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The Devastating Ways Depression and Anxiety Impact the Body

Mind and body form a two-way street.

By Jane E. Brody

It’s no surprise that when a person gets a diagnosis of heart disease, cancer or some other life-limiting or life-threatening physical ailment, they become anxious or depressed. But the reverse can also be true: Undue anxiety or depression can foster the development of a serious physical disease, and even impede the ability to withstand or recover from one. The potential consequences are particularly timely, as the ongoing stress and disruptions of the pandemic continue to take a toll on mental health .

The human organism does not recognize the medical profession’s artificial separation of mental and physical ills. Rather, mind and body form a two-way street. What happens inside a person’s head can have damaging effects throughout the body, as well as the other way around. An untreated mental illness can significantly increase the risk of becoming physically ill, and physical disorders may result in behaviors that make mental conditions worse.

In studies that tracked how patients with breast cancer fared, for example, Dr. David Spiegel and his colleagues at Stanford University School of Medicine showed decades ago that women whose depression was easing lived longer than those whose depression was getting worse. His research and other studies have clearly shown that “the brain is intimately connected to the body and the body to the brain,” Dr. Spiegel said in an interview. “The body tends to react to mental stress as if it was a physical stress.”

Despite such evidence, he and other experts say, chronic emotional distress is too often overlooked by doctors. Commonly, a physician will prescribe a therapy for physical ailments like heart disease or diabetes, only to wonder why some patients get worse instead of better.

Many people are reluctant to seek treatment for emotional ills. Some people with anxiety or depression may fear being stigmatized, even if they recognize they have a serious psychological problem. Many attempt to self-treat their emotional distress by adopting behaviors like drinking too much or abusing drugs, which only adds insult to their pre-existing injury.

And sometimes, family and friends inadvertently reinforce a person’s denial of mental distress by labeling it as “that’s just the way he is” and do nothing to encourage them to seek professional help.

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The Critical Relationship Between Anxiety and Depression

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In her short story “Five Signs of Disturbance,” Lydia Davis writes of a woman who is “frightened”:

She cannot always decide whether what seems to her a sign of disturbance should be counted as such, since it is fairly normal for her, such as talking aloud to herself or eating too much, or whether it should be counted because to someone else it might seem at least somewhat abnormal, and so, after thinking of ten or eleven signs, she wavers between counting five and seven signs as real signs of disturbance and finally settles on five, partly because she cannot accept the idea that there could be as many as seven.

I would have thought it’s normal to be weird about a few things, but being confronted with such a perspective always makes me doubt myself. I, too, wonder constantly if the things I do and experience are normal. But I have many more signs of disturbance than ten or eleven. I think.

I could say I’m sleeping badly, but it’s worse than that—I’m sleeping incorrectly. When I lie down, I don’t actually rest my head on the pillow; instead, I hold it slightly aloft, so that it touches the pillow but, instead of sinking into the soft material, remains hovering above it. To an observer I would seem to be lying down normally. I tell myself to relax—among other issues, I’m worried I’ll develop a thick neck. When I do, I’m shocked at how much I had just moments before been not relaxing. This is sleep , I think. This is what going to sleep actually feels like . But soon I find my head has risen above the pillow again, and I must admit to myself that I don’t know what going to sleep actually feels like.

From this you’d think I have trouble falling asleep; not so. I’m usually exhausted. But I almost always wake up too soon. Sometimes for no reason; sometimes by a tingling in my ring and pinky fingers, which I experience because I hold my arms tense in sleep, often with my hands in fists so tight that they leave marks from my nails on my palm. I learned the tingling is caused by the ulnar nerve, from a masseuse who observed my posture; she also intuited that I had been born via C-section and was thus likely dealing with an original sense of having been forcibly removed from a place of safety. The clenching, broadly, leads me to grind my teeth, which I have done for at least ten years, and the grinding, probably, leads to the tinnitus, which is relatively new. One of these things might also be at fault for what’s known as exploding head syndrome: at night, I sometimes see flashes of light behind my closed eyes, as if there are fireworks outside my window, and hear mechanical sounds that aren’t there. Despite its spectacular name, the condition is “prognostically benign,” accompanied by no pain or immediate threat to health. The fear I experience along with these hallucinations inspires a series of logical justifications: it’s all in my head, which is, of course, exactly the problem.

Trouble sleeping is certainly normal, but it doesn’t help the project of being awake. While socializing, I am cheerful, gossipy, and quite fun until I’m sleepy, but sometimes I catch myself doing artistic things with my hands and posture—fidgeting, wringing, clenching—even as I engage charmingly (I hope) with my interlocutors. Other times, I will look down from a conversation and notice, Oh, the fist again; because I can laugh at myself, I hold it up to show my friend, as if it contains a surprise. I do not pick or bite my nails, but in groups or alone, at home or out, I cannot keep my shoulders down. (Large deltoids—almost as bad as a thick neck.) Twice now, at parties, men have come up behind me and attempted to physically correct my posture, followed by a little lecture. Never mind the cell-phone addiction, the laptop that sits on the table so that I must look down on it, the ambient tension of contemporary life, when I must be on guard against men who randomly correct my posture. The slouch, they say, is the result of my failure to accept myself as a tall woman.

