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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