NWN tends to feel that the most effective way to escape the object of your fear is to bounce around, inevitably heading towards more enemies, before running back to the first, then kind of running away some more into a wall.
Fear in this sense is the act of self-preservation. You do everything you can to keep yourself alive, caring not in the slightest about how much pain and suffering it brings to people you call your close friends. Paladins are immune for good reason, because they can't even consider doing that.
'Is it cowardice for a falling man to grab at a rope? No. It is instinct. And you will see that every man will succumb to this. Resistance is impossible, it is as much a part of you as your blinking eyes, your breathing lungs, your beating heart. You would sacrifice whatever you needed for that safety.'