I honestly don’t think that’s it, but should you really take my word for it? I sometimes feel strange pains in various parts of my body, just fleeting ones, which I then waste a lot of time thinking about. I have occasionally fainted for no reason, and more than once broken out in hives. I get sweaty, feel anxious about being sweaty—about the sweat becoming visible to others, disgusting them—and get sweatier. After I go in the sun, I experience what I call a sunburn neurosis, my skin burning and tingling, though I remain, owing to anxious sunscreen application, as white as a Victorian ghost; I haven’t had a sunburn since I was a teen-ager. Acid reflux can last for weeks. I often find it difficult to eat because I am nauseated due to stress.

I don’t have any phobias, but I do feel afraid. When I’m particularly stressed, I sense movement out of the corner of my eye and jump, like an animal preparing to fend off attack; there’s nothing there. I hold my breath, make little noises, sing little songs, shake. Sometimes I perform feats of what might look from the outside like symptoms of very mild obsessive-compulsive disorder: checking more than twice that the front door is locked; changing the combination on a locker at the gym or a museum multiple times, because I am afraid someone saw me set it. I am hesitant to even mention this one, knowing, because of my years-long Internet addiction—which I would attribute to, among other things, an attempt to escape my anxious, spiralling thoughts, or maybe to externalize them—that if someone claims they “are O.C.D.” about facts of life, such as cleaning the kitchen, people get mad: perfectionism, neuroticism, and thoroughness are not O.C.D. In my defense, I never clean the kitchen.

My work suffers, of course. How could it not? I’m sadly not a perfectionist but, rather, an avoider and a regretter. There are periods when I will respond to e-mails at a reasonable pace, and then there’s the e-mail about a potentially lucrative project that I ignored for months. I haven’t even opened it; I don’t know what it says. Since childhood, I’ve had versions of “the packing dream,” in which I am surrounded by clothes strewn chaotically around the room, and I cannot choose what to bring on a trip. I may have enough time to finish packing, or I may already be too late. Whatever the scenario, it’s never one of those dreams about physical impediments, in which you try to move but can’t; the obstacle is always only my own mind, my own incapability, and that is the torment—that I’ve done this to myself. (I have never actually missed a flight.) As for work, I always manage to “get it done,” though I don’t know how. It’s probably a reasonable enough fear of failure—or fear of failing to achieve the impossibly ambitious vision in my mind—that is my obstacle. Even worse is the possibility, floated by sanguine meditators and accepters of things-as-they-are, that I may need the anxiety, and the promise of eventual relief from it, to do anything at all.

What about panic attacks? I’ve never had the kind of panic attack that people mistake for a medical emergency, but sometimes I become very still, sort of unable to move, for, I don’t know, ten to twenty minutes to an hour, and my muscles are sore the next day. There are the usual racing thoughts: love, squandered potential, unlikely vanities, loss of income. Injustices committed against me; chores. Will I get cancer? Knowing that everyone worries they have cancer helps only a little bit. My ultimate anxiety is not that a certain fear will come true. Rather, I experience panic as mostly meta: the horror of being trapped, in this mind-set, for the rest of my life.

Naturally, I am not merely anxious; I am also very sad. The two are, for me, inextricable: I get anxious that I’ll get sad and sad that I’m so anxious. It’s harder to describe the depression, and the fear of it, because fewer physical symptoms are involved. Weeping, that telltale sign of sadness, is usually cathartic, a response to a specific buildup of identifiable issues, and thus not involved in what I can’t help but think of as the true suffering, which recedes and returns, recedes and returns. People often talk about being unable to get out of bed in the morning. What if you can get out of bed—after about an hour and a half of lying awake in it, thinking about how you should get out of bed? What if you can get out of bed but find it beckons you back throughout the day? What if you are, owing to your difficulty sleeping, just tired? Which comes first, exhaustion or depression? Does it matter?

Even knowing that “normal” is a nefarious construct, used to shame and control, there’s something about these symptoms that makes me want to know how many people have them; they mean nothing to me alone because none of them is so unusual as to cause alarm, or even merit comment, and so they might mean anything. Is it really such a big deal? I don’t know where to put the emphasis, how to tell it, and this is particularly disturbing because knowing where to put the emphasis is my vocation, which is also bound up with, I’ll admit, my “sense of self.” “You don’t seem anxious,” friends will say, surprised at my competent narration. This is not the response I want. How competent could it be if no one believes what I’m telling them?

I can shift the blame. As with anything that matters, the language we use to describe “mental illness” is all wrong. Mental illness is “real,” as real as a tumor, but not the same kind of real as a tumor. Its effects are measurable, in blood pressure or hours slept, or noticeable, in weird hand gestures or an erratic mode of speaking, but mental illness has no shape or volume; its size cannot be conveyed through comparisons to fruits and vegetables. It becomes real in the description of its effects, in the naming of everything around it, rather than in attempts to define it, though we have many words and phrases that approach the task. “Disturbance” is funny, and accurate, because it refers both to the internal condition and what it produces: behavior that might unsettle oneself or others. I become “nervous” in small-stakes situations of short or predetermined time frames; “nervousness” no longer describes the anxious disposition, as it did in the past, but the feeling of being anxious about a specific thing that is usually imminent. I’m “neurotic” because I know the basics of psychoanalysis and am a fast-talking big-city professional; I’m “neurasthenic” because I know the word. My mother used to call herself, as well as me, a “worrywart”; to “worry” is to fidget with something in the mind. “Panic” is acute, “attack” is very acute, and a “fit” is a cute version of a “panic attack”; “throwing a fit” is what children do and what adults do when they are “freaking out” while simultaneously making childish demands. Like “freaking out,” “going insane” is applicable as a joke in retrospect, though it became too popular on the Internet and lost its edge, particularly because the sort of people who said it were just the sort who ought to be arguing that the usage stigmatizes people with mental illnesses. I still indulge in “crazy,” which is classic, and permitted, I think, because I am. “Distressed” is the joke version of nervous, though someone “in distress” is being euphemized, as is someone “behaving erratically.” A “crisis” is both intense and prolonged; a “spiral” is a crisis about one issue, characterized by repetitive and catastrophic thinking, and “spiralling” may feature prominently in crises, but in a slightly funny way. I fear having a true “breakdown,” which suggests, to me, among other things, a failure of speech, but I also fantasize about having a true breakdown for the same reason. I am rarely, if ever, “hysterical”; that’s sexist. “Mentally ill” is, of course, insufficient, though when I have seen other people “in crisis” I have thought I actually understand the term. The concept of “mental health,” did you know, comes from Plato, who said that it could be cultivated through the elimination of passion by reason. Today, good mental health means something like the elimination of both passion and reason.

