Anxiety vs fear ?

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How do you tell the difference?

Fear is when you live in a communist country where the government is too honest with its citizens.

Anxiety is when you live in a democratic country where the government manipulates its citizens and you never know what's around the corner.

Please note that both are good additives to pour in a fuel tank, such as a red bull can.

Phobias are considered extreme fear of something irrational & they fall into the category of anxiety disorders.

My personal definitions: Fear is when I am frightened by something bad which is actually happening. Anxiety is when I am frightened by the mere possibility that something bad might happen.

^ Yeah I agree

Fear is a visible threat
Anxiety is invisible or imagined


e.g.

Anxiety is being scared someone might break into your house
Fear is when you confront someone in your house

Time element.

Anxiety is fear about a future thing.

You can get symptoms of anxiety without feeling any fear at all, due to an over-reactive nervous system (I think).

For instance, imagine you are a sprinter about to run a race - you're going to be keyed up, your heart-rate high, palms sweaty, jiggling your hands and bouncing up and down. These are symptoms of anxiety but this is because your nervous system is in flight mode, not because of fear as such.

If you have an over-reactive nervous system or PTSD or something like that, you get into that 'flight mode' state more easily. For instance, just from everyday frustrations or stress. And if you have regulation issues (as a lot of autistics do) it can be harder (or take longer) to come down out of it.

I can't distinguish the difference very easily. I feel anxious and fearful as a passenger in a badly driven car for example and I'm anxious about an upcoming journey because my planning is patchy and when things start to go wrong I can make a series of bad decisions. Is that anxiety or a realistic fear or both?