Two of the most common mental disorders in the world are anxiety and depression. Although these are two different disorders, they do have a lot in common. Understanding the fine line between depression and anxiety is very challenging due to the abundance of overlap. However, it is shown that in most cases, many patients suffer from both anxiety and depression. It is most common that patients first experience anxiety. As the anxiety worsens, depression starts to manifest. These depressive symptoms, mixed with anxiety symptoms, cause the formation of depression along with anxiety.
Depression and anxiety, however, present different symptoms. Depressive symptoms commonly include feelings of lost hope, fatigue, and an absence of feelings and sensations. Anxiety, on the other hand, is characterized by fear and apprehension. Anxiety involves worrying about the future and of imminent events that can’t be avoided, including feelings of discomfort and negative thinking. Physical symptoms of anxiety include increased heart beat, hot or cold chills, and activation of elevated sensations or feelings while the physical symptoms of depression include headaches, back pains, tension headaches, fatigue, and digestive problems.
Although anxiety and depression have particular traits that distinguish them from one another, there is quite a bit of similarity between these two mental disorders. Depression and anxiety both involve a considerable amount of negative thinking. Anxiety patients fear the future and depression patients see the future as hopeless. Both anxiety and depressed patients believe that the worse is likely to happen. Common physical symptoms between anxiety and depression include nausea, stomach issues, aches, pains, and headaches. These very common symptoms overlap with one another, which makes it very difficult to diagnosis anxiety or depression. Furthermore, both symptoms of depression and anxiety are prone to fluctuate and be inconsistent. It is likely that some symptoms may become unnoticeable for a period of time, while other symptoms can be apparent. This may lead you to believe that you are only experiencing one type of medical illness, when in fact, you are experiencing both depression and anxiety.
Anxiety and depression are very closely related; however, there are a few distinct factors between both of these illnesses. Both depression and anxiety affect the quality of life that you are living and can make it unbearable and burdensome. It is crucial for you to seek help if you are feeling this way.