Searcy, AR (LP) — Most people experience feelings of anxiety or depression at times. Grief, loss of a job, divorce, illness, and other stressors can lead to feelings of sadness, worry, frustration, and loneliness. Events that can trigger anxiety are: Financial concerns such as the stress of managing income versus debt or monthly finances, uncertainty with job or career stability as the trends of needed areas of career arenas and jobs can fluctuate and challenge jobs or career choices, relational or family distress is a major contributor/trigger to anxiety. A good example of this is that people often listen in order to respond rather than to understand what others are communicating. Events that can trigger depression are the accumulation of hopelessness or lack of self-worth or lack of self-confidence that can be the result of earlier childhood experiences that are taken from childhood into adulthood. Also trans-generational impacts, for example trauma or negative thought patterns can be handed down from generation to generation and can alter events that each individual within a family system experiences. These are normal reactions to difficult life situations. Some people experience these feelings daily, without a known stressor. This can interfere with the ability to carry out every day activities such as getting to work on time, proper self-care, or caring for children. In this case, people might be suffering from depression, anxiety, or a combination of the two. Depression and anxiety can co-occur. Studies show that between 10% and 20% of adults in any given 12-month period will visit their primary care physician during a depressive or anxiety disorder episode, and that nearly 50% of them will suffer from a co-morbid, secondary depressive or anxiety disorder. The presence of co-occurring depressive and anxiety disorders is associated with greater chronicity, slower recovery, increased rates of recurrence, and psycho social disability. It’s always important to understand the difference in depression and anxiety.
Tony English, Therapist at Families inc. states, “Anxiety is basically ‘stress’ which can be triggered by an unpleasant thought or even fear of an object or situation such as social interactions or preparing for a presentation in class that affects the nervous system and this is common. Anxiety is the anticipation of the possibility of an experience that can be uncomfortable. Depression is often prompted by an event or experience that contributes to a reduction of pleasure in things once enjoyed. For example, abuse or trauma is a major factor in many people’s depression. An abusive relationship can contribute to feelings of low self-worth and lack of confidence that can be long term for some individuals such as Major Depressive Disorder or Persistent Depressive Disorder (Dysthimia).”
Common coping skills for anxiety are structured deep breathing combined with sequential counting for example breathing in for three seconds, holding one’s breath for four to five seconds and then exhaling for six to seven seconds. When a person experiences anxiety, breathing can become erratic or rapid which contributes to panic and even panic attacks, so this is why it’s important to remember to use deep breathing to self-calm as it sends oxygen and blood to the brain. Another coping skill is utilize calming music along with breathing or mediation if the environment permits it. Since anxiety can be prompted by negative thoughts, redirecting thoughts to positive future focus thoughts is helpful.
English says, “You can overcome anxiety and depression without medication by utilizing healthy coping strategies and changing the way you think which impacts the way you feel. Often people will use alcohol or drugs which are not healthy coping strategies because people don’t want to feel bad, anxious or depressed. People use these to temporarily reduce or become numb to thinking because if they think too much about an event or situation they will feel anxious or depressed. But if a person will learn and adapt to better thinking or healthier thinking processes as well as putting those into practice it can greatly reduce anxiety and depression. This can be aided by therapy or counseling and it is typically not a sprint but a marathon so remembering the investment is long term and it’s worth it because you are the investment as well as those you impact.”
Medication treatment of anxiety is generally safe and effective and is often used in conjunction with therapy. Medication may be a short-term or long-term treatment option, depending on severity of symptoms, other medical conditions, and other individual circumstances. However, it often takes time and patience to find the drug that works best for you. Some 15.5 million Americans have been taking medications for at least five years. The rate has almost doubled since 2010, and more than tripled since 2000. Nearly 25 million adults have been on antidepressants for at least two years. That’s a 60 percent increase since 2010.
Even the most honest people are faced with lying when they are depressed. This is yet another indignity adding to the suffering of depression. The most obvious and pervasive example is the frequent, daily question, “How are you?” It is a social convention to greet friends, strangers, and acquaintances with this question. Frankly, most of us lie in response to this question, or at least shade or limit the truth. For most people most of the time, this isn’t a big deal. It’s just a formality that facilitates greeting people, and is understood as a friendly hello. It’s not generally a problem because mostly people are fine, and don’t need to tell someone about their problems. But for a depressed person, the lies required for social convention are constant, and they create more and more isolation and separateness from other people. They reinforce a sense of having a shameful secret that no one wants to know or help them resolve. It reinforces a sense of being a burden or unlovable. All of these thoughts are common in depression, and to have them reinforced all day long by multiple people is crushing. Many people deal with it by isolating themselves from others if they can.
Jill Treadway, Psychology teacher at Searcy High School states, “Anxiety and depression can go unnoticed, for sure. It’s not going to look the same for everybody. Look for anything out of the ‘norm’ for that individual. Sleeping is a sign I think we all overlook because who gets enough rest these days? But if somebody is choosing to sleep over engaging with friends more often than not, they might need help. Also, hygiene is another indicator. Are they brushing their hair? Their teeth? Showering? These very simple rituals can be so hard to accomplish when you’re in the middle of an episode.”
Depression can reduce an individual’s motivation or pleasure they may have once experienced previously in regards to confidence or positive thought processes when one feels as though they cannot succeed or be productive. For example, if a person thinks they will fail an exam, this can directly affect that person’s emotional state which in turn can affect their performance on the exam. Depression is sometimes derived by thoughts like “I can’t” or “why try” in many situations, and these are often driven by previous negative events or experiences that reduce a person’s effectiveness in school or work.
