History Main / FaceYourFears

* ''VideoGame/TheEvilWithin2:'' The events of [[VideoGame/TheEvilWithin the first game]] traumatized Sebastian so badly he lost his job as a detective and ended up TheAlcoholic. [[SinisterMinister Father Theodore]] is all too eager to turn this failing against him when he summons phantoms from the first game against him: [[TheJuggernaut the Sadist]], [[ImplacableMan the Keeper]] and [[SpiderPeople Laura]]. Unfortunately for Theodore, by this point, Sebastian has decided that hell or high water, he [[PapaWolf WILL save his daughter]], and tears all three of them new ones. It's best shown when he manages to incapacitate the Sadist and sees a waiting elevator he could use to escape [[CallBack as he did before]]: instead of taking it, he picks up the Sadist's chainsaw and finishes the bastard off.

* This is attempted twice [[InvokedTrope intentionally]] on the ''WebVideo/DreamSMP'', but both times are {{subverted|Trope}} as the fears in question stem from traumatic triggers (both times, yeah, the DSMP is [[CrapsackWorld that sort]] [[DysfunctionJunction of world]]) and ThereAreNoTherapists to oversee the "exposure therapy".

** In Season 3, Tommy also attempts this with help from Tubbo and Ranboo, while deliberately and directly calling the technique "exposure therapy". In preparation for trying to kill Dream in [[TheAlcatraz Pandora's Vault]], he revisits several places that have caused him trauma[[labelnote:Spoiler alert!]]Those places were Logstedshire (the place where he spent his Exile, where he was horribly abused by Dream and almost killed himself as a result), a replica of the Final Control Room (where he was a victim of a massacre along with his BigBrotherMentor Wilbur, Tubbo and Fundy), and a replica of the main cell in Pandora's Vault (where he was ''beat to death by Dream'' when he last visited the place... for ''closure'', no less)[[/labelnote]] to try to overcome it. Considering that exposure therapy only works in a very carefully controlled environment and with the help of a professional, and all three of the characters involved were clearly unqualified and traumatized ''teenagers'', it's no wonder that it doesn't help much in the end, and might have even ''worsened'' the trauma.

-->'''Professor Lupin''': Before I teach you how to combat the Dark Arts, then, I am going to teach you how to overcome fear. Only when you can act in the face of terror, in the midst of surprise and uncertainty, only then can you defend yourself against anything, much less the darkest of our magical arts.

--> "It's about time that I bury my demons. [[spoiler:Especially if they're starting to hurt my daughter as well...]]"

* Early on in ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached'', when the four realize that someone was watching them attempt to play music on the beach, they have to decide whether to follow that someone when it runs off. George is the first to go, nervously citing, “Look fear in the face and it won't bother you anymore.” This is something he said in [[Music/GeorgeHarrison Real Life.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'', Puss gains an extreme case of MortalityPhobia after losing to The Wolf in single combat at the beginning of the film. This develops to such a point that the thought of The Wolf even being near [[spoiler: causes him to have a panic attack.]] This is made even worse after The Wolf reveals himself to be [[spoiler: the physical incarnation of Death itself, who has come to claim Puss’ last life.]] [[spoiler: Puss’ realisation, that life being impermanent makes it worth cherishing and fighting for, eventually gives him the strength to drive back Death in the climax.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'': In "I Had An Accident," Spongebob becomes terrified of going outside after the eponymous accident. Patrick and Sandy resort to faking a gorilla attack to convince Spongebob to come out and rescue them. Then a ''real'' gorilla (played by a live actor in a gorilla costume) shows up and starts beating the tar out of them. Spongebob then musters up the courage to go outside again. After a few seconds outside, Spongebob wonders why he was ever worried in the first place, forgetting about the rampaging gorilla until it grabs him and tears him in half. He apologizes to Sandy and Patrick for the trouble he caused and assures them that he's not afraid of going outside anymore, though he's terrified of gorillas now.

* ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'': Omori has three major phobias: heights, spiders, and drowning. In [[DreamLand Headspace]], a giant ladder, spider webs, and ocean serve as {{Broken Bridge}}s: before Omori can access these areas, Sunny (Omori's real-world counterpart) must confront a Something representing these fears: one makes him hallucinate that his staircase is much taller and longer than it is, one causes his home to appear overrun with spiders, and one [[spoiler:tries to pull him under when he saves Basil from drowning]].

* This is attempted twice [[InvokedTrope intentionally]] on the ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'', but both times are {{subverted|Trope}} as the fears in question stem from traumatic triggers (both times, yeah, the DSMP is [[CrapsackWorld that sort]] [[DysfunctionJunction of world]]) and ThereAreNoTherapists to oversee the "exposure therapy".

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/{{Chowder}}''. In the episode The Meach Harvest, Mung Daal refuses to harvest the queen meach due to his fear of the meaches guarding her whilst Chowder keeps trying to encourage him to face his fears. This would be considered playing the trope straight, except for the fact that meaches are vicious bloodthirsty [[ManEatingPlant living fruits]] with MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily that maul anything that gets within 100 yards of them [[ZergRush en masse]]. He has good reason to be afraid of them. Lampshaded at the end of the episode.

Everybody has something that scares [[PrimalFear the ever-loving crap out of them]]. [[FearOfThunder Thunder]], [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent reptiles]], or maybe bloody, painful death. Rest assured that in fiction land, if it scares you, you will either end up somewhere where said fear is everywhere, or be [[SternChase relentlessly pursued by said fear]]. Reactions will not vary, with said character wanting nothing to do with this terrifying thing in any way, shape, or form.

* What ISN'T TruthInTelevision is when well-meaning friends attempt to force another friend to "get over their fear" by throwing them smack dab in the middle of the thing that scares them. This usually does not work and can make the problem ''worse'' due to the person now having anxiety attacks or may trigger a condition they already have, such as asthma, and makes them fear the thing that scares them even more.

Everybody has something that scares [[PrimalFear the ever-loving crap out of them]]. [[FearOfThunder Thunder]], [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent reptiles]], or maybe bloody, painful death. Rest assured that in fiction land, if it scares you, you will either end up somewhere where said fear is everywhere, or be [[SternChase relentlessly pursued by said fear]]. Reactions will not vary, with said character wanting nothing to do with this terrifying thing in any way, shape or form.

For added drama this is a secret fear that we only learn about when they face it for the first time, and when they fail there are drastic consequences for other people, resulting in ItsAllMyFault - which it is. The second time, they must overcome the fear to avoid more of the same horrible consequences. It may result in death.

* In ''Manga/MaisonIkkoku'' Mitaka is deathly afraid of dogs, which complicates the fact that he's interested in Kyoko since she has large dog named Soichiro, after her late husband, which is something in Godai's favor. At one point, the other tenants of the boarding house try to get him to lose his fear after he asks them for help, and he gets close to becoming fearless of dogs when he goes into a doghouse and plays with a puppy, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero but then the tenants sic an aggressive dog on him]]. However when he adopts a Pomeranian, Mitaka does lose his fear of dogs for good.

** During the tournament that caps off the RGB saga, Professor Oak fights Blue using bird Pokémon (he knows that Blue has a phobia of birds). Later, in the GSC saga, Karen and Will taunt Blue with the legendary Pokémon Ho-oh and Lugia, the former of which was what caused her fear in the first place. What the villains didn't know was that Blue has long since conquered her fear, capturing three particular bird Pokémon: Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres.

* In ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' comics, one whiff of The Scarecrow's [[PsychoSerum Fear gas]] and you can expect anyone with enough will power (namely, Batman himself) to have to do this. It's been a theme whenever the two face off in the comics, [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries the animated series]], and [[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum Video games]].

* In ''Fanfic/AmazingFantasy'', Izuku gets over his fear of heights and falling by forcing himself to jump off Bepsi Tower, a more than 2,000 meter tall skyscraper. Despite some initial apprehension, it works so well that he's ''excited'' to start jumping off buildings on a regular basis thanks to the thrill he gets while web-swinging.

