Anxiety and Depression

12. February 2024

Depression and anxiety are different form of disorder, that shared many similar symptoms. People with depression or anxiety, commonly experience symptoms like, social withdrawal, problem in concentrating or sleeping, nervousness, worries , increase or decrease in appetite etc. But each disorder has its own causes and its own emotional and behavioral symptoms which is highly base on gender, age group or even social-cultural effects.

Anxiety

Anxiety disorder is one of the most common mental disorder. Women are more affected than men by anxiety during adolescence and mid-life crises transaction period. But anxiety is not a severe disorder and is treatable, numbers of effective treatments are available.

Anxiety refers to expectancy of life, relationship or any of its future concern and is more associated with physical tension and sidestepping behavior. It is also a body’s natural reaction to stress, unease, worries and it’s normal to experience occasional anxiety in times of life. But people with anxiety disorder frequently have intense, excessive and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations.

The feelings of anxiety and panic interfere with daily activities, are difficult to control and are out of proportion to the actual danger and can last a long time. A person may avoid public places or situations to prevent their feelings too.

The most common symptoms of anxiety are:

  • Anticipatory anxiety
  • Inability to concentrate
  • Rumination
  • Panic and doom feeling
  • Changes in appetite
  • Tense muscle
  • Heart palpitation
  • Insomnia or hypersomnia

Treatment for Anxiety

Psychotherapy is a common type of anxiety treatment, where you get counseling that helps you learn your emotion and physical affects, more like therapeutical talks on your mental health and about your thoughts, feelings and suggests ways to understand and manage them and your anxiety disorder.

This therapeutic forms of counseling will teaches you how to turn negative, or panic-causing, thoughts and behaviors into positive ones. Which will reliefs the current situation of disorder and put you in a process of healing and safe feelings.

Depression

Depression is slightly different from anxiety, it is a medical condition more as a depressive disorder and has its own unique set of symptoms.

The most commonly diagnosed is Major Depressive Disorder, and here are some of the common reasons of depressive disorder:

  • Seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
  • Depressive disorder on medical condition and medication
  • Hormones
  • Biological differences
  • Child abuse
  • Drug and alcohol abuse
  • Genetics
  • Life events

Depressive symptoms (clinical depression) include anxious or hopeless, unable to focus, difficulty with thinking, memory, felt sad, low or worthless. Loss of interest in activities that a person love to perform, experiencing physical difficulties like sexual dysfunction, body-aches or even suicidal thought etc.

Types of Depression:

  • Psychotic depression - it is a sign of severe depression which a person experience the symptoms of delusions or hallucinations.

  • Persistent depressive disorder (PDD) - PDD is define as a low mood occurring, also known as dysthymia. It might last up-to two years or more depends of the people.

  • Perinatal and postpartum depression - women who experience this type of depression is during pregnancy and after child birth. It can occur up-to one or two years after delivery with symptoms of stress, worried, sleepless or anticipatory anxiety.

  • Bipolar disorder - people experience a depressive symptoms such as hopeless, lack of energy, feeling loss of potential and sadness. They have alternating period from extremely low to very high manic energy mood of periods.

  • Seasonal affective disorder - SAD is a seasonal depression, people who suffer from SAD are mostly in depths of winter, it usually goes away during spring or early summer.

  • Atypical depression - it is a general depression mostly related with dysthymia symptoms, people with this type of depression improved mood and emotions by experiencing positive events.

Depression can get worse and last longer without a treatment. The longer a person suffers the case get severe, that can lead to self-harm or suicide. Positively, treatments are very effective and helpful in improving symptoms.

Treatment for Depression

Counseling or psychotherapy is one of the best and basic form of treatment. Professional mental health care or psychologist will help you in talking and address your problems which you’ve been fighting all by ourself and develop coping skills. Counseling and therapy session may differ from person to person depends on what types of depression you’re dealing with.

Other forms of treatment is medication where only Doctors will perform your prescription medicine, that can help changes in brain chemistry(neurochemistry) control and influence the physiology of the nervous system. If you cope up with the right medication along with counseling therapy, the chances of improvement are much higher rate than, medicine alone.

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