Differentiate between sadness and anxiety?
Answers
Answer:
What is Depression?
Some people claim they are depressed when they are merely sad or down at times, but this is actually a normal part of being human. A person can be diagnosed as having depression or experiencing a Major Depressive Episode if there is a significant decrease in mood and/or interest in activities that s/he once enjoyed.
What is Anxiety?
A person with anxiety disorder, however, experiences fear, panic or anxiety in situations where most people would not feel anxious or threatened. Believed to be caused in part by a malfunction of brain chemistry, generalized anxiety is not the normal apprehension that one feels before taking a test or awaiting the outcome of a biopsy. The sufferer may experience sudden panic or anxiety attacks without any recognized trigger and often lives with constant nagging worry or anxiousness.
Symptoms
There are some commonalities between anxiety and depression so people often get them confused. Moreover, many of the symptoms of these disorders overlap, creating even more confusion.
The symptoms of depression include more than just persistent sadness or an empty feeling. Depression can manifest in many additional ways with the following symptoms, among others:
– Significant loss of interest or enjoyment in activities that once interested him/her.
– Significant decrease in mood.
– Difficulty sleeping (insomnia) or sleeping too much (hypersomnia).
– Marked weight change or change in appetite.
– Significant loss of energy/fatigue.
– Decreased ability to concentrate or indecisiveness.
– Persistent thoughts of suicide.
– Thoughts of worthlessness or guilt.
– A significant change in activity level (psychomotor agitation or retardation).
However, not every person diagnosed with depression will experience all of the symptoms.
While someone with Anxiety ca experience the following symptoms:
– Difficulty concentrating.
– Irritability or feeling irritated.
– Feeling tension in muscles.
– Restlessness
– Sleep disturbance, typically insomnia, due to worrying.
– The tendency to fatigue easily
As can be seen, many symptoms of anxiety are similar to or the same as those for depression. It is the persistent fear in anxiety that differentiates it from depression.
Answer:
The terms “anxious” and “depressed” get thrown around a lot in casual conversation—and for good reason. Both are normal emotions to experience, routinely occurring in response to high-stakes or potentially dangerous situations (in the case of anxiety) or disappointing, upsetting circumstances (in the case of depression).