Posted by SLS on March 11, 2006, at 7:54:00
In reply to How often is anxiety a cosymptom of depression?, posted by sdb on March 10, 2006, at 18:55:35
> I ask me how often anxiety is a attendant symptom of depression or vice versa. I suppose that anxiety occurs very often with depression.
>
> Any thoughts?
"80 to 90% of individuals with Major Depressive Disorder also have anxiety symptoms (e.g., anxiety, obsessive preoccupations, panic attacks, phobias, and excessive health concerns)."http://www.mentalhealth.com/dis1/p21-md01.html#Head_3
I think anxiety can be a symptom of major depressive disorder (MDD), and not necessarily be a separate comorbid disorder. To support such a conclusion with facts would require a great deal of research and citation, especially when there exists so much debate regarding this issue. I cannot use my own experience as a model. Being bipolar, it might not be valid for me to extrapolate this experience to MDD. However, for what it is worth, my anxiety waxes and wanes with the severity of depression. When the depression resolves, so does the anxiety.
From a psychosocial aspect, I can see how depression can produce anxiety as a consequence. Stress and anxiety occur when one is asked to perform a task that they are not fully equipped for. Depression certainly reduces one's ability to function as it depletes the resources necessary to perform these tasks. At least in this one context, anxiety can be a sign or symptom of depression. In addition, depression tends to alter one's perception of his environment and can exaggerate the magnitude of dangers and the immensity of tasks required to be surmounted for survival. Depression also tends to alter one's perception of their own capabilities and can produce an unreasonable underestimation of their abilities to cope with these exaggerated demands. This will certainly produce anxiety, especially when these things are reinforced by repeated failures.
From a psychobiological aspect, there are subtypes of MDD that are currently identified as being anxious or agitated. Here, anxiety is a primary symptom of the depressive disorder.
I think to properly identify the genesis of anxiety, it is important to fully describe how and when it manifests.
Are you in doubt of your current diagnosis?
I find the http://www.mentalhealth.com/ site helpful when reviewing the definitions of various mental disorders. It might be worthwhile to take a look at the criteria currently used to diagnose major depressive disorder and the various anxiety disorders.
For some anxiety disorders, the treatment is the same as for the depressive disorders. The same drugs are used to treat both (Effexor and Paxil, for example), hinting that there might be some overlap in etiologies. Some people feel that some anxiety disorders and MDD are simply different presentations of the same fundamental biological defect.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:618551
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060310/msgs/618744.html