What's Stopping You?: Why Smart People Don't Always Reach Their Potential, and How You Can

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

I have no doubt that this is exactly what happens to those with a high fear of failure. Past traumas have hardwired fear into us, generating our own version of PTSD that leads to fear conditioning and fear responses when the memory is triggered. Yale University’s Dennis Charney states in his paper The Science of Emotion – Understanding PTSD that studies have shown that such traumas can occur at a very early age or even in the womb (perhaps passed through the mother), so we may not even be conscious of the events that trigger our own version of PTSD.

And, crucially for High-FFs, trauma in this instance can mean incidents of public humiliation or episodes involving demeaning parents, siblings, teachers or peers. These ...