Unless I’m about to appear onstage, in which case I am “nervous,” I describe myself as “anxious” so that people know I’m serious: this is not a passing worry but a constant state, and if I were to seek a medical diagnosis I would get one, handily. The question “Why don’t you?” naturally arises. The answer is that I do not feel it would help, and might even create more problems than it solves. In medicine, the problem of language is a problem of classification; I do not seek a diagnosis, probably, because I do not want to be trapped in a single term. (I hate being trapped, you might have noticed.) Like everyone else’s, my mind dabbles in an array of mental illnesses to create a bespoke product, and I find all the terms I know either ludicrously broad or ludicrously specific. I learned from Scott Stossel’s upsettingly thorough 2014 book, “ My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind ,” that the term “generalized anxiety disorder” was conceived at a dinner party, in the nineteen-seventies, held among members of a task force working on the DSM-III . According to David Sheehan, a psychiatrist who was there, they were all drunk, wondering how to classify a colleague who “didn’t suffer from panic attacks but who worried all the time . . . just sort of generally anxious.” “For the next thirty years,” Sheehan continues, “the world collected data” on the group’s drunken musing. The point of this anecdote, Stossel establishes, is not to say that generalized anxiety disorder isn’t real but to demonstrate how somewhat arbitrary decisions made by powerful people can shape how we see ourselves. I also don’t mean to suggest that the ideas that we have while drunk are bad—more that drunkenness can give us an admirable economy and frankness, and encourage us to just pick something and go with it, something that some of us, sober, really struggle to do.

An essay like this is supposed to have a narrative. Where does my anxiety come from? Famously, it’s overdetermined. First, my parents: they passed down bad genes, and then they might not have raised me right. To go further I’d have to discuss the ways that they might not have been raised right, and then discuss the ways that they might not have raised me right. Although, like everyone, I have a list of these in the Notes app on my phone, and I update it every few days when a new injustice committed against my past innocence reveals itself, I am hesitant to go down this path, which narrows to a tunnel, which is eventually pitch-dark. The packing dream, a desire to escape my humble origins; the sunburn neurosis, from my mother’s warnings. I am the way I am because my father did this, or my mother didn’t do that. Not a very satisfying conclusion.

What about society? That’s what’s fucked up. In the early two-thousands, a group of academics in Chicago formed a collective called the Feel Tank—an alternative to the think tank, though of course they also opposed “the facile splitting of thinking and feeling.” According to their manifesto, they sought “to understand the economic and the nervous system of contemporary life” by being “interested in the potential for ‘bad feelings’ like hopelessness, apathy, anxiety, fear, numbness, despair and ambivalence to constitute and be constituted as forms of resistance.” One of their early slogans was “Depressed? . . . It might be political.”

Here the concept of normality truly collapses: what is normal—financial precarity, an inability to plan for the future, war—is not good at all. Feel Tank Chicago was established as part of the “affective turn” in the academic humanities, which began in the nineties; this approach to understanding emotions as shaped by power structures has become wildly influential, though it’s not new. For example: the concept of Americanitis, popularized by William James at the end of the nineteenth century, described “the high-strung, nervous, active temperament of the American people,” according to an 1898 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association . The causes—advances in technology and accompanying pressures of capitalism—were much the same as they are today. Wherever the contemporary occurs, anxiety and depression are seen as natural reactions to it, and performances of profound mental discord in response to the news will be familiar to anyone on social media.

If conventional understandings of mental illness tend to make it about you—the chemicals in your brain or the particular contours of your childhood—this conception wonders if you can harness its power to make things better for everyone. Nice. But there’s something a little simplistic about the way one can attribute all feelings of negativity, disconnection, or anxiety to what amounts to a higher power, as anyone who’s read those social-media laments will know. Doesn’t this encourage more bad feelings: solipsism, nihilism, futility? Looking for something to blame may feel better than beating oneself up, but it doesn’t feel good . In her 2012 book, “ Depression: A Public Feeling ,” Ann Cvetkovich describes the Public Feelings Project—Feel Tank Chicago described themselves as a “cell” of this larger group—as an attempt to “depathologize negative feelings so that they can be seen as a possible resource for political action,” but without suggesting “that depression is thereby converted into a positive experience.”