--> '''Professor Lupin''': Before I teach you how to combat the Dark Arts, then, I am going to teach you how to overcome fear. Only when you can act in the face of terror, in the midst of surprise and uncertainty, only then can you defend yourself against anything, much less the darkest of our magical arts.

* Early on in ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached'', when the four realize that someone was watching them attempt to play music on the beach, they have to decide whether to follow that someone when it runs off. George is the first to go, nervously citing, “Look fear in the face and it won't bother you any more.” This is something he said in [[Music/GeorgeHarrison Real Life.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'', Puss gains an extreme case of MortalityPhobia after losing to The Wolf in single combat at the beginning on the film. This develops to such a point that the thought of The Wolf even being near [[spoiler: causes him to have a panic attack.]] This is made even worse after The Wolf reveals himself to be [[spoiler: the physical incarnation of Death itself, who has come to claim Puss’ last life.]] [[spoiler: Puss’ realisation, that life being impermanent makes it worth cherishing and fighting for, eventually gives him the strength to drive back Death in the climax.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Yellowbird}}'', Sam and the flock initially believe the rumor that birds are eaten by planes, which they refer to as "iron birds." Towards the end of the film, Sam realizes that the iron birds merely "eat" humans and "spit them out" unharmed at another location. Armed with this knowledge, he assures the flock that they aren't a threat and they all [[spoiler:board a plane bound for Africa.]]

* In ''Film/MortalKombatTheMovie'', Raiden talks to Sonya Blade, Johnny Cage and Liu Kang about confronting their fears: Sonya's fear of admitting the need for help, Johnny's fear of being a fake, and Liu Kang's fear of his own destiny. The latter is important to the plot, though, as [[spoiler: Shang Tsung tries to exploit it near the end, with no results]].

* ''Film/UltramanZearth'': In the climax, Ultraman Zearth have to face his crippling natural {{Hypochondria}} and cross a pool of slime, to save Tohru and the children and battle Alien Benzene and Cotton-pope.

* In ''Literature/{{Firefight}}'', it turns out David is terrified of open water; he was completely unaware of this before he he went to Babylon Restored, aka Manhattan. In the climax, he has to shoot out an underwater window to escape in the desperate hope that he'll be able to swim to the surface. [[spoiler:It doesn't work (the glass was built to survive a bomb), but the intent is enough to give him immunity to Calamity's influence. Megan braves fire (her weakness) to save David, and is reborn completely sane]].
* Subverted in ''Literature/{{Divergent}}''. Four has exactly 4 fears, but doesn't overcome any of them and instead just makes sure they don't dominate him.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': In the backstory, Albus Dumbledore's greatest fear was his former friend, the previous Dark Lord before Voldemort, [[spoiler:and his [[FirstLove first and only love]]]], Gellert Grindelwald. Though, it wasn't his magical abilities and combat prowess he feared -- Dumbledore and Grindelwald were equals, more-or-less. No, what he feared was, as he puts it, "the truth". The end of their brief friendship during their youth came when Grindelwald and Aberforth, Dumbledore's younger brother, got into a fight and Albus intervened, with the ensuing melee resulting in the death of Ariana, Albus and Aberforth's younger sister. It was unknown who cast the curse that snuffed out her life, and neither Dumbledore nor Aberforth wanted to know, for fear it was one of them. Dumbledore specifically avoided Grindelwald even as the man grew in power specifically because he feared that Grindelwald knew the truth and would tell him -- but after the man grew so powerful that no one else but him could hope to stop him, Dumbledore faced his fear for the sake of both muggles and magical folk alike, dueling and defeating Grindelwald.

* In ''Literature/FireEngineByMistake'', a new fireman is afraid of heights, and is shocked to discover that he is expected to climb ladders to rescue people. He overcomes his fear by practising climbing ladders at night.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' had Xander punch [[MonsterClown an evil knife-wielding clown]] right in its evil knife-wielding clown face during the season 1 episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E10Nightmares Nightmares]]". In fact all the characters had to face their fears (even the master vampire who laid his hand on a cross to make a point) but Xander was the only one who literally knocked his out.

