The business of fear

With depth psychological enlightenment, Andreas Winter turns against the “fear industry”

Hardly a day goes by without some event in the media causing people to be overcome by fear. Psychotherapists and politicians are equally successful in coming up with supposed patent remedies. But fear is not a good advisor and cannot be defeated unless the true causes are uncovered.

Fear is booming
In times when real or perceived threats flicker across screens in real time, fears and worries are at their peak. Fear is created, stoked and spread on every corner, in every medium, in many institutions. Subtle, indirect, and yet very effective. Almost everyone has some form of disgust, reservations, fears or panic. Over seven million Germans even suffer from a diagnosed specific phobia, and the trend is rising.
Andreas Winter, a qualified teacher and director of a large coaching institute in Iserlohn, states: "Because fear is good business, or more precisely: the antidote to fear brings profit." Hundreds of his clients, on the other hand, have resolved their fears through a conversation. Beforehand, many of these people had been through an odyssey of psychotherapy sessions and read dozens of self-help books. But their fear was rarely treated in such a way that the cause disappeared completely and did not reappear later on another level. The fact that this is nevertheless possible, and precisely, simply and in the shortest possible time, may not always be in the interest of the medical industry, but it is certainly in the interest of those affected.

Freedom from fear is freedom of choice
Until now, people believed that they were at the mercy of their fears and that they could only do something about them with extreme discipline or tranquilizers. For Andreas Winter, however, fears and blockages are based on what we have learned, have a protective function, and can be given an alternative behavior by becoming aware of the common cause: decide instead of react!
But not only psychological symptoms, such as fear of spiders or elevators, can be analyzed and easily resolved with this approach, but also the fears of worried citizens: "If a citizen who is frightened by the current wave of migration knew that the people who have traveled thousands of kilometers behind them are much more afraid than they are, then they would be completely relaxed. [...] If people then also knew that Islam is not a comforting religion, but an ancient political concept - and one that does not represent a model for the future in a humanistic world - and these people now move in their thousands to precisely those countries where authoritarian intimidation, willingness to use violence, and disrespect are not contemporary values, then they would not only be relaxed, but could be aware of their important role model function." In his usual provocative manner, Winter also combines the therapeutic approach with a political claim in his new book.

Freedom from fear and human dignity
According to the author, as a coach you should not have any fear or reservations if you want to help people to lose their fear. Most fears are unnecessary anyway, as they usually have a cause that lies far in the past - e.g. in a childhood trauma. But other common fears, such as fear of illness and death or of others and strangers, can also be easily avoided if you only know enough about them. Andreas Winter distinguishes between fear and terror. Terror is a reaction to an acute potential threat. Fear, on the other hand, is a learned reaction due to an unrealistic fear.
Fear has been a factor of oppression for humanity since time immemorial, making it submissive and exploiting it. Even today, religions and governments try to spread fear using the organs they control. Because only those who are afraid can be controlled and thus willing to spend their entire lives working for the apparent antidote to fear: weapons, medicine, insurance, drugs, entertainment and much more. People who are free of fear, on the other hand, deal with such things much more relaxed. For the experienced coach, being free of fear means feeling your feelings but not acting on them rashly: "Becoming free of fear means becoming free of decision and thus being a desirable role model for every person."

Book tip:
Andreas Winter: What your fear wants to tell you. Understanding and overcoming blockages. With extra tips to combat panic attacks. Mankau Verlag, 1st edition September 2016, paperback, 194 pages, €9.95 (D) / €10.30 (A), ISBN 978-3-86374-323-9.

CD tip:
Andreas Winter: What your fear wants to tell you. Understanding and overcoming blockages. Audio coaching with self-hypnosis instructions. Mankau Verlag, 1st edition September 2016. Audio CD, total running time approx. 70 minutes, €15 (D/A), ISBN 978-3-86374-332-1.

Link recommendations:
More information about the paperback "What your fear wants to tell you"
To the reading sample in PDF format
More information about the audio CD "What your fear wants to tell you"
More about the author Andreas Winter
To the Internet forum with the author Andreas Winter