There’s a stark difference between anxiety and depression, yet, the two are very much correlative. People with anxiety often tread a road leading to depression. Contrarily, some depression disorders can heighten anxiety. Either way, despite their discrepancies, they often connect in ways that are unique to every mental health case. Understanding how these two are closely related despite their differences is key to embracing your condition and progressing in therapy.
What is Depression?
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Contrary to popular belief, depression isn’t as cut and dry as being sad. Sadness is only a small portion of the much bigger picture of what depression is. Depression is a mental health disorder that affects your behavior and thought patterns. For depression sufferers, these negative thought processes are a habitual loop that cannot be broken without professional therapy. Without proper help, these difficult thought patterns affect every aspect of life, potentially causing other mental health problems.
What are the Symptoms of Depression?
Depression often goes unnoticed until it’s too late. Nonetheless, depression reveals itself in several subtle behavioral and mental cues if you know what to look for. Take immediate and appropriate action if you notice any of these red flags.
Social Reclusiveness
Depression manifests itself behaviorally through reclusive and secluding behavior. That’s because depression sufferers lose the desire or drive to socialize and be a part of social activities or environments. This results in excessive time spent in their room or taking extra measures to detach themselves from interacting with people. This includes distancing themselves from their closest friends or family. If this occurs, do not leave them alone, but approach caringly and cautiously. Our fully committed team will teach you how to be that rock.
Disrupted Sleep Patterns
Mental health conditions like depression have several emotional and mental tolls. One of those mental impacts is insomnia. There is no singular reason why this happens, but some of those reasons include nightmares or disturbing thoughts. Dangerously, this frequently leads to late night or early morning hours spent alone stuck in these negative thought patterns. Our compassionate treatment team is dedicated to instilling you with the confidence and positivity to overcome your distressing thoughts. Doing so enables us to help you resolve your sleeping disturbances and, most importantly, your depression.
Extreme Lethargy
Mental health battles, especially ones involving persistent negative ponderings, take a lot out of you. Consequently, experiencing depression-induced lack of energy and extreme lethargy are very common, regardless of how much sleep you get. This energy-seeping rut can result in spending long hours in bed and having difficulty or desire to do much of anything. Free by the Sea can help restore energy levels by implementing strong confidence-building training methods.
Elevated Irritability Levels
Increased irritability is one of the most common behavioral cues of an individual experiencing depression. This is often because of the lack of desire for social interaction. As a result, the individual may respond combatively or irritably to small social interactions when approached. It’s important not to match this irritability with anger as these irritabilities express a deeper issue.
Extreme Sadness
Extreme sadness doesn’t properly articulate the miserable emotional depths depression leaves you in. Yet, it remains true that a primary indication of depression is extreme sadness. This sadness reflects itself behaviorally as being detached from one’s environment, negative or sad body language, or other likened cues. This cue, though often difficult to pick up on, must be met with swift action before it’s too late.
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is a state of mental unrest characterized by repetitive bouts of anxiousness, nervousness, or fears of an unfounded variety. Anxiety in nature is often a fiction of the mind’s imagination running rampant. Beyond that, anxiety is wholly consuming and if left unchecked, leads to several anxiety and mental health conditions. Anxiety disorders are no less important than others and can be the root cause of depression and other personality disorders.
What are the Symptoms of Anxiety?
Anxiety symptom manifestations depend on the type of anxiety disorder you suffer from and other personal variables. Based on your anxiety struggles, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms.
Nervous Ticks
Anxiety induces behavioral ticks such as nail-biting, repetitive scratching, or other nervous behavioral repetitions. These ticks can be just about any repetitive motion or pattern. Though often overlooked, these ticks can be a representation of deeper harbored anxiety. In some instances, these nervous behaviors can progress into greater anxiety symptoms like irregular breathing patterns or anxiety attacks.
Quick or Unusually Rapid Speech
Individuals who suffer anxiety may attempt to conceal it by speaking more instead of less. However, their speech may be unusually fast, almost to the point of indiscernibility. Though it’s normal to be nervous, this anxiety symptom of rapid speech is not to be overlooked. If this describes you or a loved one, these behavioral manifestations of anxiety can be improved and controlled with the proper training methods.
