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Anxiety/Depression
The combination punch is a lot for anyone to bear. Researchers cite a common “chicken or the egg” syndrome, where it’s unclear which disorder led to the other and complicated the patient’s condition. While this might make the climb out of a psychological hole feel longer and steeper, it’s encouraging to know that health-care professionals are very successful at treating the two in tandem. The Sting of Stigma Let’s first be clear about what these conditions are not. In the past 20 years or so, the increase in public education and, to a degree, pharmaceutical advertising has been responsible for legitimizing depression and anxiety in the public eye, but a few antiquated ideas still linger. “Depression used to be an under-treated disease, in part because people were ashamed of it,” says Dr. Faruk Abuzzahab Sr., who practices with Clinical Psychopharmacology Consultants in Minneapolis. “They thought it was a disgrace to (appear to have) fallen out of your faith or to lose hope or be suicidal. People thought it was their cross in life to bear.” Similarly, a pervasive perception remains that depression and anxiety stem from some mental weakness or inherent fault in a person’s constitution. People suffering from these disorders are hypersensitive to the world around them and often adapt misconceptions like these as their own. They can be haunted by the familiar refrain, “Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.” The sense of inadequacy people can feel while dealing with a mental disorder is further burdened by the notion that they are not even strong enough to rescue themselves. But by their very definitions, anxiety and depression are marked by incapacitation and a disruption in one’s ability to cope. Inadequacy is not a cause—it’s a symptom. Shared Symptoms Beyond the fact that depression and anxiety so frequently exist at the same time, they share many other qualities. Dr. Carolyn Robinowitz, president elect of the American Psychiatric Association in Washington, D.C., explains, “The characteristics for the two can be different, but there is some overlap. For example, people who are depressed may have insomnia, restlessness, irritability, fatigue, difficulty concentrating—and that’s all true for anxiety, too. Anxiety Symptons Feeling worried or nervous is a normal part of everyday life. Everyone frets or feels anxious from time to time. Mild to moderate anxiety can be an effective means of helping you focus your attention, energy, and motivation. However, if anxiety is severe, you may have feelings of helplessness, confusion, and extreme worry that are out of proportion with the actual seriousness or likelihood of the feared event. Anxiety that becomes overwhelming and interferes with daily life is not normal. This type of anxiety may be a symptom of another problem, such as depression. Anxiety can cause physical and emotional s |
Depression and anxiety, two mental illnesses that plague an enormous number of Americans, are deeply entwined. Anxiety disorders are the most common of all mental disorders and afflict 19.2 million adults, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Depression follows closely at more than 18.8 million. In about half of all depression and anxiety cases—the more severe cases, typically—a person who suffers from one will be affected by the other as well.