My experience is that asking five whys can help you manage or mitigate some of the root causes. You probably won't get them all on this pass, but if this is important, it'll come up again and you'll try some other root causes. However, if you think you've found the root cause, you're probably wrong. I dunno about "terrifying", but accumulating scar tissue can definitely create more problems than it solves.
Relevant: http://web.mit.edu/2.75/resources/random/How%20Complex%20Sys...
My experience is that asking five whys can help you manage or mitigate some of the root causes. You probably won't get them all on this pass, but if this is important, it'll come up again and you'll try some other root causes. However, if you think you've found the root cause, you're probably wrong. I dunno about "terrifying", but accumulating scar tissue can definitely create more problems than it solves.