This is obviously a big issue that I'm working on with T right now. Here's what my T had to say re: feelings vs. emotions:

Fear (scared) would be the emotion that may include feelings described as anxiety, apprehension, panic, nervousness, tense, etc. We have five basic emotional states. We label feelings in these states based upon the intensity. The better we are at labeling and communicating about the feeling, typically, the better we are at coping with them. The generally agreed upon categories are: MAD, SAD, BAD (guilt, shame, embarrassed, etc), GLAD AND SCARED.

For those of us who have somehow built a coping mechanism where we tell ourselves that we don't have/need/desire feelings... feelings can be an incredibly perplexing and terrifying thing. It is much easier for me to tell myself I am self-sufficient and don't really give a crap about anything or anyone.

If you ask me I'll gladly tell you I would prefer to be a machine. However, my panic attacks indicate how well THAT little plan is working out for me ...