Anxiety And Depression

Anxiety and depression are often seen together because of the fact that prolonged anxiety is often the sole culprit leading to a first episode of depression.

Anxiety disorders, such as post–traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive–compulsive disorder, panic disorder, social phobia and generalized anxiety disorder, often precipitate and then accompany depression.

People experiencing PTSD are especially prone to having co-occurring depression. PTSD is a debilitating condition that can result after a person experiences a terrifying event or ordeal, such as a violent assault, a natural disaster, an accident, terrorism or military combat.

However, anxiety can be much less severe than PTSD or some of the other conditions mentioned and still badly effect a person and lead to depression.

Prolonged anxiety could be a simple life event such as loss of a friend or loved one, a divorce or other relationship break-up, abusive realationships, loss of a job or career, finanical stress and many others.

Overcoming these problems require becoming aware of the particular stressor and using coping skills to reduce and eliminate anxiety.

Some good coping skills are mild exercise, meditation, deep breathing during anxiety attacks, hobbies and other diversions and just about anything that will cause you to have a period of time to "wind down" from the immediate stress.

If a stressful event is the culprit, it is unlikely that any traditional or alternative treatment will be fully useful until you can get your anxiety under control.

The good news is that, anxiety can be well controlled or eliminated using some of the simple techniques above, or if necessary, pyschotherapy.

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