I will be giving a talk as part of the York Festival of Ideas entitled
“Reflections on Fear, Anxiety and Depression”
It will be at the Quaker Meeting House, Friargate York on Saturday 1 June 2024 at 2.00pm and then repeated online on Thursday 6 June at 7.00pm. Tickets are free – booking details will be posted later.
Description
Michael Guilding reflects on his personal and professional journey as a counsellor and psychotherapist to understand the nature of fear.
Fear is the body’s response to threat. It evolved as a set of powerful physical reactions for surviving predators – not just the energy boost of fight and flight, but also energy collapse, similar to a faint. In modern life we face very different threats, but the same ancient, automatic fear responses are triggered. These reactions are not well adapted to dealing with many present-day threats, and they have a huge impact on our physical and mental health, our behaviour, our capacity to think clearly and our ability to relate to each other. Michael brings together the science of the body and lived experience, to illustrate the range and power of our fear reactions. He explains how these cause much human misery including anxiety and depression, and considers how we can free ourselves from the grip of unnecessary fear.