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The 5 differences between anxiety and depression

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Both anxiety and depression are among the two most common mental health problems. Ultimately, both emotional and work overload and mood disorders affect millions of people and can manifest themselves in virtually any type of situation vital.

However, it is also true that it is not always easy, for the person who is not an expert on the subject, to know how to recognize the symptoms of both disorders. In this article we will see, as guidance information, which are the main differences between anxiety and depression, two psychological states with the ability to make us suffer a lot, although in different ways.

  • Related article: "The 6 differences between stress and anxiety"

The differences between depression and anxiety

In order to detect which are the typical characteristics of anxiety and depression, take the following keys as a reference.

1. The degree of motivation

People with depression tend to experience a symptom known as apathy. Apathy is, fundamentally, the absence of desire to do things, of initiative. That is, in the main variants of depression, who suffers from this state

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does not feel motivated to do anything, even if it is proposed to do apparently fun activities that do not require effort.

On the other hand, people who experience anxiety do not fulfill the previous characteristic. It is possible that their state of mental exhaustion makes them more likely to tire quickly, but on many occasions they have problems at the same time. time to rest and instead they try to find entertainment to keep busy and not have to think about what worries.

  • Related article: "Are there several types of depression?"

2. Its causes

The causes of anxiety can respond to an almost infinite variety of factors that, by the fact of being present in the day by day, they lead us towards this state: lack of sleep, substance abuse, certain social or economic problems, etc.

Depression, on the other hand, frequently appears endogenously, without there being a clear cause that explains it. When the onset of symptoms coincides with a specific event, it is usually punctual, and the simple passage of time does not have to make the "return to normality" make the depression.

  • Related article: "Endogenous depression: when unhappiness comes from within"

3. The presence or absence of concerns

People with anxiety are characterized by being in an almost constant state of worry. The rumination, which is the habit of turning over the same thought all the time (however negative it may be) is a vicious circle from which they can hardly escape.

This is so because the raison d'être of anxiety is keep us on our toes very useful when there is a certain danger but that, if it becomes chronic, causes problems.

In depression, however, there are few or no concerns in the most severe cases. These types of disorders are not an extension of a useful trigger mechanism from an evolutionary point of view, but their origin is much more mysterious and, at the moment, little is known about it.

The feeling of discomfort that is experienced in depression has to do not so much with the awareness that there is danger nearby as, on the contrary, by a feeling of melancholy and loss of reason to get out of bed.

  • You may be interested: "Dysthymia, when melancholy takes over your mind"

4. The ability to enjoy

Another of the most important differences between depression and anxiety is that people with depression they often lose the ability to enjoy, even if it is not a psychological pleasure but more linked to physical stimulation. It is a symptom known as anhedonia.

People with anxiety, on the other hand, do not present anhedonia, although it is true that their ability to enjoy can also be impaired due, among other things, to the fact that It is difficult for them to stop thinking about what worries them, on the one hand, and that their physical state is not optimal, on the one hand other, due to the wear and tear they suffer from day to day for Lack of sleep or due to poor management of work times.

In depression, then, this inability to feel pleasure is rather endogenous, since there is imbalances in neurotransmitter levels and in the activation patterns of specific parts of the body brain. However, in anxiety, although there are also changes in the nervous system, the causes of these difficulties for enjoying have to do more with constant alertness, that is, it depends on the interaction with the environment.

5. Degree of predisposition towards meeting goals

Neither depression nor anxiety are states in which people are oriented towards achieving goals. However, the lack of this predisposition is much more pronounced and noticeable in the case of depressive disorders.

In anxiety, many times we postpone those tasks that can lead us towards solving what worries us, since the simple idea of ​​facing that task again scares us. However, the most common is that, once work has started, everything flows more normally.

In depression, however, we don't even wonder if there's something we should do: it is as if obligations cease to exist. In fact, if you aspire to anything, it is to relive the moments when depression had not appeared. This is so because while people with anxiety think a lot about the future, for those patients who have depression nothing matters other than the present situation.

Bibliographic references:

  • Davison GC (2008). Abnormal Psychology. Toronto: Veronica Visentin. p. 154.
  • Tillich P (1952). The Courage To Be. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 76.
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