Indeed, the encouragement to understand our suffering as determined by external conditions does not seem to ease it. The comfort of believing you are normal is that you have company in misery and that your condition seems less likely to become worse. But if “normal” is, by definition, something that is getting worse all the time, then your condition is a form of solidarity—not necessarily a source of solace. (And if you derive solace from the solidarity, do you really want to sacrifice the quality that grants you access to it?) For my purposes—which are, I suppose, to understand whether and how I am abnormal without annoying the reader—stories that foreground their protagonists’ participation in public feeling tend to be unsatisfying. If my suffering has nothing do with me, if it’s the expression of social and political conditions, why should the reader, or well-meaning friend, care? This is why narratives that compete directly with the idea of collective feeling and collective resistance, conservative tales of bootstrapping and hard work, are so compelling: they make a lot more sense.

Until the revolution that would be our relief comes, we must “do the work” to get better ourselves. “Have you tried talking to someone?” people ask, when I mention my various issues. Are you that somebody? No: they mean that, in addition to the natural sleep aids, the regular exercise, the healthy diet, the cultivation of hobbies, the having of friends, the practicing of meditation, and the occasional massage, I should go to therapy.

I have tried talking to someone; it’s fine. The responses I get when I utter the magic words “my therapist” are more thought-provoking than any of the personal revelations I’ve uncovered with him so far, though the idea is that you need to do it for years for the benefits to accrue. “I’m proud of you,” friends say. As if it is so difficult to think seriously about myself for hours a day—as if that weren’t what I was doing with my anxiety anyway. These friends will talk about my problems with me endlessly, as long as I am “in therapy.” If I am not, or if I express my doubts about the possibility of transcending the workings of my own mind by paying someone to guide me through the process, the response is unanimous: I must find a new therapist, someone who is “right” for me. They wonder, gently, gently: Is it possible that I, so high-achieving, am unconsciously telling the therapist what I think he wants to hear—deceiving him by being adequately emotional, apparently reflective, in order to give true self-knowledge the slip? Should I not find someone meaner, nicer, female, more intellectual, less intellectual, someone who will not fall for my tricks?

Or: I must try a different therapeutic approach. A bit of research quickly reveals an expanse of options: somatic-experiencing therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, integrative therapy, gestalt therapy, humanistic therapy, psychodynamic therapy, exposure therapy, shock therapy, biofeedback, counselling, coaching, one of the innumerable schools of psychoanalysis. At a wedding, I was strongly recommended E.M.D.R., or “eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing” therapy, in which eye movement is stimulated in an attempt to retrain the brain to respond to trauma. Some of these styles of therapy are more or less the same thing, just with different names, but, given the nature of the enterprise, you have to assume that the selection of one name or another, or a combination of names, indicates subtle differences in method that surely multiply to create different outcomes. Whether you’re supposed to think about outcomes is a key differentiating factor in therapeutic approaches.

A psychiatrist might prescribe medication, a fraught topic. It’s hard to write about medication without having taken it oneself, which I have so far resisted. I’ve tried a couple of popular pharmaceuticals recreationally and find I am more afraid of them than I am of illegal club drugs; they really work. While I have no idea what it’s like to be on psychiatric medication long term, no one else can say what it’s like, either; the medications famously interact with each person differently, so there is no way to understand them as an experience except through trial and error. The possible side effects are sometimes just as bad as the symptoms they’re supposed to alleviate. The process of stopping these medications, which many patients want to do , is criminally under-studied and requires a painful period of weaning that comes with prohibitively bad side effects, too. (To start antidepressants is to sign up for some future moment when you won’t want to take them anymore, and to have to decide whether you want to experience “brain zaps” in order to stop.)

At the same time, they often help. Criticize what you believe to be the craven overprescription of psychiatric medication in the United States and someone on the Internet will take personal offense: Wellbutrin saved my life! At the end of Sheila Heti’s 2018 novel, “ Motherhood ,” the narrator begins taking antidepressants, and all her problems—primarily her vacillation about the question of whether to have a child, which constitutes the entire novel, along with a debilitating, weeping sadness around her period—are suddenly solved, with what the critic Willa Paskin called a “lexapro-ex-machina.” The abruptness of the ironic conclusion is itself a comment on the role that psychiatric medication plays in North American life, but this plot point, one of the book’s very few, also demonstrates the way philosophical searching ceases when the anguish that propels it is no longer there. Medication allows Heti’s narrator to ignore the upsetting reality that she could go on trying to decide, or regretting, forever. There is no arc, nor character development, nor point, without anticlimactic intervention.

I once attended a session of what I called jaw yoga, hoping to “manage” my bruxism. It was conducted by a Greek woman named Angela who described herself as a dancer, choreographer, and yoga coach; she was also, incredibly, an actual dentist. At the union of these disparate interests was a passionate belief that the jaw had been neglected in the world of dance and that the rest of the body had been neglected in the world of dentistry. “Once you are grinding and pressing the teeth, your cranium and shoulders, hips, knees and feet are reacting to this pressure,” her course description read, beneath a photo of her lying on her stomach, cupping her jaw in her hands. “Once the skeleton is affected, also the organs are reacting. A chain reaction of organs and emotions is put in motion.” She told us how to identify the various parts of the jaw and ended the class by singing along to a recording of “All You Need Is Love.” As we left, she passed out business cards that read “You are the point.”

It didn’t work, though maybe I should have attended more sessions. A resistance to helping oneself is often a simple denial of reality: I don’t want it to be true that I need help, not because I would like to imagine myself as strong and never in need—a common explanation—but because I do not want to have these problems that are notoriously difficult to solve, about which there is no professional agreement. I do not want to embark on a years-long project dedicated to my own mind. I have other things to think about.

