The 5 differences between anxiety and depression

These mental health disorders have some things in common, but they should be differentiated.

Both anxiety and depression are among two of the most common mental health problems that mental health faces. After all, emotional and work overload as well as mood disorders affect millions of people and can manifest themselves in almost any type of life situation.

However, it is also true that it is not always easy for non-experts to recognize the symptoms of both disorders. In this article we will see, as orientative information, which are the main differences between anxiety and depression. differences between anxiety and depressiontwo psychological states with the capacity to make us suffer a lot, although by different ways.

The differences between depression and anxiety

In order to be able to detect what are the typical characteristics of anxiety and depression, take the following clues as a reference.

1. The degree of motivation

People who suffer from depression usually experience a symptom known as abulia. Abulia is, fundamentally, the absence of desire to do things, of initiative. That is to say that in the main variants of depression, the person suffering from this condition does not feel motivation to do anythingThis means that in the main variants of depression, the person suffering from this condition does not feel motivated to do anything, even if he or she is offered activities that are apparently fun and do not require any effort.

On the other hand, people who experience anxiety do not comply with the previous characteristic. It is possible that their state of mental exhaustion makes them more likely to get tired right away, but they often have trouble resting and instead try to find entertainment to keep themselves busy and not have to think about what is bothering them.

2. Its causes

The causes of anxiety can respond to an almost infinite variety of factors that, by the fact of being present in the day to day, lead us towards this state: the lack of sleep, the abuse of substances, certain social or economic problems, etc.

Depression, on the other hand often appears endogenouslywithout a clear cause to explain it. When the onset of symptoms coincides with a specific event, this is usually punctual, and the simple passage of time does not necessarily make the "return to normality" make the depression disappear.

3. The presence or absence of worries

People with anxiety are characterized by remaining in a state of almost constant worry. Rumination, which is the habit of turning over the same thought all the time (no matter how negative it may be) is a vicious circle from which they can hardly escape.

This is so because the raison d'être of anxiety is to to keep us in a state of alertness very useful when there is certain danger but that, if it becomes chronic, gives problems.

In depression, however, there are few worries, or directly almost none, in the most severe cases. This type of disorder is not an extension of a useful activation mechanism from an evolutionary point of view, but its origin is much more mysterious and, for the moment, little is known about it.

The feeling of uneasiness experienced in depression has to do not so much with the awareness that there is danger nearby as, on the contrary, by a feeling of melancholy and loss of reasons to get out of bed.

4. The ability to enjoy

Another of the most important differences between depression and anxiety is that people with depression often lose the ability to enjoy themselves. often lose the ability to enjoy themselveseven if it is not a psychological pleasure but more linked to physical stimulation. This is a symptom known as anhedonia.

People with anxiety, on the other hand, do not have anhedonia, although it is true that their capacity for enjoyment may also be impaired because, among other things, they find it difficult to stop thinking about what worries them, on the one hand, and because their physical state is not optimal, on the other, due to the wear and tear they suffer from day-to-day lack of sleep or poor management of work time.

In depression, then, this inability to feel pleasure is rather endogenous, since there are imbalances in the levels of neurotransmitters and in the activation patterns of specific parts of the brain. However, in anxiety, although there are also changes in the nervous system, the causes of these difficulties to enjoy have more to do with the constant state of alertness, i.e., it depends on the interaction with the environment.

5. Degree of predisposition towards the fulfillment of goals

Neither depression nor anxiety are states in which people are goal-oriented. However, the lack of this predisposition is much more pronounced and noticeable in the case of depressive disorders.

In anxiety, many times we postpone those tasks that can lead us to the resolution of what worries us, since the simple idea of facing that task again scares us. However, the most common thing is that, once we have started working, everything flows more normally.

In depression, however, we don't even consider whether there is anything we should be doing.It is as if obligations cease to exist. In fact, if we aspire to anything, it is to relive the moments when depression had not appeared. This is so because while people with anxiety think a lot about the future, for those patients who have depression nothing else matters but the present situation.

Bibliographical references:

• Davison GC (2008). Abnormal Psychology. Toronto: Veronica Visentin. p. 154.
• Tillich P (1952). The Courage To Be. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 76.