Both Anxiety and Depression are normal emotions to experience. Anxiety occurs in response to high- stakes or dangerous situations while depression is caused by disappointing or upsetting circumstances.
They are the brain’s way of reacting to stress. Anxiety and depression share a biological basis but they are experienced differently. Anxiety and depression can occur sequentially or one in reaction to another but they can also co-occur but once they reach the threshold, they can become comorbid conditions.
Difference Between Anxiety and Depression: Mental and Physical
While anxiety and depression have distinct psychological features, their symptoms or expressions of the conditions are different and here is how you can differentiate the two:
Mental Markers of Anxiety
People with anxiety often experience:
- Worry about immediate or long-term future
- Uncontrollable thoughts about something going wrong
- Thinking about death to the point of fearing death due to the perceived danger of physical symptoms or anticipated dangerous outcomes.
- Avoid situation that could cause them anxiety
In a nutshell, people with anxiety are mentally preoccupied with worry that is often disproportionate with reality or the actual risk.
Mental Markers of Depression
Depressed people often feel:
- Apathy or Hopeless- they think that nothing positive will happen to the future either for themselves, for other or for the world.
- Because of hopelessness, they think that everything is not worth trying and they feel differently
- They feel worthless- They think that who they are or what they do is not valuable enough
- Suicidal- Depress people often think about death due to their persistent belief that life is not worth living and they are a burden to other people.
When it comes to physical signs, people with anxiety often manifest the following physical symptoms:
- They find concentrating to be very difficult because of racing thought running in their mind.
- Difficulty sleeping or staying asleep
- Constant Dizziness
- Sweating, increased heart rate and blood pressure
- Muscle Tension
- Shortness of breath
- Gastrointestinal distress such as diarrhea, nausea or constipation
Depressed people on the other hand shows the following symptoms:
- They find it difficult to concentrate, memorize and focus on important things due to ruminative thoughts or other physical symptoms
- Lack of energy or feeling tired all the time
- Loss or significant increase in appetite
- Moving or talking slowly than usual
- Feeling in pain without any cause
- Lack of sleep
The signs of the two mental illness aren’t always obvious and just because you are experiencing one of those symptoms doesn’t mean you have anxiety disorder or depression. But if you always feel one of the symptoms or you feel like you no longer have pleasure in life, then you certainly need to get help. The first best step would be to reach out to family and friends or to people who might be understanding, helpful or compassionate but if you are too worried or too embarrassed to show your feeling with the people close to you, then it is best to set an appointment with your doctor.