Uncontrollable Tremors
Involuntary body shakes, ranging from mild to severe, will occur in people with anxiety disorders. This is a common manifestation when anxiety reaches high levels. When these shakes occur it is vital to immediately bring down anxiety levels before they progress into a potential episode. These uncomfortable tremors are nothing to take lightly and should be reacted to with immediate therapeutic action.
Persistent Unfounded Worries or Fears
Anxiety symptoms, like depression symptoms, manifest themselves in negative thought patterns. However, the difference between anxiety and depression symptoms lies in the type of negative thought cycles. In anxiety, these thought patterns reveal themselves through unfounded worries or fears. These fears can be just about anything your mind imagines like fear of illnesses (hypochondriac), germs, or other unrealistic concerns.
Hot or Cold Sweats
Unnatural perspiration unrelated to exercise or external heat factors is a symptom of underlying anxiety. This occurs when the mind becomes so overwhelmed with stress that it triggers a physical bodily response. Any hot or cold sweats that are triggered by anxiety can spiral into a panic attack or other dangerous bodily harm if not tended to. These harms consist of but are not limited to, difficulty breathing, swallowing, disorientation, or other respiratory and cardiac distresses.
What is the Difference Between Anxiety and Depression?
In our intro, we stated there is a night and day difference between anxiety and depression, but did not specify the discrepancy. Though that may be obvious to many, the main key difference between the two lies in their symptoms and mental impacts. As you observe the aforementioned symptoms, you see the two heavily impact your thoughts in very different ways. Yet, these mental impacts are ironically how the two can dangerously intertwine as co-occurring disorders if left untreated.
Types of Anxiety Disorders
Not all anxiety disorders are the same, which is why they are categorized into types of anxiety disorders. Seek professional assessment to determine which of the following disorders your anxiety falls under to receive proper treatment.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Commonly referred to as GAD for short, generalized anxiety disorder is characterized by excessive and unfounded worry or fear of otherwise normal things that occur naturally in your daily life. For example, one may develop a fear for their health, life, or relationships for no underlying reason. GAD is equally harmful as the other conditions on this list and requires serious therapeutic attention. Seek immediate professional help if this describes you.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
General anxiety disorders and other anxiety struggles can ultimately lead to OCD. Obsessive-compulsive disorder involves thought patterns that spurn repetitive behavioral cycles that can remain unbroken for minutes, hours, or days depending on severity. These cycles are involuntary and to the individual, unstoppable. Such cycles such as repetitive handwashing, persistent reorganizing, or other dutiful repetitions will eventually harm you emotionally, physically, and mentally. This includes affecting job performance, relationships, and mental and physical health.
Panic Disorder
Panic disorder is especially scary because of its characteristics of panic attack episodes. These panic attacks can occur at any moment with little or no indication of an impending attack. The only sign of a panic attack may simply be minor anxiety ticks like nail-biting, rapid speech, or other seemingly minor stress responses. These panic attacks induce added strain on the heart and other vital organs that can cause cardiac arrest or other life-threatening bodily responses.
Social Anxiety Disorder
Social anxiety disorder, or social phobia, covers a wide range of socially-related phobias. These social anxieties are exhibited through unfounded and excessive worries of being judged, disliked, or rejected by your peers. This can also consist of unfounded fears of being watched or being ill-spoken in conversations or settings that don’t involve you. SAD can also include fearing any social situations or environments as a whole, even with those closest to you.
Free by the Sea Offers Treatment for Anxiety and Depression
Free by the Sea doesn’t deal with generalized therapy. We know there’s a big difference between anxiety and depression disorders and we utilize very diverse approaches to both. More importantly, we treat every patient according to their struggles, needs, and treatment goals. That’s why our meticulously personalized therapy programs for anxiety and depression disorders are unmatched throughout the country. You’ll learn firsthand just how life-changing our unique treatment methods are by simply contacting our treatment receptionists now.
Dr. Richard Crabbe joined our team in 2019 as our psychiatrist and medical director. He attended the University of Ghana Medical School where he became a Medical Doctor in 1977. From 1978 through 1984, he was a medical officer in the Ghana Navy and provided a variety of services from general medicine to surgeries. He received his Certificate in General Psychology from the American Board of Psychology and Neurology in 2002.