Northerner said:
...the raw emotion that is fear...
That is my recent love study as of late, not academic but profound life-wise. Our relationship to emotion(s). It's not about urge to control but to understand. And from there, once better understood or a little more humble formulated: having a theory that does the job, from there maybe performing control as a sweet free candy that happens to become (more) accessible, over emotions I mean. All about having more free choice when to become consumed by it, or not.
Before that, there was no choice, or little, than to be an emo-character, like most people so not necessarily pathological excessive. A hard definition but why not: we are all emotion-junkies.
Stance: emo delivers the adrenaline which is the true face of the addiction, or whatnot that wanders trough the system. It wants it's 'shake' and eventually it can be (very) healthy. Like in all addictions it can run the protagonist into self harm.
A one theory sounds like: emotions is like executing an awareness script on which the body reacts by producing endogenous molecules that triggers the system, it is addictive. If you like to see it the other way around be my guest.
It is striking how manifestations of grand grief or extreme joy could be actually, looking from the body side, quite equal. Even for a sudden uninformed onlooker, it could be difficult to distinguish someone's cry out loud tears from joy or grief. Krishnamurti once said IIRC that an orgasm, looking from the body side of things, does not differ from physical suffering process. I did not believe him right away but noticed over decades that many many emotional deployments had really the very same bodily feeling as a result, usually a kicking one. It led me to believe we are addicted to the kick, and thus also on the means that deliver, which are for one, a huge one: emotions.
So what?
I use that theory to shine a light on the item called: emotions. So I can steadily grow from a victim status toward a managing one. So there becomes choice, or more choice, about those processes as a result, the free candy.
I feel there's little choice in being addicted to endogenous 'drugs' though, but the way this addiction gets form on my path has changed for the better. The difference between truly believing in your lies, or executing them in a more conscience way, can't be bigger, while still doing the same. In the second case the theory shone light on it and the emotion becomes debunked in a way. For me there's now little drive to focus on the emotions like in trying to heal them. But when seen from the theory' eyes as a more aware executor, they do lose hold on you, and they change from their selves. Not gone, but profound change already, yet still growing. All this applying to fear as one of the best deliverer of the goodies, a successful script by all means.