Anxiety and depression are two different disorders often used interchangeably. Both mental conditions are comorbidities. Hence, the confusion about their manifestation. Anxiety disorders trigger depression, while the former is a symptom of the latter. Therefore, symptoms of both mental illnesses can display co-currently.
Differences in Definition
Anxiety disorders are a by-product of an overactive stress response – a physiological process that prepares the body for defense. It manifests as persistent worry and fear without any justifiable trigger. Depression is a mental condition characterized by persistent sadness, despair, and hopelessness.
Differences in Development
Anxiety disorders occur when there is dysregulation in fight or flight response, also known as anxiety. The stress response gets activated when the amygdala – the stress response center – interprets external and internal cues as danger. It sends distress impulses to the hypothalamus, which activates the sympathetic nervous system. The sequence of events gives the body energy to fight or take flight from impending danger. An anxiety disorder occurs when the body activates the stress response when there is a perceived or real internal or external threat.
On the other hand, depression is a disorder that arises from mood dysregulation. It can be a genetic condition or environmental cause like a major life-threatening event that affects the brain’s mood processing ability.
Symptomatic Differences
Anxiety symptoms include uncontrollable excessive worry, irritability, restlessness, nausea, unsettledness, and lack of concentration. Physiological signs include increased breathing and heart rate, which feels like a heart attack or inability to breathe, muscle spasms, sleeplessness, and fatigue.
Signs of depression include hopelessness, despair, and disinterest in doing hobbies, duties, or activities of daily living. Depressed individuals also have persistent negative thoughts known as rumination. They have a negative outlook on life, pulling them to isolation and triggering suicidal ideation and attempts. Anxiety is also a symptom of depression. In depression, it manifests together with other signs.
