Are anxiety & depression the same?
We are living in a world of chaos.
Looking deeply at our world today, we realize there is widespread confusion all around. This is true for world affairs, matters of society and for our individual lives too be it in our personal matters of health, finance, relationships or work and business. There is the war, US economy is expected to go into a recession, there are layoffs happening in several companies, startups and overall mood in India too is that of looming uncertainty.
The first victim during such times of chaos is our power of discernment which comes under severe stress and gets fuzzier by the day.
One such confusion that has become common place in mental health conversations is the way anxiety and depression is being talked about. People often talk about them interchangeably as if they are the same. But what better day to write about it than today: World Mental Health Day.
To begin with, anxiety & depression are two different things.
Anxiety
The origin of the word anxiety comes from the Latin word anxietatem and is defined as a state of fear, worry, danger or misfortune. In this state, the person has a restless state of mind which is constantly experiencing the dread of worry and apprehension. **
Anxiety is a temporary state that that can come and go and can be controlled by using mindful techniques
The key word is ‘temporary’ meaning that anxiety is temporary. It comes and goes.
Excessive anxiety in daily life, also called anxiety disorder, is a state in which there is an almost constant sense of apprehension, fear and worry even about mundane things in life. Anxiety disorder is considered a clinical disorder and needs to be promptly diagnosed and dealt with lest it starts to affect a person’s daily life severely.
Depression
Depression on the other hand is a different matter. The word ‘depression’ is used in many fields including astronomy, economics in addition to psychological references. It means a state of ‘pressing down’, or ‘sinking’; when used in mental health it means ‘dejection’, ‘pressing down of spirits’, ‘sinking of spirits’, ‘a state of sadness’.
Depression is characterized by a state of feeling sad, low spirits, feeling of doom as if the dark clouds have clouded the bright light from the sun. A person with depression will feel a constant sense of gloom, hopelessness and sagging morale and will mostly find it difficult to come out of it without any external help.
People tend to confuse anxiety and depression because there are few symptoms which are common in both. Let's take a closer look at their symptoms which are going to help us understand this better:
Fundamentally speaking, anxiety is marked by a constant state of panic, worry, fear and arises out of ordinary daily life events but ‘may’ not be a constant phenomenon. Depression, on the other hand, is characterized by state of hopelessness, gloom and sadness which doesn’t go away easily and according to this WHO survey can be ‘non-anxious’.
Both, anxiety and depressive disorders cause people to feel distressed and uneasy during situations in which most people would not feel that way. If left untreated these symptoms and disorders can cause a huge barrier in an individual's life.
This year’s theme of World Mental Health Day was Make mental health and wellbeing for all a global priority. This starts with developing our own awareness and understanding of mental health issues so that you can correctly recognize someone’s or your own symptoms and take necessary help if required.