George Pegios Anxiety and depression

Anxiety and depression are psychological problems that are occurring with increasing frequency, especially in developed countries.

George Pegios The forecasts of the World Health Organization estimate that by 2020 depression will become the third cause of morbidity next to coronary heart disease and traffic accidents and as the first cause of disability.

One of the functions of the brain is to anticipate everything that may happen around us to prevent us from being exposed to any risk. Anxiety is one of the mechanisms that fulfill this purpose: it is an -involuntary- anticipatory response to something that is perceived as threatening or dangerous. Generally, this anxiety appears briefly and, therefore, does not affect our daily lives excessively. But, in some cases, anxiety can become chronic (anxiety disorder or phobia) and transform into a disorder that can seriously alter our daily lives.

Anxiety disorders are also more common among women. According to WHO data, a woman has twice the risk of anxiety over her life as a man. The age of onset of this pathology is between 20 and 40 years old, and the possibility of suffering it decreases as age increases; then it gives rise to other forms of anxiety that are based on depressive states.

George Pegios What is the difference between anxiety and depression?

Differentiating anxiety and depression is not always easy due to the similarity of some of its symptoms and even its causes: in the face of the same episode, a person can react by developing anxiety and another depression, since deep down both pathologies are ways of adapting to the environment . Anyway if we can establish some differences:

Interpretation

Both anxiety and depression are ways of reacting to external or internal events: if we interpret it as a threat, our alert or anxiety system will be triggered, while if we perceive it as a loss or failure, the system is likely to be activated energy conservation that will lead to depression.

Fear or sadness

In general terms, anxiety appears when the subject feels threatened by a danger that can be internal or external. When fear is the main emotion, anxiety appears, and in the case of depression, the predominant feeling is sadness.

Clinical picture

Anxiety manifests itself in the form of multiple cognitive and psychophysiological imbalances. Its most frequent symptoms are: abdominal pain, diarrhea or frequent need to urinate, dizziness, headaches, muscle tension, rapid breathing, rapid and irregular heart rate, sweating, tremors, fatigue, irritability and insomnia problems. On the contrary, depressive states are associated with feelings of guilt or lack of self-esteem, drastic changes in appetite, a feeling of fatigue and lack of concentration. They can also cause sleep disturbances.

Present or future

Anxiety is related to prevention or concern about the future, with fear that what is supposed to happen will happen. Depression, on the other hand, has to do with deep sadness in the present moment. In other words, the future is not part of depression.

Variations in the same day

In anxiety, there are usually no variations of state throughout the day (except in some profound cases, where patients tend to feel worse upon waking up and early in the day) or during the different seasons of the year. These alterations do occur in depressed patients.

Enjoyment capacity

Loss of enjoyment or pleasure is not necessarily affected in anxiety disorder, as is usually the case in depression.

Psychological or external factors

While the origin of depression is usually of a psychological nature, the causes that cause anxiety are more varied: substances such as alcohol, bronchodilators or drugs such as cocaine or marijuana are clear triggers of this type of disorder. A poor diet (for example, low levels of vitamin B12) can also contribute to stress or anxiety. In very rare cases, an adrenal gland tumor can cause anxiety or stress-like symptoms.