While depression and anxiety are two different biological and mental disorders, their symptoms, causes, and treatments are often similar. It’s normal to experience anxiety or depression from time to time. However, if these feelings occur frequently and negatively impact your day-to-day life, you might need medical intervention.
What is Anxiety?
You’re sitting on the couch, eyes nervously darting around. Your mind is buzzing with a thousand possibilities and your heart is pounding. You can’t shake that feeling of doom and despair.
For many people, this scenario sounds like a typical night at home. You would be surprised to learn that for some people, these feelings aren’t just an occasional event. For them, it’s an ongoing struggle that affects their daily life. These are people who suffer from anxiety.
Anxiety is a very human emotion that we experience from time to time. It is a feeling of fear, dread, and uneasiness that might cause you to sweat, feel restless and tense, and have a rapid heartbeat. It can be a normal reaction to stress, but it may also be a symptom of a mental health disorder.
What causes Anxiety?
There are multiple theories about the causes of anxiety. Some researchers believe that anxious feelings and physical symptoms occur when a person evaluates potential threats in a harmful way. Known as “Alarm Theory,” this view holds that anxiety signals threats that cause bodily reactions in fight-or-flight responses.
Scientists have long suspected that anxiety feeds on itself. That humans are vulnerable to the buildup of stress in the same way a dirty computer can accumulate a snowball of junk data in its hard drive. Genetics, brain biology and chemistry, stress, and your surroundings could all play a role that will eventually show symptoms of anxiety.
What are anxiety symptoms?
Anxiety can feel like a monster lurking in the shadows, causing you to worry about future events. Sometimes anxiety leads you to stressful situations that make you feel an overwhelming worry that is often irrational and beyond your control. There would be situations where it’s harder to know what’s real versus what’s not. Some people with anxiety may describe a feeling of impending doom, while others may talk about the feeling that something is not quite right.
While anxiety disorders can have a variety of causes, the common symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) are frequently the following:
- Rapid breathing or shortness of breath
- Restlessness
- Increased heart rate
- Sleep difficulties
- Poor concentration
- Sense of hopelessness and feelings of fear
- Uncontrollable and persistent worries and concerns
How to calm anxiety?
There are many ways to manage anxiety symptoms at the moment, whether you’re feeling anxious about doing something or you live with a type of anxiety disorder. No matter where we are on the scale, there are natural remedies for anxiety that are worth considering, either on their own or as a complement to traditional treatments (though if you are getting professional care, talk to your doctor first). Some are lifestyle changes that can help lessen anxiety over time, such as a regular meditation practice, physical activity, spending time outdoors, or making a few food swaps. Others, like deep breathing and distraction techniques, can provide natural anxiety relief the moment the mind sends an SOS.
What is depression?
Depression is a mood disorder that can make life feel like a never-ending struggle. It’s one of the most common mental health conditions, affecting over 300 million people worldwide. Everyone experiences feelings of sadness and feels down from time to time – it’s a normal response to loss, disappointment, or life’s challenges.
Clinical depression is different. When an overwhelming feeling of sadness and lack of interest in activities lasts for many days to weeks and keeps you from living your life, it may be something more than sadness. Clinical depression is a biologically based mental illness that makes you feel constant sadness or lack of interest in life.
What causes depression?
Depression is a complex disease. According to research, depression is not caused by having too much or too little of particular brain chemicals. Instead, there are a variety of psychological factors to a person that might lead to depression, including a brain that doesn’t regulate mood well, hereditary predisposition, and stressful events.
It’s thought that several of these factors work together to cause depression. No one knows exactly what causes it, but it can happen for a variety of reasons.
- Abuse
- Age
- Certain medications
- Conflict
- Death/Loss
- Gender
- Genes
- Major events
- Serious medical conditions
- Substance misuse
What are depression symptoms?
You know that feeling when you’re sitting in a room full of people watching the world go by when you just wish you were somewhere else? Everyone else seems to be having fun. But all you can do is sit there and feel low, lost, and dejected. There’s inner emptiness, an inability to enjoy the moment, and dark hopelessness that has set in.
Depression is a mental illness that can range from mild to severe. The signs and symptoms of depression vary, depending on the person. Although depression may occur only once during your life, people with depression may typically have multiple episodes and physical symptoms that include:
- Loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed
- Feelings of hopelessness, tearfulness, emptiness, or sadness
- Angry outbursts, irritability or frustration, even over small matters
- Frequent or recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, or suicide
- Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
- Unexplained physical problems, such as back pain or headaches
- Changes in appetite — weight loss or gain unrelated to dieting
What helps depression?
When you’re depressed, you can’t just “snap out of it.” Taking the first step is always the hardest. But once you do, it’s easier to keep moving forward. As with many things, early action is key in overcoming depression. Once you start feeling better, you have more motivation and energy to keep going until you’ve fully recovered.
- Spend time with friends and stay connected
- Do things that make you feel good
- Get out of bed get moving
- Eat good, healthy food
- Soak up the sunlight
- Challenge negative thinking
- Get into a healthy lifestyle
- Antidepressant medications
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
Taking steps to improve your life is a positive step toward improving your depression. Positive thinking, treatment options, lifestyle changes, and support from family and friends all have their place in the fight against depression, but sometimes, you need more help. Seeking professional help doesn’t mean you’re weak; in fact, it shows that you’re willing to go the extra mile to improve your life!