Treadway explains, “It can be absolutely excruciating to participate in life when you’re depressed, so school and work become seemingly impossible. What’s easier than jumping in the shower and showing up to school? It’s so simple. But when somebody is in the middle of an episode, it’s not easy at all. It’s painful to get out of bed. It takes every ounce of energy you have to do it and fake a smile all day. It’s exhausting. When you make it back home, you just crash back into bed. Or you zone out into your phone, or food, or drugs, or whatever your numbing choice is. I think it can look similar in adults and teenagers.”
Although the majority of people who have depression do not die by suicide, having major depression does increase suicide risk compared to people without depression. The risk of death by suicide may, in part, be related to the severity of the depression. New data on depression that has followed people over long periods of time suggests that about 2 percent of those people ever treated for depression in an outpatient setting will die by suicide. Among those ever treated for depression in an inpatient hospital setting, the rate of death by suicide is twice as high. Those treated for depression as inpatients following suicide ideation or suicide attempts are about three times as likely to die by suicide as those who were only treated as outpatients. There are also dramatic gender differences in lifetime risk of suicide in depression. Whereas about 7 percent of men with a lifetime history of depression will die by suicide, only 1 percent of women with a lifetime history of depression will die by suicide. Another way about thinking of suicide risk and depression is to examine the lives of people who have died by suicide and see what proportion of them were depressed. From that perspective, it is estimated that about 60 percent of people who commit suicide have had a mood disorder. Younger people who kill themselves often have a substance abuse disorder, in addition to being depressed.
Caleb Raper, student at Searcy High School states, “My sister tried to commit suicide twice, and she still struggles. I feel like talking and actually working through it is much better than medicine because you don’t necessarily know if it is the medicine helping or not.”
Some people are only impacted at a certain time of the year. That’s called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Some people may have one major depression episode and that’s it. Some people may be impacted their whole life. Think of your brain just like any other organ. I’ll use skin as a comparison. You may get really dry, itchy skin in only the winter, so you make sure to treat your skin during that time. You stock up on what you need every winter. Somebody else may get a really nasty rash that seems to come out of nowhere. They go get medicine to treat it, and it never comes back. Somebody else may have a recurring rash that comes back throughout their life in random cycles. They learn to watch their diets, sleep properly, and reduce stress but no matter what the person does, they need medication all of the time to fully control it. The same situations apply to your brain and medication.
Raper states, “I don’t take medicine because my parents don’t believe depression is a problem, so therefore they won’t let me go see a therapist or take medication. I usually talk to my friend to help me, or I paint and online shop. I feel like the main reason people are stressed and have depression is because they feel like they can’t talk to anyone because some adults don’t understand that having a therapist would help them talk it out better than talking to family alone. At least until the situation passes.”
Situational anxiety can be the stress in doing a presentation or book report orally for class. In these types of situations one can use the anxiety as motivation which can be “healthy” anxiety in regards to prompting increased preparation that can increase confidence. Also utilizing light structured breathing and focusing on the preparation to increase the perspective as an “opportunity to share” what a person has researched or learned. Situational depression can be a relational stress or even breakup. With this or other “situational” experiences allowing oneself to take ownership of their feelings and talking through those with another healthy adult can be very helpful. Often the situation is not more than we can manage, and utilizing healthy mindfulness to keep reminding ourselves that we cannot manage other people’s choices and decisions even when there is significant pain involved. Situational anxiety or depression can typically be managed by allowing oneself to process the feelings and emotions within the context of that particular situation and not spend time catastrophizing that it will spill over to other areas in one’s life.
Samantha Higgins, former graduate of Searcy High School states, “Sometimes I go through days of depression whenever school or work is getting extremely tough, and I think that would be considered situational. I normally realize that I’m feeling down because of a situation and am able to push through it, but it just depends on the severity. Sometimes I wish I was in therapy.”
Therapy can aid in one’s emotional and mental processing for healthier perspectives for current and future experiences. That often includes processing one’s past especially regarding trauma as it affects the present. Therapy can offer people hope and experiences within the therapeutic process that provides healing for anxiety, depression and positive change that offers stability in the lives of people. Depression is treatable and most people see improvements in their symptoms when treated with medication, psychotherapy, or a combination of the two. But treatment should be individualized. What works for one person might not necessarily work for another. It is important to talk to your physician and treatment team about which options may be most effective in reducing your depression.
Higgins says, “I’m not afraid to go to therapy. I think they will have a good idea on how to help me. It would be more uncomfortable than anything. I freeze up whenever people ask me to talk about my problems, but I think that’s the whole idea of therapy. To feel comfortable enough to open up and become vulnerable with what’s happening inside your mind.”
Depression and anxiety are not reflections of weakness. There are people trained to help and assist you through this scary and dark part of your life. If you’ve taken self-help steps and made positive lifestyle changes and still find your depression getting worse, seek professional help. Needing additional help doesn’t mean you’re weak. Sometimes the negative thinking in depression can make you feel like you’re a lost cause, but depression can be treated, and you can feel better! Don’t forget about your coping skills, though. Even if you’re receiving professional help, these skills can be part of your treatment plan, speeding your recovery, and preventing depression from returning. There is always hope for everyone.
