) and to become physically weak to the point that they cannot remain standing, or muster the strength to operate equipment or perform tasks that they’ve done successfully hundreds or thousands of times in the past. The Navy SEALs undergo extensive training to learn to overcome the effects of fear.
You should consider the fact that as you tackle difficult challenges, you will likely experience periods of great stress, anxiety, doubt and various degrees of fear. Understanding how fear affects the brain, and furthermore how your brain and body will react to fear and stress is essential to acquiring and developing methods to enhance the mental toughness and mindset necessary to override these natural reactions.
It is important to realize that your body never changes in this regard; it will always respond to threat-stress situations in the same way, producing some or all of the physical responses listed above. Through training, you can learn to anticipate these ever-present physiological and psychological responses and use various methods and techniques to control them.