What is Depression and Anxiety and What are the Differences?
Depression and anxiety are both mental health conditions, but they manifest in different ways and have unique symptoms, though they can sometimes overlap.
Depression:
Depression is a mood disorder that affects how you feel, think, and handle daily activities. It can cause feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and a lack of interest or pleasure in activities you once enjoyed. Some symptoms include:
- Feelings of sadness, emptiness, or hopelessness
- Loss of interest or pleasure in activities
- Lack of energy
- Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
- Changes in appetite or weight (either increased or decreased)
- Sleep disturbances (either sleeping too much or too little)
- Thoughts of death or suicide (in severe cases)
Anxiety:
Anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about something with an uncertain outcome. It can cause physical symptoms and make it difficult to focus or relax. It’s normal to feel anxious in stressful situations, but anxiety disorders involve excessive, persistent anxiety that interferes with daily life. Common symptoms of anxiety include:
- Constant worry or fear about future events or situations
- Restlessness or feeling on edge
- Difficulty relaxing or concentrating
- Physical symptoms like a racing heart, sweating, trembling, or dizziness
- Irritability
- Sleep problems (difficulty falling or staying asleep)
Both depression and anxiety can be life-altering, and in many cases, people experience them together, which can complicate the symptoms and make managing them more challenging. However, both conditions are treatable through therapy, medication, or a combination of both.
Samantha Tortora, LPCC-S (Counselor at Columbus Behavioral Health) shared, If you’re struggling with Depression or Anxiety, there are several ways we can approach treating these diagnoses. As part of the intake interview process, we’ll look at your specific symptoms, how long they’ve lasted, and how much they’re impacting your daily life. Sometimes, lifestyle adjustments like improving sleep hygiene, creating a routine, better managing stress, or eating more regularly and in better balance can allow for improvement. Similarly, improving the quality of your social relationships and spending more time around people in addition to cognitive-behavioral techniques like identifying and challenging unhelpful thought processes to allow for engagement in more adaptive behavior.
