Fear of the unknown: One fear to rule them all?

Date
2016-03-29
Authors
Carleton, R. Nicholas
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract

The current review and synthesis was designed to provocatively develop and evaluate the proposition that “fear of the unknown may be a, or possibly the, fundamental fear” (Carleton, 2016) underlying anxiety and therein neuroticism. Identifying fundamental transdiagnostic elements is a priority for clinical theory and practice. Historical criteria for identifying fundamental components of anxiety are described and revised criteria are offered. The revised criteria are based on logical rhetorical arguments using a constituent reductionist postpositivist approach supported by the available empirical data. The revised criteria are then used to assess several fears posited as fundamental, including fear of the unknown. The review and synthesis concludes with brief recommendations for future theoretical discourse as well as clinical and non-clinical research.

Description
© 2016 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Keywords
Fear of the unknown, Intolerance of uncertainty, Anxiety, Neuroticism, Fundamental fear
Citation
Carleton, R. N. (2016). Fear of the unknown: One fear to rule them all? Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 41, 5-21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2016.03.011