What is Depression and Anxiety?

Youth for Health · 2024-08-22T11:04:10.135Z

Before we go ahead, remember that it is neither embarrassing nor a bad thing to have depression and/or an anxiety disorder. Additionally, not seeing all these symptoms within yourself does not mean you are not depressed/anxious, nor that your depression/anxiety is not as important as others. You and your feelings deserved to be heard. This is simply a starting place to see if you may have this condition and to then reach out to professionals for help with it. What is Depression? Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Symptoms are: • Feelings of sadness, tearfulness, emptiness or hopelessness without sometimes knowing why • Angry outbursts, irritability or frustration, even over small matters • Loss of interest or pleasure in most or all normal activities, such as sex, hobbies or sports • Sleep disturbances, including insomnia or sleeping too much • Tiredness and lack of energy, so even small tasks take extra effort • Reduced appetite and weight loss or increased cravings for food and weight gain • Anxiety, agitation or restlessness • Slowed thinking, speaking or body movements • Feelings of worthlessness or guilt, fixating on past failures or self-blame • Trouble thinking, concentrating, making decisions and remembering things • Frequent or recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts or suicide • Unexplained physical problems, such as back pain or headaches Depression can affect people different based on their age, the season, gender and variety of other factors. For more information on the different types of depression check our resources: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/symptoms-causes/syc-20356007 https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/depression What is Anxiety? This forum is also a place for those who have occasional anxiety, but especially a place with those who have anxiety disorders. There are several types of anxiety disorders. These are some: • "Agoraphobia is a type of anxiety disorder in which you fear and often avoid places or situations that might cause you to panic and make you feel trapped, helpless or embarrassed. • Anxiety disorder due to a medical condition includes symptoms of intense anxiety or panic that are directly caused by a physical health problem. • Generalized anxiety disorder includes persistent and excessive anxiety and worry about activities or events — even ordinary, routine issues. The worry is out of proportion to the actual circumstance, is difficult to control and affects how you feel physically. It often occurs along with other anxiety disorders or depression. • Panic disorder involves repeated episodes of sudden feelings of intense anxiety and fear or terror that reach a peak within minutes (panic attacks). You may have feelings of impending doom, shortness of breath, chest pain, or a rapid, fluttering or pounding heart (heart palpitations). These panic attacks may lead to worrying about them happening again or avoiding situations in which they've occurred. • Selective mutism is a consistent failure of children to speak in certain situations, such as school, even when they can speak in other situations, such as at home with close family members. This can interfere with school, work and social functioning. • Separation anxiety disorder is a childhood disorder characterized by anxiety that's excessive for the child's developmental level and related to separation from parents or others who have parental roles. • Social anxiety disorder (social phobia) involves high levels of anxiety, fear and avoidance of social situations due to feelings of embarrassment, self-consciousness and concern about being judged or viewed negatively by others. • Specific phobias are characterized by major anxiety when you're exposed to a specific object or situation and a desire to avoid it. Phobias provoke panic attacks in some people. • Substance-induced anxiety disorder is characterized by symptoms of intense anxiety or panic that are a direct result of misusing drugs, taking medications, being exposed to a toxic substance or withdrawal from drugs." Anxiety can cause insomnia, impending feelings of doom, trembling, sweating, hyperventilation, trouble concentrating, gastroinstensinal problems among other things. Our sources: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/anxiety/symptoms-causes/syc-20350961 (Info from here) https://adaa.org (Under the "What is Anxiety and Depression?" select "Anxiety Disorders" to learn more information.) Remember if you see yourself in these symptoms you are not alone. Reach out for help. NB: To reiterate, this is not a resource to be used to self-diagnose. This page should be only used to see if one has signs of a condition and with that information be implored to reach out to a psychologist and/or psychiatrist for a professional diagnosis and subsequent help. Advice here cannot be taken as professional help.