When life becomes overwhelmingly busy and stressful, it can create a perfect breeding ground for mental health issues to arise. Anxiety and depression are not the same, though. Learning the defining characteristics of these common mood disorders and pinpointing exactly what you’re feeling are the keys to finding support and relief.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, anxiety disorders are the most common mental health concern in the United States, affecting more than 40 million adults and 7% of children age 3 to 17. For many people, anxiety is a fleeting condition that can pop up temporarily during times of increased stress — driving in heavy traffic, waiting to receive medical test results or just before giving a big work presentation, for example. When you’re anxious, symptoms may include feelings of tension, restlessness, dread or irritability, and even manifest into physical reactions like sweating, headache, stomach upset, shortness of breath and a racing heartbeat.
Lots of things can bring on a bout of anxiety, from social situations and phobias to sudden stressors and generalized chronic conditions. No one’s happy every single day, and it’s perfectly normal to feel sad from time to time. Clinical depression, however, typically lasts for two weeks or longer and tends to be more severe to the point that it can affect your ability to function daily.
As with anxiety, depression can stem from many different root causes — trauma, alcoholism, gen.
