Anxiety and Depression

Although it is possible to have anxiety and depression separately, very often, anxiety and depression go hand-in-hand, with sufferers experiencing both disorders at once.

It may seem odd that someone who is suffering from anxiety and depression can experience both depression (a “depressing” of the mood) and anxiety (a heightening of the mood in a negative fashion, with hypervigilance and stress, accompanied by fear) at once, but indeed, it does occur, and quite often.

Most often, suffers begin with one feeling, perhaps anxiety, and if they are not able to do something because that feeling stops them or gets in the way of performance, it can cause the other feeling as a result. For example, someone suffering from anxiety disorder may not be able to perform adequately at his or her job.

This in turn leads to feelings of depression because of poor performance. Or, someone may be depressed and simply not have the energy to do what she thinks she is supposed to, such as taking care of her children adequately, and this, in turn, leads to anxiety because she fears the consequences of what may happen as a result of her failure, such as that her children may be taken from her.

Therefore, often, both disorders must be treated at once.

This is possible, because many medications are appropriate to be used in tandem with each other. For instance, both a benzodiazepine for anxiety and an antidepressant for depression can be prescribed together.

Certain care must be taken to avoid contraindications in their use with each other, but they can function adequately together. (Although certain antidepressants can also help alleviate anxiety, such as Paxil, they only take the edge off and do not provide complete relief from anxiety, usually.

Therefore, benzodiazepines or sometimes beta-blockers are prescribed to take care of the anxiety, while antidepressant medications such as SSRIs are prescribed for the depression. Often, benzodiazepines are beta-blockers are only prescribed for the short term, while SSRIs can be prescribed over a longer term, because they do not have the same dependency issues as do benzodiazepines, for example.)

Off course, ultimately, the goal is to get patients off of all medication and to teach them coping mechanisms to deal with and ultimately overcome the anxiety and/or depression.

Sometimes, such as with a life altering incident, depression and anxiety can be temporary and simply need a little bit of time to dissipate. In this case, medication alone may be helpful.

However, for more chronic anxiety and depression, behavioral or cognitive therapy for the anxiety and depression can teach patients new ways to cope, and in fact, patients may be able to go off medication.

This should never be done without the advice of a doctor, and for some patients, such as those with bipolar disorder, medication must be taken forever, because it replaces a permanent physical lack, most notably that of a lack of lithium in the body, rather than addressing a temporary behavioral disorder.

Finally, anxiety and depression can also be dealt with nutritionally and through lifestyle changes, as well as through therapy and medication. Americans’ diets are notoriously poor as a rule; they are high in sugar, salt, fats, and refined sugars and carbohydrates, and very low in nutritional value.

Therefore, certain nutrients may be lacking that can contribute to overall mental health and an increase in anxiety and depression. These include such things as B vitamins, calcium and magnesium, which have a calming effect and increase energy, and fish oils, which increase the brain’s ability to function properly.

These, along with exercise and changes in lifestyle to incorporate relaxation, adequate sleep, and perhaps a reduction in caffeine, should greatly help alleviate depression and anxiety along with medication and/or behavioral intervention for many sufferers