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What is anxiety and depression

Depression and anxiety might seem to be at odds with each other.

What is more, the main symptom of depression is typically a lingering low, sad, or hopeless mood, while anxiety mainly involves overwhelming feelings of worry, nervousness, and fear. But in reality, these conditions do actually share several key symptoms. Anxiety, for instance, commonly includes irritability—many people with depression may feel more irritable than sad. So these conditions may not be a reliable indication of what your symptoms mean because they show up differently between people.

Depression and anxiety disorders can co-occur. In 2015, in a global survey, 41.6% of people reported experiencing both major depression and an anxiety disorder in that same 12-month period. One thing that’s equally important that both depression and anxiety have in common: they can improve with mental health professional support. Below is a summary of key symptoms and warning signs for each condition as well as some tips for dealing with your symptoms and ways to find support.

What are the symptoms of both conditions?

There are a few distinguishing differences that may help one differentiate between the symptoms of depression from anxiety.

Depression

It is normal to feel down, blue, or even sad from time to time, particularly during stressful or hurtful life experiences. However, persistent sadness and feelings of emptiness, that lasts more than 2 weeks could be an indication of depression especially if your low mood seems not to change, and you seem not to be lifted by any positive events or changes in the environment.

Other accompanying symptoms of a depressive mood—low, sad, or even empty— include:

  • Anhedonia: Loss of interest in, or the inability to derive pleasure from, activities that one found enjoyable in the past.
  • A lack of hope or pessimism.
  • Anger, annoyance, and agitation.
  • Lacks energy or feels slowed down.
  • Tiredness or sleeping problems.
  • Changes in eating habits and weight.
  • Difficulty concentrating, making decisions, or remembering things.
  • Unexplained body aches and pains or gastrointestinal problems.
  • Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, or helplessness.
  • Thoughts of killing, ending their life, or passing away.
Anxiety

Most people experience some anxiety—feelings of fear, nervousness, and worry—from time to time. Anxiety is in fact a part of how you respond to stress, so you might actually be experiencing the following:

  • Before significant life events.
  • When making serious decisions.
  • When embarking on something new.

But if the anxiety that you feel is most days, with a lot of worries, and this continues over several months or is very severe—interfering with your life—it could be an anxiety disorder.

Worry about normal things—such as health, performance at school and work, and relations with others—may become pervasive and result in persistent thoughts and fears that eventually impact everyday life.

The main symptoms of generalized anxiety are:
  • Difficulty managing fear and worry.
  • Irritability, physical restlessness, or that ‘on-edge’ feeling.
  • A feeling of foreboding, doom, or panic.
  • Sleep problems.
  • Relentless fatigue.
  • Beclouded mindset.
  • Physical symptoms like headaches, muscle tension, nausea, and diarrhea.
Similar symptoms

While it is important to remember that not everyone with depression, anxiety, or both conditions will experience the same set of symptoms, several of the symptoms are commonly seen in both.

Symptoms you may experience with either condition:
  • Changes in sleep patterns.
  • Energy level changes.
  • More irritability.
  • Difficulty focusing, inability to concentrate, and memory trouble.
  • Aches and pains, or stomach issues without any visible cause.

Rumination can also happen with both conditions. In layman’s terms, rumination is basically a process in which the continuous loop of thoughts—dark, sad, or other negative things—plays out. You don’t want to think these things, but you just can’t seem to shut them off.

Some things that you may experience with anxiety:
  • Stuck in a cycle where you explore, over and over, all the possible ways a situation could go wrong.
  • You cannot cease thinking of all the things that trouble you, even though it is clear to you that nothing can be done about them.

For example, with depression, you may find yourself:

  • Becoming preoccupied with guilt about one’s lack of energy to be with friends.
  • Ruminating over past events, going over and over, and blaming yourself for things you have no control over, including feelings of depression.
Ways to Break the Cycle of Rumination.

It is natural to feel down, sad, stressed, anxious, or experience all four of the aforementioned emotions at times.

Nevertheless, you’re the best person to know what’s typical for you. If you begin to have new, uncomfortable feelings or a change in your energy and motivation, it never hurts to check in with a mental health professional for further guidance.

You may be curious if an online self-test about anxiety or depression may give you more insight into the changes that you have been noticing. Such tests are found helpful by some to take as a first step, but the more personalized route includes asking a few questions.

  • Do I spend a lot more time worrying than I have in the past?
  • Am I often feeling sad, empty, or hopeless?
  • Is my interest in things I used to enjoy doing waning?
  • Have I started to isolate from friends and family?
  • Do I worry about things I can’t control to the point that it is hard to think about anything else?
  • Do I get irritable or frustrated more easily than I used to?
  • Do I often feel restless or on edge, or do I easily get annoyed?
  • Do I cycle through dark, undesirable, or fearful thoughts that just don’t seem to stop?
  • Does it take you longer to fall asleep than you would like?
  • Have I been through unexplained aches or tension in my body or any other symptoms?
  • Do these alterations influence my personal life or relationships?

If you have answered “yes” to the majority of those questions, I have some remedies which helped me.

  • Psychotherapy
  • Medications
  • Prayer (5 times)
  • Listening to Naat
  • Going for walks
  • Talking to your friends

Whenever there is worry that any of these symptoms may be present, it is always good to seek professional help:

  • Last longer than a week or two.
  • Create problems in regular life or relationships.
  • Begin to have repercussions on your health.

In therapy, you can get help to identify the symptoms that you’ve been observing and how to address them, whether they might be related to depression, anxiety, or any other issue altogether.

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