What are depression and anxiety?
Mood disorders encompass anxiety and depression. Both can affect a person’s day-to-day life. Both depression and anxiety can manifest signs of agitation and uneasiness. In addition to various other effects, depression results in emotions of sorrow, despair, and diminished vitality, whereas anxiety generates feelings of nervousness, worry, or fear.
CONNECTION AND VARIATION BETWEEN ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION
Psychological Chaos:
Many individuals may experience both psychological chaoses, i.e., anxiety and depression, as these two mental illnesses frequently appear together. In reality, major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety may appear differently, but they frequently occur together as a common comorbidity.
High and Low Levels:
Commonly, anxiety is regarded as a state of high energy and depression as a state of low energy. Someone suffering from depression regularly experiences significant levels of anxiety by facing panic attacks.
Comparison of Signs and Symptoms:
It becomes easy to differentiate between anxiety and depression by comparing the signs and symptoms of both illnesses. The beginnings and triggers of both mood disorders are similar, but it becomes harder if a person faces them together. That’s why anxiety and depression are often treated with the same medication. In the development of both disorders, genes and analogous brains may play a role. Depression and anxiety disorders can arise from different forms of stress and trauma.
Mood and Emotions as Symptoms:
Typically, depression tends to lower one’s mood, while anxiety tends to intensify certain emotions and reactions. An individual’s struggle with both of these conditions often arises from a genetic inclination. Anxiety disorders appear to exhibit this characteristic even more prominently than depression.
Forms of Stress:
Suffering from certain forms of stress, such as being ignored or mistreated, can potentially lead to the development of mental disorders characterized by anxiety and depression. Particularly if the trauma happens during childhood, it ingrains itself in the mind and manifests its impact later in life.
Additionally, both anxiety and depression disorders can result in physical symptoms
Physical Symptoms:
Physical symptoms may also cause both anxiety and depression. Anxious individuals may present with symptoms such as dizziness or chest pain, whereas depressed individuals may experience changes in their appetite or sleeping habits.
TREATMENT
Whatever the signs and symptoms of a particular mental illness, all problems require a solution and can be fixed by the healthcare provider based on the level of sensitivity of the issue. Anxiety and depression can also be cured by using different methods like exercise, counseling, therapies, and sometimes medications if needed.
Self-treatment is the most important step to getting rid of anxiety and depression. Physical activities seem effective for getting relief from the signs and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Patients who engage themselves in such exercises as walking, running, jogging, biking, etc. may assist the body in releasing endorphins. They may also consider a particular kind of aid in enhancing mood and overall quality of life.
Another important step for anxiety and depression is cognitive therapy, which assists the patient in realizing their issue and preparing them to embrace the truth. The objective of using cognitive therapy to treat anxiety and depression is to assist individuals in overcoming their fears. Similarly, cognitive therapy helps individuals encounter positive emotions while managing depression. During these sessions, individuals are encouraged to openly discuss their past and present experiences that have become signs and symptoms of anxiety and depression.
The final option for anxiety and depression treatment is medication, which is recommended by healthcare professionals only when a person does not show improvement through counseling sessions.
What is bipolar disorder?
Severe mood changes are a result of the serious mental illness known as bipolar disorder. There are two categories of disorders that can be identified: mania, which is referred to as a high disorder, and depression, which is referred to as a low disorder.
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF BIPOLAR
Signs and symptoms of bipolar disorder appear during the mania and depressive periods.
SIGN AND SYMPTOMS OF MANIA PERIOD
Patients with bipolar disorder during mania feel happiness without any reason, show extra excitement, speak more with less attention, feel agitation during happy moments, give less importance to sleep, have high self-confidence, and are easily distracted from others.
Signs of a depressive period
A person with bipolar disorder during depression may face grief, lack of interest, bleakness, worthlessness, fear from around, absentmindedness, talking slowly, crying habits, less or more sleep, and at last, attempting suicide.
BIPOLAR DISORDER IN MEN WOMEN TEENS
Bipolar disorder affects anyone in life; there are slight differences depending on age, gender, and mental health. Teenagers go through mood swings during puberty due to hormonal fluctuations.
Bipolar disorder may also not discriminate. However, men refuse to acknowledge the reality of the signs and symptoms of depression in themselves. The reason may be that men are more inclined to deny the problem, as men are taught not to show emotions. Social norms may also be the factor that never allows men to show their feelings of bipolar disorder. But we cannot deny the reality that men may also be affected by bipolar disorder.
Bipolar disorder symptoms may be more common in women than in men. Women are thought to be more susceptible to bipolar disorder in their early years. When afflicted with bipolar disorder, women disclose their condition through emotional sharing and seek assistance.
TREATMENT
Bipolar disorder is treatable; it’s a chronic illness that requires continued care and attention. Individuals who use drugs may need tough and protected treatment. Treatment can be provided step-by-step according to the condition, age, and gender. Treatment for bipolar disorder involves self-motivation, cognitive-behavioral treatment, medication, and sometimes exercise like yoga, playing favorite games, and expressive art therapy. All of these treatments offer mood stabilizers and help the patient return to a normal state of life.