NOTE TO READERS: The discussion in this page is not about Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) which is a mental health condition characterized by persistent and excessive worry about a variety of everyday things.

Understanding Fear and Anxiety
Anxiety and fear are closely related emotions—they both activate the body’s stress response—but they’re not exactly the same. Fear is usually a reaction to an immediate, visible threat, while anxiety is a lasting state of worry or tension about something that may or may not happen.

Anxiety can be thought of as a chronic, lower-intensity version of fear—it activates many of the same brain areas and hormones (like cortisol and adrenaline), but at a milder and longer-lasting level. Instead of protecting you from immediate harm, anxiety keeps your threat system on alert even when there’s no clear danger.

General Effects of Fear and Anxiety
One of the worst effects of fear and anxiety is how they interfere with clear thinking and good decision-making. Here are some main points:

• Fear can disrupt the mental processes we use to make decisions, such as judging risks or weighing options.

• When fear is hidden or ignored, it can twist how we see reality. This can make threats seem bigger than they really are and lead to poor choices.

• On a biological level, fear triggers the release of cortisol, a stress hormone that can weaken memory, focus, and decision-making.

• The link between fear and decision-making is complicated. It can be made worse by past trauma, mental health issues like anxiety or depression, or a reduced ability to manage fear.

• The effects of fear—real or imagined—can vary depending on gender, physical health, and social or community factors.

Fear, Anxiety, and Belief in Conspiracy Theories
According to Psychology Today and other sources, fear and anxiety also play a big role in why people believe in conspiracy theories.

• Fear and anxiety make people more likely to search for meaning when they feel threatened or uncertain. This can cause them to blame unseen, hostile groups for events.

• Feelings of anxiety, uncertainty, and lack of control often lead people to accept conspiracy theories as a way to make sense of chaos.

• These beliefs are usually based on emotion and intuition, not logic or analysis.

• During times of crisis—such as elections, terrorist attacks, pandemics, or natural disasters—fear and uncertainty rise, making conspiracy theories more common.

• People with ongoing anxiety are more likely to believe in conspiracies because fear makes them feel powerless and eager for clear answers.

• Unfortunately, believing in conspiracy theories doesn’t actually reduce fear or anxiety. Instead, it often makes both worse by feeding mistrust and a constant sense of danger.

• As belief in conspiracy theories grows, logical and analytical thinking tends to decrease.

• Those who believe in conspiracies are often more anxious and less comfortable with uncertainty than those who don’t.

Progression from Anxiety to Fear
People who worry excessively worry about possible future events –often called existential threats — suffer from anxiety. For these people, the actual threat may not be real or imminent, but repeated conversations in social media, warnings by politicians and religious leaders and negative news on radio and television create the illusion or feeling that the threat is very real and imminent.

One dangerous effect of frequent exposure to existential threats is a phenomenon called “doomscrolling” which psychologically compels anxious people to compulsively seek out information that feeds their anxieties by affirming them in the company of others. They obsessively visit social media, news, political rallies, protests and religious events where their beliefs are reinforced by others whom they trust.

Doomscrolling is most commonly described as compulsively consuming negative news online or on social media, but the psychological effects and behaviors it triggers can also happen in real-world gatherings (e.g. rallies, protests, religious gatherings, etc.). Whether scrolling through endless bad news on a phone or participating in political rallies, protests, or religious events, anxious people seek information and social validation for their fears. These gatherings function like online doomscrolling by reinforcing beliefs, amplifying emotions, and creating a collective sense of threat and urgency that equates with fear.

Both online doomscrolling and attendance at fear-driven events tap into the brain’s threat detection systems, triggering stress and anxiety. Social media’s infinite news feeds keep people glued to their screens, while gatherings provide face-to-face confirmation of fears that strengthen emotional bonds and deepen anxiety.​ Thus, doomscrolling is not just an online phenomenon but also a social one, where communities form around shared anxieties, creating feedback loops (i.e. echo chambers) that make it even harder to break free from fear-based thinking.

