Question:
I've never considered myself a depressed person, I'm usually
pretty upbeat. Most people say that my positive attitude
is contagious. But this anxiety shit has really been
getting to me lately. It feels as though I'll never get
better. I'm supposed to be "out" right now, but I'm not.
I'm at home, on my computer, because I didn't have the balls
to go with my boyfriend to meet a friend of his at a club.
Anyways, he went alone, and I started to cry. I'm not sure
if it's because he left me here alone, or if it's because
I'm so pissed at my disorder that it upsets me that much.
But that's all I've been wanting to do lately is cry. I'm
just so down in the dumps. Any suggestions? Maybe a
specific drug out there I can be on to help with feeling the
blues AND help my anxiety disorder? I'm at the end of my
rope, and pretty soon I'm just going to cut it and let
myself fall to the ground...if I'm not already there.
Answer:
There are many antidepressants for both anxiety and depression. Don't give up
so easily! Anxiety and depression are very closely related and many of us here
have both conditions, including myself.
Crying a lot is a symptom of depression. There are many signs like increased
or decreased apetite, increased or decreased sleeping, feelings of
hopelessness, feeling like you cannot enjoy anything at all...here is a website
that has some more information listed:
http://www.symptoms-of-depression.com/index.php3
If you are feeling suicidal, you need to call 911. Immediately. If you are
just mildly entertaining the thought, you need to call your psychiatrist for an
emergency visit or phone consult first thing in the morning. Either way, you
need to seek professional help, the sooner the better. There are lots of
medications and therapy that can help. You just need to ask your doctor and
your therapist for it. It takes most antidepressants a few weeks to start
working, so the sooner you call, the sooner you will get better.
OK, you have anxiety disorder. It's caused by a chemical imbalance in
faulty circuit in your inner brain and you are not to be blamed for
it. Anxiety disorder is fundamentally a problem in processing
information. If the anxiety is excessive then you will get a low
level depression which waxes an wains (which is tolerable). You
*cannot* fight the anxiety as this creates a severe depression and
very confused mind. When you go into an anxious or depressed state,
note the symptoms and also know that your brain will start to create
distress signals in compulsive thinking. During this time you will
feel an unrealistic feeling of depression which feels like it will
last forever but usually is over within a few hours at the most, often
20 minutes, but up to 24 hours. The best thing you can do is keep
moving. Try and find something very simple that lies by your side and
do it. Realise that listening to your anxious thoughts is just a waste
of your life. I have met a lot of people with anxiety in the past 9 months and I
noticed the fundamental problems in their thinking brain. The
orbitofrontal cortex which is believed to encode emotions. The recent
research revealed that alcoholics in general are more likely to
confuse the facial expressions of anger and disgust. This new finding
suggests that the function of this orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala
which encodes the emotions of fear and sadness are both impaired in
alcoholics brain. I think we can apply this new finding to anxiety
disorders as well. I have PD and low level depression, however when I
forced myself to be social (lots of eye /face contact) 24 hours later
I experienced what is called a flashback, where you feel severe
depression. However, I have no problems with people being around me in
a non stressful situation with mild social interaction, so am not
afraid of people in any way. I am not suggesting you have no social
life, but it's not healthy to be *particularly* social.
The most effective way to not be "pissed" at your disorder is to
change your life completely so you are in a calm and relaxed working
environment, and accept yourself UNCONDITIONALLY. in REBT this is
called USA *unconditional self acceptance* Now, society would not
expect people with artificial limbs to be fast runners. So, even
though anxiety disorder makes you want to be very social this is a
compulsive thought if carried out often creates harm. Being overly
social is rather harmful to being cured.
Sometimes depression is chemical and sometimes it is caused by your
thinking process when you feel pain. If you are getting pissed, angry,
thinking negatively, resisting movement and action when you feel pain,
then you are arguably adding to or creating depression. However, if
whenever you feel psychological pain you force yourself to do
something, even if it is very simple, and stop listening to the
thoughts caused by the imbalance in your brain, then your
depression/half crazy feeling will soon be over.
There is a very good book by Albert Ellis and you can find it here
read this when your thinking is clear and understanding good.
Also check out the two links at the bottom for more help. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0879800429/002-6559156-8776065
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0879800429/202-3428776-8672640 My new pdoc explained this very clearly to me the other day. I was shocked
to find out how depressed I really was. After living without treatment for
my GAD and PD for so long, she explained how depression becomes a secondary
illness. The anxiety and panic cause obvious lifestyle changes, you
sometimes go out less, arent always as active, avoid people, and situations,
lack of interest, etc, and eventually this takes a toll on a person leading
to depression. The good news is that depression as a secondary disorder is
very treatable if you treat the anxiety (or other disorder). It happens to
ppl with chronic pain, for example, their lives are altered severely because
of the pain, they move about less, go places less, etc, and thus having less
contact with their 'normal life'. Many many ppl with chronic pain are also
depressed. I guess the good news in it all is that its treatable. I hope you have a
good pdoc or GP that can work through these symptoms and rx something to
help with them. Sometimes all that helps is coming here and reading posts,
knowing that Im not the only one because it sure as hell feels like it when
your going through it.
Many of us can relate to what you have written. Do you see a pdoc? If not,
maybe you should see one and discuss the depression and anxiety. There are
good meds available for these conditions and while they aren't curable, they
are treatable.
I used to get very pissed at myself over my disorder but after many years
have come to accept my limitations. I know there are worse things in the
world to live through... As meds go most antidepressants work for both depression and anxiety.
Your depression seems secondary to your anxiety problem so if the
anxiety problem would be solved or at least manageable the depression
would most likely disappear as well. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy would
be my first choice with an antidepressant if necessary.
