I just want to thank Steven Moffat for that episode. People always are telling you to face your fears, and that once you realize they aren’t real or rational, then you can get over them. You always hear that it’s just like when you are a kid and you learn that there is no reason to be afraid of the dark. As if people who have phobias or anxiety disorders don’t know that.
We aren’t ever told that it doesn’t matter if it’s irrational or not. I don’t think I’ve ever been told that the fear will never leave me, but that it’s ok and that fear can make me better. No one else has called fear a super power, without sounding condescending and insincere. Clara’s speech is one of the most empowering and reassuring things I’ve heard in years, and it means so, so much to me.
Seconded. I have serious, serious anxiety problems, and this episode made me feel, no kidding, BETTER.