Years ago depression was considered a weakness, suffered by weak people, some citing a higher rate of depression among women. This chauvinistic, repressive attitude toward depression and its sufferers has been changing, allowing the depression to come out from under the cloak of shame and seek help for their illness.
Depression shows itself through a prolonged period of sadness or anxiety.
I have seen firsthand the link between anxiety and depression. The possibility for the chronically anxious person to become depressed is real, and the reasons can be compelling. Earlier I likened the anxious state to being constantly on red alert. The mind and the body are in a heightened condition all the time. However, unlike the temporary thrill of a roller coaster, this ride never ends. Any relatively stable stretch only provides time to ramp up for the next neck-bending climb and heart-pounding fall. The cycle keeps repeating itself over and over.
For some people, there comes a point when it all becomes too much; they just want to shut down. But if you can’t get off and the ride never ends, the only alternative is to stop reacting to the ride. If the ride never shuts down, then they will. Unfortunately, the ride is their life. By checking out of the anxiety, they are checking out of life. Depression becomes a way to numb themselves, to check out, to experience relief from the chaos.
When the body and the mind are overstressed and taxed to the maximum by circumstances, such as ongoing anxiety, depression is a very real possibility. This is not a conditional crisis brought on by a single event or situation but a chronic crisis state brought on by the ongoing demands of anxiety. In some people, when their coping and caring mechanisms are depleted, they shut down into depression.
Depression begins as a coping mechanism for anxiety but becomes intertwined with and strengthened by anxiety. Both are fueled by feelings of helplessness to overcome and hopelessness of things ever getting better.
Depression leaches interest or pleasure out of activities that would normally be enjoyable. Depression alters appetite and sleep patterns. It promotes feelings of guilt, shame, and hopelessness. Depression interferes with the ability to make decisions, to concentrate, to remember things, to focus. It steadily strangles the will to act, producing either a frantic, anxious state or an apathetic lethargy. Depression may even lead to recurrent thoughts of suicide and death.
If you think you may be suffering from depression, take the depression survey. You may need to seek professional help.
The above is a compilation of excerpts from Dr. Gregory Jantz’s books, Moving Beyond Depression and Overcoming Anxiety, Worry and Fear.