A final worry: Am I being confessional? The great trick of declaring outsized anguish, of being publicly and clinically wrecked by one’s feelings, is that once you do it your feelings set the limits, and no one wants to hurt them. The confession is a simple form of writing. It does not contextualize, illuminate, or complicate. Its main purpose is not the creation of aesthetic beauty out of the materials at hand (life, pain) but selfishness: relieving the confessor’s desire to confess. The form travels in one direction, from me to you, offering no path to analysis, critique, or, God forbid, argument. If the feelings are unique, the confession is justified; if they’re normal, it is, too. One yearns for the breakthrough, the epiphany, the point, that will make sense of it all, and thus cure it. But catharsis for me is boring for you. ♦

This is drawn from “ No Judgment .”

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Essay on Depression And Anxiety

Students are often asked to write an essay on Depression And Anxiety in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Depression And Anxiety

Understanding depression and anxiety.

Depression and anxiety are mental health issues. Depression makes people feel sad and lose interest in things they usually enjoy. Anxiety makes people worry a lot, often about everyday things.

Causes of Depression and Anxiety

Many things can cause depression and anxiety. These include difficult life events, like losing a loved one, or having problems at school. Sometimes, it can also be due to physical health issues.

Signs and Symptoms

Depression and anxiety can change how people behave. They may become quiet, lose appetite, or have trouble sleeping. They may also feel tired all the time, or find it hard to concentrate.

Getting Help

If you think you or someone else has depression or anxiety, it’s important to get help. This can be from a doctor, a teacher, or a trusted adult. They can provide advice and treatment options.

Treatment Options

Treatments for depression and anxiety include talking therapies and medication. Sometimes, changes in lifestyle like getting more exercise or eating healthier can also help.

Supporting Others

If someone you know has depression or anxiety, you can support them. Listen to them, be patient, and encourage them to seek help. Remember, it’s not their fault they’re feeling this way.

Also check:

250 Words Essay on Depression And Anxiety

What is depression and anxiety.

Depression and anxiety are types of mental health problems. Depression makes people feel sad, tired, and lose interest in things they once loved. Anxiety often makes people worry too much about different things. It’s like a fear or dread that doesn’t go away.

Many things can cause depression and anxiety. It can be due to stress at school, problems at home, or even changes in your body. Sometimes, these problems can also run in families. It’s not the fault of the person who has it.

Signs of Depression and Anxiety

Depression and anxiety can make people act in different ways. Some may feel tired all the time, have trouble sleeping, or not want to eat. Others might feel nervous, have a hard time focusing, or become easily upset.

Helping with Depression and Anxiety

Depression and anxiety can be tough to deal with. But remember, it’s not your fault and there are people who can help. With the right support, things can get better.

500 Words Essay on Depression And Anxiety

Depression and anxiety are common mental health issues. They can affect anyone, at any age, and they can make life very hard. It’s important to understand what they are, how they affect people, and what can be done to help.

What is Depression?

What is anxiety.

Anxiety is a feeling of fear or worry that doesn’t go away. It’s normal to feel anxious sometimes, like before a big test. But people with anxiety disorders feel worried or scared even when there’s no reason to be. This can make it hard for them to do everyday things, like going to school or hanging out with friends.

Depression and Anxiety Together

Depression and anxiety often happen together. This can make it even harder for people to feel happy or calm. They might feel sad and scared at the same time, or their feelings might switch back and forth quickly. This can be very confusing and tiring.

Helping People with Depression and Anxiety

The good news is, there are many ways to help people with depression and anxiety. Doctors and therapists can offer treatments like medicine and talk therapy. Lifestyle changes, like getting regular exercise and eating healthy food, can also help.

It’s also important for people with depression and anxiety to know they’re not alone. Many people have these problems, and it’s okay to ask for help. If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or anxiety, it’s important to talk to an adult you trust.

In conclusion, depression and anxiety are serious but common mental health issues. They can make life hard, but with understanding and help, people can manage these issues and lead happy, healthy lives.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

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Essays About Anxiety

Anxiety essay topic examples, argumentative essays.

Argumentative essays on anxiety require you to take a stance on a specific aspect of anxiety and provide evidence to support your viewpoint. Consider these topic examples:

• 1. Argue for the importance of mental health education in schools, emphasizing the role it plays in reducing anxiety among students.
• 2. Debate whether the increased use of technology and social media contributes to rising levels of anxiety among young adults, considering the pros and cons of digital connectivity.

Example Introduction Paragraph for an Argumentative Anxiety Essay: Anxiety is a prevalent mental health concern that affects individuals of all ages. In this argumentative essay, we will explore the significance of introducing comprehensive mental health education in schools and its potential to alleviate anxiety among students.

Example Conclusion Paragraph for an Argumentative Anxiety Essay: In conclusion, the argument for incorporating mental health education in schools underscores the need to address anxiety and related issues at an early stage. As we advocate for change, we are reminded of the positive impact such initiatives can have on the well-being of future generations.

Compare and Contrast Essays

Compare and contrast essays on anxiety involve analyzing the similarities and differences between various aspects of anxiety, treatment approaches, or the impact of anxiety on different demographic groups. Consider these topics:

• 1. Compare and contrast the experiences and coping mechanisms of individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD), highlighting their unique challenges and commonalities.
• 2. Analyze the differences and similarities in the prevalence and impact of anxiety among different age groups, such as adolescents and older adults, considering the contributing factors and treatment options.