The result of all this is activity is that people become more suspicious and distrustful of others who are not part of their unique community — even to the point of fearing them. This heightened emotional state makes anxious people more susceptible to manipulation by politicians and cult/religious leaders who claim to offer solutions or protection from the perceived threats. When anxiety progresses to this stage, it becomes a real fear that motivates radical, sometimes violent, responses that politicians, cult/religious leaders and media use to manipulate followers their own selfish purposes (e.g. money, fame, votes, pride, etc.)

Progression of Anxiety and Fear to Anger and Violence
Neuroscience shows that fear activates regions responsible for external orientation and motivated action, such as the anterior insula and parahippocampal gyrus, which can predict aggressive behavior if the provocation continues or the fear is not resolved. Conversely, sadness has an internal, homeostatic orientation that often counteracts anger, reducing the likelihood of aggression

When someone feels afraid, certain parts of the brain become active and tell the body to pay attention to what’s happening around them and to get ready to act, like running away or defending themselves. If this fear goes on for a while and isn’t taken care of, it can sometimes make a person act more aggressively or even start fights. But if someone is feeling sad instead, their brain tends to focus inward, which usually stops them from getting too angry or aggressive.​

Fear is often the spark that can turn into anger or even violence, especially if it’s strong, keeps coming back, or is caused by something fearful people imagine to be dangerous (e.g. existential threats, conspiracy theories, etc.) This happens because people want to take charge and feel safe again when they think something bad could happen to them.​

Fear pops up when people feel threatened, confused, or don’t know what’s going to happen. If the scary thing doesn’t go away or they can’t run from it, the feeling of fear gets stronger inside them. Sooner or later, this stress may break out as anger, which is a way for them to try to protect themselves or feel stronger. Anger can also cover up deeper feelings, like being afraid or worried.​

If anger isn’t controlled by healthy habits, support from others, by thinking things through logically, or by researching facts, it can grow and turn into aggression or violence. This usually happens in steps:

• Anger gets pointed at someone or something that is seen as threatening or unfair. Stereotypes about race, religion, ethnicity and politics make it easier to blame and target entire groups, fueling collective outrage and dividing communities.​ These ideas often blame specific groups for problems, which makes the anger feel justified or even necessary. Conspiracy theories and social media spread these stories and collect people in echo chambers, where their anger gets stronger by interacting with others who feel the same way.​  

• Groups or individuals who visit social media echo chambers eventually come to believe they are better or more righteous politically, socially or racially than others, which can cause them to see things as “us versus them” or the “in group” and “out group.”  Conspiracy theories, for example, can make people angry by implying that someone (like a political party or another ethnic group) is secretly harming them or their community, and that this threat must be fought or stopped.​

• If anger is fueled by repeated exposure to political rhetoric, partisan podcasters and media, it evolves to disgust and the idea that people in the “out group” are undeserving, or not even human. If this happens, people in the “in group” may feel it’s okay to use violence to get rid of the threats posed by the “out group.”​ Social media amplifies these feelings and connects angry people together, which sometimes leads to threats, harassment, or even violence.

When anger builds around a belief that individuals or groups are threats, these influences can push people toward aggressive or violent actions — especially when their opinions and frustrations are echoed and supported by others.

Summary
All of this shows how powerful and destructive fear and anxiety can be. They can shape how people think, what they believe, and even how leaders and their followers behave. Social, religious, racial and political divisions always begin with unresolved fear.  However, when we understand that Godly love — not human love — can overcome fear and bring clarity to our minds, we can see how to overcome fear and anxiety.

Resources
The following links discuss how this progression affects our brains:

• How the news rewires your brain – Mayo Clinic Press
• Fear: From Survival to Motivation to Manipulation
• Media overload is hurting our mental health. Here are ways to manage headline stress
• Impact of Media-Induced Uncertainty on Mental Health: Narrative-Based Perspective – PMC