Conclusions

Abstract

The dominant contemporary concept of fear navigates between the Scylla of biological psychiatry and the Charybdis of social construction. It is paradoxical that after all the attention in the neural and social sciences to fear in the last century, we are often seen to be living in an age of risk, fear, stress, and anxiety. The oversight provided by the different understandings of fear and its therapies in this book reflects the preference for a broad perspective on different aspects of fear, and for empowering individuals in active participation in their own therapeutic process. This is not to advocate for an anachronistic return to ancient remedies; rather, by setting out the different understandings it is possible to see how their concepts may be philosophically re-elaborated for delivering better therapies and further conceptual and empirical investigation.