Example Introduction Paragraph for a Compare and Contrast Anxiety Essay: Anxiety manifests in various forms, affecting individuals differently. In this compare and contrast essay, we will examine the experiences and coping strategies of individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD), shedding light on the distinctions and shared aspects of their conditions.

Example Conclusion Paragraph for a Compare and Contrast Anxiety Essay: In conclusion, the comparison and contrast of GAD and SAD provide valuable insights into the diverse landscape of anxiety disorders. As we deepen our understanding, we can better tailor support and interventions for those grappling with these challenges.

Descriptive Essays

Descriptive essays on anxiety allow you to provide a detailed account of anxiety-related experiences, the impact of anxiety on daily life, or the portrayal of anxiety in literature and media. Here are some topic ideas:

• 1. Describe a personal experience of overcoming a major anxiety-related obstacle or fear, highlighting the emotions and strategies involved in the process.
• 2. Analyze the portrayal of anxiety and mental health in a specific novel, movie, or television series, discussing its accuracy and the messages it conveys to the audience.

Example Introduction Paragraph for a Descriptive Anxiety Essay: Anxiety can be a formidable adversary, but it is also a source of resilience and personal growth. In this descriptive essay, I will recount a deeply personal journey of overcoming a significant anxiety-related challenge, shedding light on the emotions and strategies that guided me along the way.

Example Conclusion Paragraph for a Descriptive Anxiety Essay: In conclusion, my personal narrative of conquering anxiety illustrates the transformative power of resilience and determination. As we share our stories, we inspire others to confront their fears and embrace the path to recovery.

Persuasive Essays

Persuasive essays on anxiety involve advocating for specific actions, policies, or changes related to anxiety awareness, treatment accessibility, or destigmatization. Consider these persuasive topics:

• 1. Persuade your audience of the importance of increasing mental health resources on college campuses, emphasizing the positive impact on students' well-being and academic performance.
• 2. Advocate for the destigmatization of anxiety and other mental health conditions in society, highlighting the role of media, education, and public discourse in reducing stereotypes and discrimination.

Example Introduction Paragraph for a Persuasive Anxiety Essay: Anxiety affects millions of individuals, yet stigma and limited resources often hinder access to necessary support. In this persuasive essay, I will make a compelling case for the expansion of mental health services on college campuses, emphasizing the benefits to students' overall well-being and academic success.

Example Conclusion Paragraph for a Persuasive Anxiety Essay: In conclusion, the persuasive argument for increased mental health resources on college campuses highlights the urgent need to prioritize students' mental well-being. As we advocate for these changes, we contribute to a more inclusive and supportive educational environment.

Narrative Essays

Narrative essays on anxiety allow you to share personal stories, experiences, or perspectives related to anxiety, your journey to understanding and managing it, or the impact of anxiety on your life. Explore these narrative essay topics:

• 1. Narrate a personal experience of a panic attack, describing the physical and emotional sensations, the circumstances, and the steps taken to cope and recover.
• 2. Share a story of your journey toward self-acceptance and resilience in the face of anxiety, emphasizing the strategies and support systems that have helped you navigate this mental health challenge.

Example Introduction Paragraph for a Narrative Anxiety Essay: Anxiety is a deeply personal experience that can profoundly impact one's life. In this narrative essay, I will take you through a vivid account of a panic attack I experienced, offering insights into the physical and emotional aspects of this anxiety-related event.

Example Conclusion Paragraph for a Narrative Anxiety Essay: In conclusion, the narrative of my panic attack experience underscores the importance of self-awareness and coping strategies in managing anxiety. As we share our stories, we foster understanding and support for those facing similar challenges.

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Anxiety is a psychological and physiological response characterized by feelings of apprehension, fear, and unease. It is a natural human reaction to perceived threats or stressors, triggering a heightened state of arousal and activating the body's fight-or-flight response.

Excessive worrying: Individuals with anxiety often experience persistent and intrusive thoughts, excessive worrying, and an inability to control their anxious thoughts. Physical symptoms: Anxiety can manifest physically, leading to symptoms such as increased heart rate, rapid breathing, sweating, trembling, muscle tension, headaches, and gastrointestinal disturbances. Restlessness and irritability: Anxiety can cause a sense of restlessness and irritability, making it difficult for individuals to relax or concentrate on tasks. Sleep disruptions: Anxiety has the potential to interfere with sleep patterns, resulting in challenges when trying to initiate sleep, maintain it, or achieve a restorative sleep. Consequently, this can exacerbate feelings of fatigue and weariness. Avoidance behaviors: People with anxiety may engage in avoidance behaviors, such as avoiding certain situations or places that trigger their anxiety. This can restrict their daily activities and limit their quality of life.

