Is there a difference between a fear and a phobia?
Fear is a more general term. Phobia is an irrational fear of something. Fearing things that aren’t inherently dangerous at all, or the fear is out of proportion to the thing. So, fear of being in enclosed spaces — claustrophobia. There’s no danger, but you feel anxious or even panic when in a small space. Arachnophobia — fear of spiders. Not all spiders are dangerous, and then only if they bite you, but you feel terror and panic at the very sight of one. If you’re driving and a car suddenly stops in front of you, you feel fear. But that’s good because you need to react fast in order to avoid a crash. Hence, that was a rational fear, as it’s a dangerous situation.