** In later season episode, it's revealed that Rachel suffers from a swing phobia and is afraid of letting her daughter Emma swing. Ross thinks it's ridiculous, but Rachel reminds him of his irrational fear of spiders. They both try to face their fear for Emma's sake at the end of the episode, but they are both extremely uneasy.

* ''Series/{{Hornblower}}'': It's established that sailor Hornblower is afraid of heights. In the last episode of series 1 "The Frogs and the Lobsters", he climbs atop of the mast for no particular reason other than enjoy the sail, and he smiles and looks fairly happy. In series 2 episode "Retribution", he volunteers himself to descend from a high cliff. However, when his friend mischievously reminds him of his former anxiety, he says that nothing has changed and that he's still frightened.

* An episode of ''Series/TheOrville'' deals with Alara's previously-unknown fear of fire (due to a traumatic event when she was too young to remember). While she deals with that, strange things start happening on the ship, with common fears (e.g. heights, isolation, alligators, spiders, clowns) manifesting aboard. [[spoiler:It turns out the whole thing is a holo-simulation, created by Isaac at Alara's request, who then had Dr. Finn wipe her short-term memory, so that she doesn't know it isn't real. The final test for her is to fly through a wall of fire, as the ship is being destroyed by a NegativeSpaceWedgie]].
* In ''Series/ChicagoMed'', Dr. Reese suffers a mental trauma and, eventually, performs this sort of therapy that helps her get ahold of herself. Later on, though, a patient comes in demanding to be committed, as he keeps vividly imagining killing his wife. Reese is determined to prove that the same therapy can work on the guy, while her superior Dr. Charles thinks it's too dangerous and wants to follow the man's wishes. Reese ignores him, locks herself in with the guy, and gives him a knife to act out his fantasy. The guy is unable to go through with killing her, supposedly proving her right. Dr. Charles's reaction? To lay in to her for disobeying his orders and putting herself and the patient at risk just to prove her theory.

* According to "ComicStrip/TheFarSide", a professor Gallagher has developed an apparently controversial technique of simultaneously confronting acrophobia, ophidiophobia and achluophobia by locking the sufferer in a small box filled with snakes and darkness, and then suspend said box from a great height.

* ''VideoGame/HauntingGround'': Fiona is forced into a position where she has to face her pursuer and fight at the end of every chapter. Arguably, the best time she is seen doing this is the A Ending, [[spoiler:where she realises Debilitas is behind her, turns, looks him square in the eye and leaves without a word]].

* The plot of ''VideoGame/EvilDeadHailToTheKing'' is kicked off by the main character Ash, with his girlfriend Jenny, returning to the cabin which is the source of his fears and nightmares, in order to get rid of them. Unfortunately, his evil possessed hand is still present there, and it lets loose the deadites which forces him to fight them once more.
* ''VideoGame/TheEvilWithin2:'' The events of [[VideoGame/TheEvilWithin the first game]] traumatized Sebastian so badly he lost his job as a detective and ended up TheAlcoholic. [[SinisterMinister Father Theodore]] is all too eager to turn this failing against him when he summons phantoms from the first game against him: [[TheJuggernaut the Sadist]], [[ImplacableMan the Keeper]] and [[SpiderPeople Laura]]. Unfortunately for Theodore, by this point Sebastian has decided that hell or high water, he [[PapaWolf WILL save his daughter]], and tears all three of them new ones. It's best shown when he manages to incapacitate the Sadist and sees a waiting elevator he could use to escape [[CallBack as he did before]]: instead of taking it, he picks up the Sadist's chainsaw and finishes the bastard off.

--> '''Mung:''' Thank you Chowder for giving me the courage to foolishly face my entirely ''rational'' fear!
* One of the most defining examples is ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'', whose entire role revolves around overcoming his cowardice in every episode in order to fight some truly horrifying villains and save his family. He shows that real courage come from the inner fighting of the fears first.

