Neurologically speaking, overestimating the probability of some kind of bad event is a failure of the nervous system to regulate these emotions. (:

This would suggest fixing the problem is as easy as telling yourself to estimate properly these risks, but in my experience, that is as effective as telling a dog to stop barking at the mailman because the mailman is not likely to attack. Your prefrontal cortex may abstractly be aware that whatever you fear is unlikely, but your poor little animal brain doesn’t understand abstractions. The rest of the article is about how to teach your animal brain what your prefrontal cortex already knows, that your panic is pointless.