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Questions & Answers:
Fear and anxiety..?
Q: What is the difference between
fear and anxiety?
A: In answer to your question regarding the difference
between fear and anxiety. The fear is the specific cognition/s in
respect to the individual Anxiety Disorders:
Very briefly:
- Panic Disorder : The fear: I'm having a heart attack/I'm going
to die/ I'm going insane
- Social Phobia: The fear: of embarrassment/making a fool of
themselves
- Post Traumatic Stress: The fear of the original trauma/
flashbacks &/or nightmares of the original trauma/ fear that
a similar trauma may happen again to themselves or loved ones
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: The fear of contamination/ fear
the person may hurt themselves, their loved ones, strangers/ the
fear that if something is not done a certain way something will
happen etc.
I am frightened ...........is the cognition. Anxiety is the
response to the cognition .
The fight and flight response is activated which is felt as physical
sensations: racing heart, over breathing, perspiration, shaking,
etc. The physical sensations equal anxiety.
Anxiety is across the spectrum from mild to severe. The fight and
flight response is very necessary in a dangerous situation: 'you are
in a field and a bull charges at you'. Or it can be subjective. As
one of the Professors we work with says : 'If you find yourselves at
the control of a plane and you can't fly you would be highly anxious
(to put it mildly), but if you were a pilot you wouldn't be!' (I
hope).
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