Why Does Anxiety Cause Depression

Breathing And Respiratory Changes

During periods of anxiety, a persons breathing may become rapid and shallow, which is called hyperventilation.

Hyperventilation allows the lungs to take in more oxygen and transport it around the body quickly. Extra oxygen helps the body prepare to fight or flee.

Hyperventilation can make people feel like they are not getting enough oxygen and they may gasp for breath. This can worsen hyperventilation and its symptoms, which include:

• dizziness
• weakness

What Are The Most Common Causes Of Anxiety

Anxiety is a response to uncertainty and danger, and the trigger can be almost anything, or nothing in particular, just a generalized, vague sense of dread or misfortune. High on the list of anxiety-generating situations is having to give a talk or presentation or being called on in class, where people risk loss of social standing by being judged negatively.

People can feel anxious because their neural circuitry has become so sensitized it perceives threat where it doesnt exist. Too, there are substancescaffeine is oneand medications that stimulate the same physical sensations as anxiety. People differ in their susceptibility to anxiety, as a result of their biological makeup, their parental inheritance, their own life history, personality factors, and the coping skills they acquire or cultivate.

How To Tell If You Have Anxiety Depression Or Both

As you can see from the symptom descriptions, there is some cross-over between the two. In mental health, one of the more common comorbidities is that of depression and anxiety. This means that more than one disease or condition can be present in the same person at the same time. In fact, some studies show that 60% of those with anxiety will also have symptoms of depression and the numbers are similar for those with depression.

Anxiety and depression can occur sequentially, one after another, or they can co-occur, said Jerimya Fox, a licensed professional counselor and a doctor of behavioral health at Banner Behavioral Health Hospital. This is because the same neurotransmitters, including serotonin, dopamine and epinephrine, are involved in both.

To meet the diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder or depression, however, symptoms must be persistent and impairing.

For anxiety, these must persist for several months, and for depression a couple weeks, Dr. Fox said.

To assess the severity of your symptoms, Dr. Fox suggests the following:

• Ask a trusted family member or friend if they have noticed changes in your behavior.
• Recognize the severity of your symptoms: mild, moderate or severe.
• Track your thoughts and symptoms. How often are you getting sick? How often are you having racing thoughts? How often are you having difficulty getting out of bed?

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What Is The Link In Between Smoking Cigarettes And Psychological Health And Wellness Conditions

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Signs and symptoms are milder and also last for numerous days instead of a week or more. Senior high school can be a tough time for pupils as well as many struggle with their psychological wellness. They might deal with obstacles establishing social connectedness in their institution community, participating in help-seeking actions, developing life skills, and seeking why does anxiety cause depression therapy. Bipolar affective disorder can wreak havoc on a persons goals as well as partnerships. But along with appropriate medical care, sufferers can find out dealing skills and techniques to keep their lives on the right track. Bipolar illness, like numerous mental disorders, is occasionally a controversial medical diagnosis.

Stress Is Not Anxiety Or Depression

Stress is not the same as anxiety or depression but for some people, being stressed for a long time can lead to anxiety or depression, and it can affect a persons physical health, particularly cardiovascular health.

When we talk about being stressed, it usually means were upset or tense about something thats happening in our lives. Stress is a normal part of daily life. Its a natural physical and mental response that is designed to help people cope effectively with emergencies.

Some stress can be a good thing. It can help us get motivated to get things done, but health problems from stress happen when it is regular and doesnt let up.

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What Is It Like To Have High

People living with high-functioning anxiety and depression usually do not fit the stereotype of either disorder. In fact, many appear to be overachievers. The anxiety can serve as an energizer, driving the person towards achieving his or her goals. Its later, when in private, that the symptoms of depression tend to emerge. Feelings of self-doubt and self-criticism, fatigue, helplessness or guilt, moodiness, and a desire to avoid interaction with others become intensified. Because the stereotypical image of depression or anxiety doesnt match up with what people living with high-functioning anxiety and depression look like, it is hard to spot, even for sufferers to recognize in themselves. However, the symptoms of high-functioning anxiety and depression are the same as for non-high functioning anxiety and depression. The main difference is the ability to suppress or diminish the appearance of disruptions in life activities.

You Have Unstable Blood Sugar

You dont have to be diabetic to have a blood sugar problem. We help many of our patients here at Parsley Health pull the brakes on the rollercoaster of symptoms theyve been experiencing from spikes and dips in blood sugar.

Take a typical on-the-go breakfast for many people: a pastry and sugary coffee drink. That wave of sugar creates a rapid spike in your blood sugar and causes your pancreas to release insulin to stabilize it. As your blood sugar returns to normal, you crash, feeling tired. Youll also feel hungry again pretty quickly, leading you to reach for carbs and perpetuating the cycle.

