relationship between depression and anxiety

[Lorraine Manca]

I could be wrong about this, its just an idea. It seems sometimes that depression is a safety net that reduces anxiety. of course thats not a good way to reduce anxiety, but i think it happens. Theres a lot of security in being sad, because you're already on your back, you've hit bottom, and dont have to worry about falling any lower. Most of all you dont have to worry about being dissappointed or having hopes crushed, because that cant happen when you expect nothing out of life. Part of anxiety i think is not being able to handle change and the unfamiliar, depression fixes that too because its so constant and predictable and familiar.
i might be using the wrong word though, maybe its not depression, maybe its being pessimistic, however you spell that.

 

[FOR REAL]

aye, great thread, it really is
if i had the choice of being HAPPY for a month, or a lifetime of being depressed!
i would choose the month of being happy

 

[Hellhound]

I'd rather be anxious than depressed.

 

[lurknomore]

I've recently been thinking about this exact thing. I do believe that depression is an "escape" from anxiety. I'm not sure if it's like a continuum with depression on one end and anxiety on the other, where the ideal is lying somewhere in the middle, or if depression is just one (albeit unhealthy) way to deal with excessive anxiety. You get anxious when you start "fighting" the things that have held you back, and if it gets to be too much, depression is a way of saying "I give up, I can't fight anymore."

 

[yomisma19]

In my case the insecurity, the fear of lost the control, and a lot of things more produce me anxiety. then, I start to feel bad and here start the depressión.

 

[Lorraine Manca]

I've recently been thinking about this exact thing. I do believe that depression is an "escape" from anxiety. I'm not sure if it's like a continuum with depression on one end and anxiety on the other, where the ideal is lying somewhere in the middle, or if depression is just one (albeit unhealthy) way to deal with excessive anxiety. You get anxious when you start "fighting" the things that have held you back, and if it gets to be too much, depression is a way of saying "I give up, I can't fight anymore."

yeah! thats what i was trying to say.

 

[Lorraine Manca]

i know another way to put it, does anyone do this? If there's nothing to lose, its more secure that way. you know just making sure you always have nothing to lose. Of course its terrible to set yourself up for failure like that, but i think people would do anything to relieve anxiety. I think anxiety is worse than depression.

 

[Emily_G]

I'd rather be anxious than depressed.

Often times don't they go hand in hand? I am anxious/shy because of my stuttering..and I get/am depressed because I am always so anxious and shy.

 

[Noca]

I'd rather be anxious than depressed.

Same here, if i could get rid of just one of my illnesses, it would be depression hands down.

 

[BlueDays]

While I find that being depressed and at the bottom might reduce "some" of the anxiety, I also find that the depression itself then creates a whole lot of new and different anxieties. So for me the two actually feed off each other.

 

[Juggalo]

I think they may be related, definitely. I suffer from both, and both emotions seem to be trade off of one another all the time.