Anxiety, Fear, and Panic Attacks Anxiety, Fear, and Panic Attacks Help or Advice Contrary to common thought, fear and anxiety are not the same thing. While fear is an unpleasant emotion and a physiological response to recognized sources of danger, anxiety involves apprehension, tension, and uneasiness caused by anticipation of a danger from an unknown and unrecognized source.
Anxiety is much less specific, and it is primarily of intraphsychic origin.
Anxiety, on the other hand, becomes pathologic when it interferes with effectiveness in living, achieving goals, and achieving emotional comfort. Anxiety and depression are closely linked. A phobia is a specific fear, cued by the presence or anticipation of a specific object or situation. Exposure to the feared object or situation provokes immediate anxiety, or sometimes a panic attack. The phobia stimulus can sometimes be endured, but with marked distress.