** In yet another episode, all of the kids see "The Abnormal," a horror movie, but Doug is terrified and closes his eyes when the monster appears onscreen. Since NothingIsScarier, he begins to have horrific nightmares about what the creature could look like. Mr. Dink tells him that the only way to get over his fear is to face it head-on, and so Doug returns to the theater and forces himself to watch. It turns out that the monster is a guy in a [[PeopleInRubberSuits cheap rubber suit]], and Doug learns that the fears we imagine are often far worse than the real thing.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'': In order to claim possession of Horror's Hand (which makes people see their worst fears come to life). Billy, Mandy, Irwin and Grim must face their fears to overcome it. Billy is afraid of Spiders, Clowns, and the mailman, so he has to encounter a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Spider-Clown-Mailman]]. Irwin is afraid of bears and stand-up comedy. Cue him doing stand-up comedy in front of a pack of bears, then promptly getting mauled by them. Mandy must overcome her fears of the possibility of growing up to become a nice person and marrying Irwin. Once she gets away from that, [[HilarityEnsues she also gets mauled by the bears.]] Grim's biggest fear, not just playing second-fiddle to another power but being used as a slave and tormented by those two brats forever, was realized throughout the series via his "friendship" to Billy and Mandy, so the Hand was ineffectual against him.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Moondreamers}}'': A memorable episode featured a young boy who was afraid of horses and had to deal with a star-horse that transformed into a gruesome dragon-monster, in order to save his new friends. In short it was his darkest night-mare in flesh. He overcame his fear by seeing that the monster was as afraid as he was of the terrifying plane they were stranded in and managed to bond with it and become friends.

* ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'': In the aptly-named episode "Face Your Fears", K.O. must rescue his friends Rad and Enid and his boss Mr. Gar from a virtual-reality fear-testing machine. In a variant, K.O. first travels through spaces that represents the fears of the others; Enid fears [[BeneathTheMask parts of herself that she hides from others]] (from her awkward teenage years to her [[{{Foreshadowing}} secret "spooky" heritage as a witch]]), Rad fears letting others see the [[HiddenHeartOfGold genuine emotions]] behind his cool and egotistical facade, and Mr. Gar fears confronting his past mistakes (especially the "Sandwich Incident" that led to him and Carol leaving the SuperTeam P.O.I.N.T.). K.O. ends up [[spoiler:unleashing an embodiment of his own fears, a dark and violent version of himself, to defeat Mr. Gar's fear.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': In the episode "Enchanting Grom Fright", it's shown that every year, a student at Hexside has to fight a shapeshifting monster known as Grometheus the Fear Bringer, a monster which takes the form of its opponent's worst fears. Amity is chosen as the annual Grom Queen and she doesn't want to fight Grom because she says her fear is really embarrassing. Luz offers to take her place, because [[TemptingFate she's not afraid to face her fears]]. Of course it turns out her deepest fear was something she didn't anticipate, [[spoiler:her mother finding out she was never at summer camp]], catching her off guard. Amity comes to rescue Luz, forcing Amity to face the fear she had been trying to avoid, [[spoiler:being rejected by her crush, ''Luz'' herself]]. Notably, while they manage to defeat Grom, neither of them actually conquers their fear in the process (though they both show signs of making progress). In a one-off gag at the end, Grom also turns into an insect for Willow and a clown for Gus.

* A lot of the early ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' episodes had Chuckie being the recipient of this trope, a few notable ones dealing with slides, getting a haircut and exploring his father's greenhouse (kid had problems).

* Sonic from ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'' is terrified of water, and as a result never learned how to swim. In the episode "I Can [[{{Pun}} Sea]] Sonic's Fear From Here", Eggman exploits this fear by building a destructive robot under water, forcing Sonic into the ocean to stop him. [[spoiler: And while Sonic does beat Eggman, his near-death experience caused by Eggman cutting his air hose causes his fear of water to get even worse. The episode ends with him declaring he never wants to see water again]].