Genetic predisposition: Research suggests that individuals with a family history of anxiety disorders may have a higher likelihood of developing anxiety themselves. Certain genetic variations and inherited traits can increase susceptibility to anxiety. Brain chemistry: Imbalances in neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, dopamine, and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), are thought to play a role in anxiety disorders. These chemical imbalances can affect the regulation of mood, emotions, and stress responses. Environmental factors: Traumatic life events, such as abuse, loss, or significant life changes, can trigger or exacerbate anxiety. Chronic stress, work pressure, and relationship difficulties can also contribute to the development of anxiety. Personality traits: Certain personality traits, such as being prone to perfectionism, having a negative outlook, or being highly self-critical, may increase the risk of developing anxiety disorders. Medical conditions: Certain medical conditions, such as thyroid disorders, cardiovascular issues, and respiratory problems, can be associated with anxiety symptoms.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): GAD is marked by excessive and uncontrollable worry about various aspects of life, including work, health, and everyday situations. Individuals with GAD often experience physical symptoms like restlessness, fatigue, muscle tension, and difficulty concentrating. Panic Disorder: Panic disorder involves recurrent and unexpected panic attacks, which are intense episodes of fear accompanied by physical symptoms like rapid heart rate, shortness of breath, chest pain, and dizziness. People with panic disorder often worry about future panic attacks and may develop agoraphobia, avoiding places or situations that they fear might trigger an attack. Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD): SAD is characterized by an intense fear of social situations and a persistent worry about being embarrassed, judged, or humiliated. People with SAD may experience extreme self-consciousness, avoidance of social interactions, and physical symptoms like blushing, trembling, or sweating. Specific Phobias: Common examples include phobias of heights, spiders, flying, or enclosed spaces. Exposure to the feared object or situation can trigger severe anxiety symptoms. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): OCD is characterized by intrusive and unwanted thoughts (obsessions) that lead to repetitive behaviors or mental acts (compulsions) aimed at reducing anxiety. Common obsessions include fears of contamination, doubts, and a need for symmetry, while common compulsions include excessive cleaning, checking, and arranging.

The treatment of anxiety typically involves a multi-faceted approach aimed at addressing the individual's specific needs. One common form of treatment is psychotherapy, which involves talking with a trained therapist to explore the underlying causes of anxiety and develop coping strategies. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is often employed to challenge negative thought patterns and behaviors associated with anxiety. In some cases, anti-anxiety medications, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or benzodiazepines, may be prescribed by a healthcare professional. These medications work to alleviate the intensity of anxiety symptoms and promote a sense of calm. Additionally, lifestyle modifications can play a significant role in anxiety management. Regular exercise, stress-reduction techniques like meditation or yoga, and maintaining a balanced diet can contribute to overall well-being and help alleviate anxiety symptoms.

1. Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent mental health conditions that affect a substantial number of individuals worldwide, impacting approximately 284 million people globally. 2. Research indicates that women have a higher likelihood of being diagnosed with anxiety disorders compared to men. Studies reveal that women are twice as likely to experience anxiety, with this gender difference emerging during adolescence and persisting into adulthood. 3. Anxiety disorders often coexist with other mental health issues. Extensive research has demonstrated a strong correlation between anxiety disorders and comorbidities such as depression, substance abuse, and eating disorders. These co-occurring conditions can significantly impact an individual's well-being and require comprehensive and integrated approaches to treatment.

Anxiety is an important topic to explore in an essay due to its widespread impact on individuals and society as a whole. Understanding and addressing anxiety is crucial for several reasons. Firstly, anxiety disorders are highly prevalent, affecting a significant portion of the population globally. This prevalence highlights the need for increased awareness, accurate information, and effective strategies for prevention and treatment. Secondly, anxiety can have profound effects on individuals' mental, emotional, and physical well-being. It can impair daily functioning, hinder relationships, and limit personal growth. By delving into this topic, one can examine the various factors contributing to anxiety, its symptoms, and the potential consequences on individuals' lives. Additionally, exploring anxiety can shed light on the complex interplay between biological, psychological, and social factors that contribute to its development and maintenance. This understanding can inform the development of targeted interventions and support systems for individuals experiencing anxiety.

1. Bandelow, B., & Michaelis, S. (2015). Epidemiology of anxiety disorders in the 21st century. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 17(3), 327-335. 2. Kessler, R. C., et al. (2005). Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of anxiety disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62(6), 593-602. 3. National Institute of Mental Health. (2018). Anxiety disorders. Retrieved from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/ 4. American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing. 5. Craske, M. G., et al. (2017). Anxiety disorders. Nature Reviews Disease Primers, 3(1), 17024. 6. Hofmann, S. G., et al. (2012). The efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 36(5), 427-440. 7. Roy-Byrne, P. P., et al. (2010). Treating generalized anxiety disorder with second-generation antidepressants: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 71(3), 306-317. 8. Etkin, A., et al. (2015). A cognitive-emotional biomarker for predicting remission with antidepressant medications: A report from the iSPOT-D trial. JAMA Psychiatry, 72(1), 14-22. 9. Heimberg, R. G., et al. (2014). Cognitive-behavioral therapy, imipramine, or their combination for panic disorder: A randomized controlled trial. JAMA, 293(23), 2884-2893. 10. Hofmann, S. G., et al. (2013). Efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy for social anxiety disorder: A meta-analysis. Psychological Medicine, 43(05), 897-910.

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Anxiety and Depression

Anxiety is a typical emotional and mental well-being issue affecting kids’ routines. Anxiety disorder is diagnosed when the fears and worries in a child persist, impede regular exercise, and do not improve with time (CDC, 2019). Different types of anxiety disorders include separation anxiety, e specific fears, social tension, general nervousness, and panic disorder. Anxiety can present as dread or stress; however, it can manifest as irritability or anger. Also, anxiety symptoms can incorporate actual side effects like fatigue, headaches, or stomachaches. It is essential to distinguish and treat anxiety in kids, as side effects can worsen over the long run whenever left untreated (CDC, 2019).

