Fear vs. Anxiety
admin October 12th, 2009
What is the real distinction between fear and anxiety? Read about it in this article in Psychology Today.
Most of us make some distinction between fear and anxiety. Sometimes it’s merely a matter of linguistics. We say we have a fear of something (flying, aging) and anxiety about something (flying, aging).
Sometimes we distinguish the two by our bodily experience. I’m sure you’re aware that the neurobiology of fear is different than the neurobiology of anxiety. The sudden re-arrangement of your guts when an intruder holds a knife to your back (fear), is different from the mild nausea, dizziness and butterflies in your stomach as you’re about to make a difficult phone call (anxiety).
Anxiety is also the word of choice to describe lingering apprehension, or a chronic sense of worry or tension, the sources of which may be totally unclear.
But the notion that “fear” always connotes something bigger and stronger than “anxiety” breaks down in real life experience.
Read the full article
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