How Are Depression And Anxiety Connected?

At first glance, depression and anxiety may appear to be at total opposite ends of the spectrum. When we think of depression we envision somebody who doesn’t have the motivation to do anything, who feels hopeless, flat or is completely withdrawn from society. On the other hand when we think of anxiety we often envision somebody who is constantly on edge, agitated and worried about everything … so how could these two possibly be connected?

Well as it turns out, a very common form of depression is what is referred to as ‘agitated depression’. In a nutshell agitated depression encompasses both elements of helplessness (anxiety) and hopelessness (depression). Often people who experience agitated depression will feel hopeless, empty and lack enjoyment while simultaneously feeling on edge, irritable or in a constant state of over thinking. They may feel exhausted all day but have trouble sleeping at night due to rumination and negative thoughts or intense worry about past or future events. They may feel that they lack the motivation to take part in any activities but consequentially worry and experience guilt around everything they should be doing.This link appears to have a lot to do with the way people with depression and anxiety manage stress.

When we think of our ‘fight, flight or freeze’ response it appears evident that in both depression and anxiety we will often respond to stressful or threatening situations with flight. For example, someone who is confident, decisive and self-assured may not see an issue in attending a party which their ex-partner will also be at. A person with depression or anxiety on the other hand, may worry about what might happen, engage in critical or negative thoughts and consequently not attend.

Neither depression nor anxiety is characterised by decisiveness or confidence in ones abilities and so people with both these mental illnesses tend to avoid situations that they know will make them anxious and tend to withdraw as they don’t feel that they have the capabilities to deal with these challenges. While people with anxiety tend to be motivated to avoid due to their fears of what may happen and an attempt to avoid these feelings and subsequent outcomes; people with depression tend to ruminate, engage in negative self-talk and therefore tend to withdraw from these situations (although there is a lot of overlap between the two). However in both cases, these people feel an overwhelming lack of self-confidence often leading them to retreat from challenging situations.

Furthermore, there is also a fair amount of overlap between the symptoms of depression and anxiety adding to the likelihood that a person may be diagnosed with both. These include difficulty concentrating, sleep disturbances, lack of motivation, fatigue, feeling of guilt, difficulty concentrating, a loss of appetite, irritable, tearful and a low self-esteem. This means that there is a lot of comorbidity between depression and anxiety and also that misdiagnosis has the potential to occur (diagnosing someone with depression when they likely have anxiety or vice versa).

So what can we do about it?

Psychological treatments in the form of talk therapies are particularly useful for both depression and anxiety. This could be in the form of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) or psycho-education around mindfulness, relaxation, breathing technique and developing self-awareness and positive self-talk can be helpful. Medications may also be useful for some people, particularly when taken alongside of psychotherapy.

The good news is that there are a number of health professionals, resources and tools that can provide great assistance throughout ones recovery process and many people with depression and anxiety do recover and/or learn to cope effectively with it.