* This is a pervading theme in ''[[Film/TheBoogeyman Boogeyman 2]]'', since the movie is about phobias. The doctor played by Tobin Bell who has this philosophy takes this to the extreme when he locks a patient afraid of the Boogeyman in a closet.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'':
** The ShellShockedVeteran Colbert had a fear of monsters ever since they devoured his arms, resulting in him working in the underworld to get by instead of being a proper hunter. But working under Sheryl’s gang sees him eventually going on a mission where he kills an obviously much bigger and tougher monster than the one that took his arms, helping him recover.

*** "Coming Of Age" [[SecretTestOfCharacter reveals this to be part of the Starfleet Academy entrance exam]], forcing prospective cadets to face their greatest fears. When Wesley Crusher takes the test, he [[spoiler:is confronted by a (staged) accident and must choose which of two victims to rescue, his greatest fear being that he would be paralyzed by indecision.]]
*** In "Realm Of Fear", ''Enterprise'' engineer Lt. Reg Barclay admits to a severe phobia of transporters, which initially renders him unable to join the away team. However, after a brief session with Troi and armed with a few tricks, he's able to confront his fear and brave the transporter only a few hours later. Unfortunately, this backfires because something unexpected ''does'' happen to him, and he comes to believe that he's contracted an incurable condition known as "transporter psychosis" (it turns out to be something else entirely). By the end of the episode, it appears he's on his way to overcoming the fear for real.
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': In "By Inferno's Light", the only way to escape a Dominion internment camp is for Garak to rewire an old computer system hidden inside a narrow gap inside the walls. Eventually, he experiences a full catatonic breakdown because he suffers from acute {{claustrophobia}} (which he'd been trying to keep secret). But after recovering from his breakdown, he tells them he will be returning to the computer system to [[{{Determinator}} finish the job he started]]. For this, he earns the respect of the Klingons, who admire the courage it takes to face one's deepest fears.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/IngressAdventuringCompany'': In Chapter 3, Toivo is forced to open the closet to finally face [[spoiler:the literal ghosts of those relationships that he unconsciously conjured up as a means of not dealing with the pain of rejection.]]
* In ''Webcomic/WeakHero'', Gray has a debilitating fear of rooftops after his best friend was bullied off of once and ended up comatose. He's forced to confront his fear when Wolf drags him up to a rooftop for their showdown- though initially Gray is too scared to fight back, he flies into a [[TranquilFury tranquil rage]] when Wolf threatens to throw him over the side. After the fight is over, and Gray has recovered from his injuries, he makes his way to the school rooftop and realises that he's not so afraid of them anymore.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* In ''Fanfic/CodexEquus'', this happens to [[Music/StevieRayVaughan Moon Ray Vaughoof]]. Because he was abused as a colt by his birth father, [[AbusiveParents Sunny Mane Vaughoof]], Moon Ray developed a crippling, persistent fear that made him run and hide whenever he thought his father was there and ready to violently lash out at him again. Even after dying and realizing that he needed to move on, Moon Ray still ran away rather than face Sunny Mane's spirit in the Hell-Realms. Fortunately, the [[DontFearTheReaper Trimortidae]] helped Moon Ray see that by doing this, he let his birth father win by clinging to his foalhood fear and pain. This helped him gather the courage to finally confront his birth father for real and forgive him for his foalhood abuse, [[DeityOfHumanOrigin triggering his Ascension to demi-godhood then and there]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'', Puss gains an extreme case of MortalityPhobia after losing to The Wolf in single combat at the beginning on the film. This develops to such a point that the thought of The Wolf even being near [[spoiler: causes him to have a panic attack.]] This made even worse after The Wolf reveals himself to be [[spoiler: the physical incarnation of Death itself, who has come to claim Puss’ last life.]] [[spoiler: Puss’ realisation, that life being impermanent makes it worth cherishing and fighting for, eventually gives him the strength to drive back Death in the climax.]]