A cognitive behavioral therapist (CBT) might describe an unwarranted fear response as neurological. Our reactions can often be based on neural circuitry. Our neurons wire themselves together into networks that fire in response to expected stimuli.

We have only a certain amount of voluntary control over how that makes us feel. A CBT therapist would tell you that the less we feed the undesired network, and the more we feed desired ones, the sooner the unwanted neural response will fade or disappear.

Those neurons can eventually unwire themselves, but the unwiring is a process, not a crystalized event.

Until they do, you might still experience occasional, seemingly irrational responses that feel hard to explain.

As a personal example, I used to have nightmares about hell and Satan, produced by my religious upbringing. Sometimes, rarely, I would have a case of the night terrors and just shake with fear even though I knew I had nothing to be afraid of.

A kind therapist helped me learn about entrenched neural circuitry producing unwanted and unneeded fear responses.