TY  - JOUR
AU  - Nonye Tochi Aghanya
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/05/05
TI  - Fear-Informed Care: A New Clinical Paradigm for Trust Restoration in Patient Communication
JO  - Japan Journal of Research
VL  - 6
IS  - 6
AB  - While communication science and patient-centered care have progressed greatly, anxiety's impact on
clinical encounters lacks theoretical understanding and remains unaddressed in practice. Patients
approach healthcare settings with anticipatory anxiety along with intergenerational trauma and
institutional distrust which combine with cognitive biases to weaken their capability to receive and
understand medical information. Fear responses which exist on both implicit and explicit levels alter
neurocognitive functioning while hindering trust development and prompting behavioral pushback
which makes standard communication methods fall short in emotionally intense consultations. FearInformed Care (FIC) presents a new clinical communication model which identifies fear as a fundamental
biological and semiotic element crucial for interpreting patient behavior and re-establishing therapeutic
relationships. This study presents a structured and repeatable model based on findings from affective
neuroscience and fear-cognition theory together with communication psychology and clinical practice
literature that addresses strategies for handling resistant or emotionally disconnected patients to rebuild
trust in encounters dominated by fear. A three-phase clinical heuristic drives this paradigm which
includes the stages of Recognition, Calibration, and Restoration. Recognition focuses on interpreting
anxiety signals from the patient's words and body language while Calibration adjusts tone and language
structure to ensure safe communication and Restoration rebuilds trust through strategic empathy and
co-regulation. Emerging empirical evidence demonstrates that a tripartite framework gains support
through connections between perceived emotional attunement and better patient adherence together with
immune regulation and stronger therapeutic relationships over time. Fear-Informed Care transforms
communication into an ongoing interactive neuro-affective regulation process that proves vital for
patient rehabilitation and extended health outcomes. This approach requires clinicians to adopt a new
understanding of listening and responding to patients which emphasizes emotional security together
with technical skills. The paradigm establishes a vital connection within clinical science through its
development of an ethical and precise language that facilitates intentional therapeutic engagement with
vulnerable patient groups.
SN  - 2690-8077
UR  - https://dx.doi.org/10.33425/2690-8077.1185
DO  - 10.33425/2690-8077.1185