Abnormal fear takes place when man lets his imagination
run riot I knew a woman who was invited to go on a trip around
the world by plane. She began to cut out of the
all reports of airplane catastrophes. She pictured herself going
down in the ocean, being drowned, etc. This is abnormal
fear. Had she persisted in this, she would undoubtedly have
attracted what she feared most.
Another example of abnormal fear is that of a businessman
in New York, who was very prosperous and successful. He
had his own private mental motion picture of which he was
the director. He would run this mental movie of failure,
bankruptcy, empty shelves, and no bank balance until he sank
into a deep depression. He refused to stop this morbid imagery
and kept reminding his wife that “this can’t last,” “there will be
a recession,” “I feel sure we will go bankrupt,” etc.
His wife told me that he finally did go into bankruptcy,
and all the things he imagined and feared came to pass.
The things he feared did not exist, but he brought them to pass by
constantly fearing, believing, and expecting financial disaster.
e afraid that something terrible will happen to their children,
and that some dread catastrophe will befall them. When they
read about an epidemic or rare disease, they Eve in fear that
they will catch it, and some imagine they have the disease
already. All this is abnormal fear.