Question

Which of these criteria distinguishes a fear from a phobia?

Answer 1

I see no option choices but a phobia is defined as an extreme irrational fear. Fear is your response to what you perceive as a threat and a phobia is more of a disorder, causing great anxiety disproportionate to the cause of your fear.

Answer 2

A phobia is similar to a fear with one key difference: the anxiety they experience is so strong that it interferes with their quality of life and/ or their ability to function. Whereas many people fear spiders, only a small subsection of the population will meet criteria for a spider phobia. People who have a spider phobia often spend considerable time worrying about spiders, spend an inordinate amount of time ensuring they do not come in contact with a spider, and will avoid places and activities in order to avoid spiders.
Making a distinction between a fear and a phobia is useful because they are qualitatively very different problems.