All that sugar adds up. When people consumed 40g of added sugar a day in the form of a can of soda for three weeks, they showed at least a 60 percent increase in high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, a marker for inflammation. Inflammation has been associated with many chronic diseases, including depression. Learning to eat a combination of , protein, and healthy fat at each meal and never skipping a meal can help you maintain steady blood sugar throughout the day and tame inflammation.

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Depression And Suicide: Getting Help In A Crisis

Some people who are depressed may think about hurting themselves or committing suicide . If you or someone you know is having thoughts about hurting themselves or committing suicide please seek immediate help. The following resources can help:

• Call to reach a 24hour crisis center or dial 911. is the National Suicide Prevention Lifelineexternal icon, which provides free confidential help to people in crisis. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrationexternal icon runs this lifeline.
• Get help from your primary doctor or other health care provider.
• Reach out to a close friend or loved one.
• Contact a minister, spiritual leader, or someone else in your faith community.

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Who Is Prone To Anxiety

To a large degree, people who are prone to clinical depression are also vulnerable to clinical anxiety. The conditions have many features in common. Chief among them is a history of adverse childhood experience, such as abuse or neglect. The reason is that maltreatment can indelibly alter the stress system so that it is hypersensitive to danger and reacts with an outpouring of alarm signals that overwhelm the capacity for emotion processing. Scoring high on the personality trait of neuroticism also inclines an individual to anxiety. Neuroticism reflects a tendency to respond to stressful experiences most readily and intensely with negative emotions and to perceive threats where they do not exist. In addition, people who lack the skills of emotion regulation are vulnerable to anxiety they can be easily overwhelmed by situations that create uncertainty or stir any negative feelings.

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Medication For Anxiety And Depression

Sometimes, medication is necessary to effectively manage your depression and anxiety. There are a variety of prescription drugs that are designed to treat each condition.

• Benzodiazepines
• Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs
• Tricyclics
• Monoamine oxidase inhibitors, or MAOIs

• 5-HT2 receptor antagonists
• 5-HT3 receptor antagonist

Although you can talk to your primary care doctor about medications for anxiety and depression, you may need to see a psychiatrist specializing in the conditions. Psychiatrists are experienced in medications specifically for mental health disorders and may have more specialized knowledge than a general practitioner.

Treatment For Anxiety And Depression At High Focus Centers

At High Focus Centers, our clinicians, therapists, and staff work closely with individuals living with a range of mental health disorders including anxiety and depression. Contact us today to learn more about our adult and teen mental health treatment programs. Get in touch and have a friendly, non-judgmental conversation with our team. Start your path to a healthier life today!

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The Connection Between Depression And Anxiety

Although they are distinct mental health disorders, anxiety and depression often occur together. The rate of people with both depression and anxiety is about 40 to 50 percent. When two conditions occur together, they are said to be comorbid or have a high comorbidity. This simply means having one of the disorders or conditions makes a person more likely to suffer from the other condition.

Mental Markers Of Depression

People with depression may:

• Be hopeless, assuming that nothing positive will happen in the future for themselves, for others, or for the world
• Believe it is not worth trying to think or feel differently, because of this hopelessness
• Feel worthless, as if who they are or what they do is not valuable
• Think about death due to a persistent belief that life is not worth living or that the individual is a burden on others. In cases of moderate to severe depression, more specific suicidal thoughts can be present.

In major depressive disorder , these types of thoughts are persistent most of the day and more days than not for weeks on end. If a person vacillates between a very low and very high mood state, then a diagnosis of bipolar disorder may apply. For any variant of a mood disorder, the low mood state is likely to be characterized by the type of thinking described above.

If you are having suicidal thoughts, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 for support and assistance from a trained counselor. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.

For more mental health resources, see our National Helpline Database.

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What Biological Factors Influence Anxiety

The state of a persons health, past or present, plays a large role in triggering anxiety. Those with chronic conditions such as diabetes or heart disease are at risk of constant worry about getting sick or sudden death. In fact, having a heart attack is known to raise the risk of health anxiety by 20 to 30 percent. People with breathing problems such as asthma or who have severe allergies to common substances may live with chronic worry about exposure to triggering substances. Some people are highly sensitive to internal body sensationsinteroceptionand may devote so much mental energy to monitoring, say, their heartbeats that every variation becomes a source of doubt and concern. A large number of peoplein some estimates, as many as 20 percent of the populationare said to be highly sensitive having a low threshold of nervous system arousal, they overrespond to both internal and external stimuli and can be easily overwhelmed emotionally. Their reactivity is linked to the personality trait of neuroticism, one of the strongest risk factors for anxiety.

