Most people that have an anxiety disorder spend lots of time preoccupied with anxiety (fear) symptoms like palpitations, chest pain, malaise, or any number of horrible feelings. However, as an anxiety sufferer winds their way through the maze of constant worry and panic, depression could be sneaking up on them or in many cases already present.
Anxiety disorders over the long haul rarely appear by themselves. The comorbidity rate for anxiety disorders, that is anxiety add-ons like depression and obsession, is high. It’s a screwed up reality that has to be anticipated and dealt with. This is because anxiety and depression taken together can be dangerous.
It may start out with fatigue, constant boredom, resentment, apathy, anger, and the general sense that everything sucks, then all of sudden things get weird. Weird in the sense that you may start thinking about things that you have never thought about before like suicide, hurting others, or something less sinister like just not wanting to get out of bed in the morning.
Developing depression while anxious for long periods of time is normal and to be expected in some way. How can anyone be this anxious and just be alright with it? Very few. I entitled this post “Beware of depression” because it is in fact a warning.
I’ve struggled with anxiety and depression for years. But, I think, my recognition of what I had helped me to help myself. And although my coping skills were inadequate for a long time I had to frequently use them and I ended up getting a lot of practice at coping and not being so frightened and impressed by my anxious thoughts.
This is an extremely important subject because I think many anxiety sufferers either can’t tell the difference or simply don’t realize that they could be depressed. In this case G.I. Joe got it right, knowing is half the battle. I’m planning a few more post on depression this week because I want people to know how to tell the difference between anxiety and depression, and most importantly how to cope.
Tell me about it. I have been struggling with anxiety for years and am finally in treatment for it. Most of the time I feel like maybe I will be able to combat the anxiety, but the depression is here to stay. I feel like if I were less depressed then I could attack my anxiety with a much better attitude. The truth is, that sometime it’s really hard to care, let alone get out of bed in the morning. Some days are worse than others, but there is this overall sense that I CAN’T do this. I try to be mindful that that is the depression talking. I sincerely hope that one will alleviate the other, that I will find the weak link in that vicious circle. Thanks for the post, it couldn’t be more true!!
Great post! Only recently have I come to realize this is the case with me. I have always been a pure anxiety person, but due to the struggle with my anxiety I believe depression has started to creep in. I don’t see how it couldn’t!
This recently happened to me as well. I had anxiety issues for nearly 15 years, and then all of the sudden in a time of higher anxiety, I cut my carbs in an effort to correct the anxiety. This led me down the road of depression. Apparently cutting your carbs is not the greatest idea for some people. 😉 I quickly corrected the problem though, and the depression has almost entirely gone away. The anxiety however is still with me.