How does Carolyn Scott differentiate between fear and anxiety in her articles?

Hi, I’m Carolyn Scott-Hamilton from The Healthy Voyager.

In my articles, I describe fear as a primal, intense reaction to a clear, immediate threat—like seeing a bear in the woods and going straight into fight-or-flight. It’s sharp, urgent, and very focused on immediate harm.

I describe anxiety as a more generalized feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease that may or may not have a clear trigger—like feeling on edge from watching distressing news. Anxiety can be ongoing, less intense moment to moment, but more chronic and draining over time. Fear is often a “spike,” while anxiety is more of a baseline.

Would you like help exploring practical ways to manage anxiety day to day?