Symptoms Of Anxiety In Men

Anxiety is more than having sweaty palms and butterflies in your stomach. Symptoms of anxiety can include ongoing feelings of worry, fear and impending doom that are so severe they interfere with your ability to work, maintain relationships and get a decent nights sleep. Physical signs of anxiety may include:

• pounding or racing heart

• thinking about death or suicide.

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How Common Are Anxiety And Depression

Anxiety disorders affect nearly 20 percent of American adults. That means millions are beset by an overabundance of the fight-or-flight response that primes the body for action. When youre stressed, the brain responds by prompting the release of cortisol, natures built-in alarm system. It evolved to help animals facing physical threats by increasing respiration, raising the heart rate and redirecting blood flow from abdominal organs to muscles that assist in confronting or escaping danger.

These protective actions stem from the neurotransmitters epinephrine and norepinephrine, which stimulate the sympathetic nervous system and put the body on high alert. But when they are invoked too often and indiscriminately, the chronic overstimulation can result in all manner of physical ills, including digestive symptoms like indigestion, cramps, diarrhea or constipation, and an increased risk of heart attack or stroke.

Depression, while less common than chronic anxiety, can have even more devastating effects on physical health. While its normal to feel depressed from time to time, more than 6 percent of adults have such persistent feelings of depression that it disrupts personal relationships, interferes with work and play, and impairs their ability to cope with the challenges of daily life. Persistent depression can also exacerbate a persons perception of pain and increase their chances of developing chronic pain.

What Causes Depression

Current research suggests that depression is caused by a combination of genetic, biological, environmental and psychological factors. While it may occur at any age, it often begins in adulthood. As with many anxiety disorders, depression in children and adolescents may present itself as irritability more than low mood.4

As mentioned above, depression is often spawned from an anxiety disorder left untreated.

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The Causes Of Anxiety

The true cause of anxiety is being a human being, gifted with the capacity to imagine a future. As a mental state of apprehension about what might, or might not, lie ahead, anxiety reflects uncertainty about future circumstances, whether regarding ones own health, job, or love life, or climate change or a downturn in the economy. It can be triggered by events in the real worldan upcoming doctors visit, relationship conflict, a rent increaseor generated wholly internally, through thoughts of real or imagined threats .

Occasional bouts of anxiety are entirely normal and one of the unavoidable costs of being alive anxiety alerts us to danger, compels our attention, and urges us to make necessary preparations to protect ourselves. But sometimes worries intensify or persist, endlessly caroming through the brain without engaging problem-solving mechanisms, or overwhelming them, and impairing the ability to function. Many factors can contribute to prolonged ruminationworry, the cognitive component of anxiety over uncertain outcomes.

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• Why does anxiety so often occur with depression?

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• Anxiety and depression in men are common, and effective, evidence-based treatments are available.
• Anxiety and depression are mental health conditions, not weaknesses.
• Taking action may seem difficult but help and support is readily available.
• Its important to seek support for anxiety and depression early the sooner the better.
• With the right treatment, most people recover from anxiety and depression.

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What Is An Anxiety Disorder

Anxiety describes a group of disorders that cause worry, nervousness, and fear. These feelings of anxiety interfere with everyday life and are out of proportion to the triggering object or event.

In some cases, people are unable to identify a trigger and feel anxious for what seems like no reason.

While mild anxiety can be expected in some situations, such as before an important presentation or meeting, persistent anxiety can interfere with a persons well-being.

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, anxiety disorders represent the most common mental illness in the United States and affect 40 million adults in the country every year.

While these disorders respond well to treatment, but only 36.9 percent of people with an anxiety disorder receive treatment.

Types of anxiety disorders include:

• Generalized anxiety disorder excessive anxiety for no apparent reason that lasts for 6 months or longer
• Social anxiety fear of judgment or humiliation in social situations
• fear of being away from home or family
• Phobia fear of a specific activity, object, or situation
• Hypochondriasis persistent fear of having serious health issues
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder recurring thoughts that cause specific behaviors
• Post-traumatic stress disorder severe anxiety after a traumatic event or events

Changes In Digestive Function

Cortisol blocks processes that the body considers nonessential in a fight or flight situation.

One of these blocked processes is digestion. Also, adrenaline reduces blood flow and relaxes the stomach muscles.

As a result, a person with anxiety may experience nausea, diarrhea, and a feeling that the stomach is churning. They may also lose their appetite.

suggests that stress and depression are linked to several digestive diseases, including irritable bowel syndrome .

One , of outpatients at a gastroenterology clinic in Mumbai, reported that 3040 percent of participants with IBS also had anxiety or depression.

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