Infrequent sensations of hopelessness or sadness are a natural part of childhood. However, for certain kids, these feelings endure and can demonstrate a more complicated condition: depression (NHS, 2021). Kids encountering depression might show various ways of behaving, including feeling miserable or short-tempered more often than not, losing interest in exercises they once delighted in and feeling vulnerable or irredeemable in any event when they can change their situation. Changes in eating and sleeping patterns are also regular among youngsters with depression, with some eating more than expected and sleeping much more than typical. They may also feel drained, sluggish, tense, and anxious a significant part of the time, making it hard to concentrate or focus (NHS, 2021).

Treatment for anxiety and depression

If a youngster is encountering anxiety or depression, the initial step to treatment is to talk with a medical care provider. This could be the child’s primary care provider or a psychological wellness subject matter expert. Medical services providers can assess the youngster and decide whether a prescription should be necessary for the therapy plan.

An emotional and mental wellness professional can foster a treatment plan that best suits the youngster and family. Behavior therapy can include kid treatment, family therapy, or both. Including parents and guardians in treatment are especially significant for tiny kids (Lindberg et al., 2020). Cognitive-behavioral therapy is one type of treatment that can be utilized to treat anxiety or depression, especially in more older kids. It assists the youngster with changing negative thoughts into more positive, successful perspectives and effective ways of thinking, leading to more effective behavior (Lindberg et al., 2020).

Behavior therapy for anxiety might include helping youngsters adapt to and manage anxiety side effects while progressively presenting them to their fears so they can discover that awful things don’t necessarily in every case happen (Otte, 2022). Treating anxiety and depression may also include different ways of assisting the youngster with feeling less focused on and being better, like eating nutritious food, engaging in physical activity, getting adequate rest, having predictable routines, and having social support.

Managing Symptoms: Staying Healthy

Maintaining solid relations with loved ones is also significant for general health and prosperity. Children with depression or anxiety may feel isolated or disconnected from others, so sustaining excellent and positive relationships can give a feeling of help and a place. It’s additionally essential to restrict screen time and online and social media entertainment use, as unreasonable use can add to sensations of stress and anxiety (Ghandour et al., 2019). Engaging in hobbies or activities that bring joy and fulfillment can also improve mental health and psychological wellness. Whether it’s playing sports, making craftsmanship, or mastering another expertise, finding a movement that the youngster appreciates and is enthusiastic about can give a feeling of inspiration and achievement. Moreover, decreasing pressure through exercises like yoga, reflection, or deep breathing activities can also assist with overseeing the side effects of anxiety and depression (Ghandour et al., 2019).

Keeping away from or restricting the utilization of substances like liquor or medications is significant, as these can compound side effects and obstruct the treatment. Looking for help from a specialist, instructor, or care group can also give them a safe place to youngsters to communicate their sentiments and work through their difficulties.

Regular check-ins with healthcare providers can assist with monitoring progress and making any necessary adjustments to treatment plans (Ghandour et al., 2019). By integrating these solid behavioral techniques into their daily schedule and working intimately with their medical services group, kids with depression or anxiety can control their mental and psychological well-being and further develop their general prosperity.

Prevention of anxiety and depression

The development of anxiety or depression in children is not fully understood, yet it is accepted that different variables might contribute, including hereditary qualities and character attributes. Notwithstanding, research has shown that specific life experiences can improve the probability of youngsters encountering these conditions, like trauma, stress, abuse, harassing, and having a family history of anxiety or depression (CDC, 2019). While these risk factors cannot be eradicated, public health approaches can assist with keeping them from happening or mitigate their effect. Some of these approaches include suicide prevention, includes suicide prevention, bullying prevention, kid abuse and mistreatment prevention, youth violence prevention, depression after birth, really focusing on youngsters in a fiasco, and improving mental health and psychological wellness in schools and among teenagers (CDC, 2019).

CDC. (2019, April 30).  Anxiety and Depression in Children . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/depression.html

Ghandour, R. M., Sherman, L. J., Vladutiu, C. J., Ali, M. M., Lynch, S. E., Bitsko, R. H., & Blumberg, S. J. (2019). Prevalence and Treatment of Depression, Anxiety, and Conduct Problems in US Children.  The Journal of Pediatrics , p.  206 , 256-267.e3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2018.09.021

Lindberg, L., Hagman, E., Danielsson, P., Marcus, C., & Persson, M. (2020). Anxiety and depression in children and adolescents with obesity: a nationwide study in Sweden.  BMC Medicine ,  18 (1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-020-1498-z

NHS. (2021, February 4).  Depression in children and young people . Nhs. UK. https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/children-and-young-adults/advice-for-parents/children-depressed-signs/

Otte, C. (2022). Cognitive behavioral therapy in anxiety disorders: current state of the evidence.  Anxiety ,  13 (4), 413–421. https://doi.org/10.31887/dcns.2011.13.4/cotte

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Home / Essay Samples / Health / Depression / Overcoming Depression and Anxiety: Coping Strategies

Overcoming Depression and Anxiety: Coping Strategies

• Category: Health
• Topic: Anxiety , Depression , Mental Illness

Pages: 2 (884 words)

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What is Depression?

• Feeling sad or anxious often or all the time.
• Not wanting to do activities that were fun before.
• Feeling irritable, easily frustrated, or restless.
• Having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep.
• Getting up too early or sleeping too much.
• Eating more or less than usual or not having an appetite.
• Have stomach aches, pains, headaches, or problems that do not get better with treatment.
• Having trouble concentrating, remembering details, or making decisions.
• Feeling tired, even after a good night's sleep.
• Feeling guilty, worthless or helpless.
• Thinking about suicide or hurting yourself.

What Causes Depression?

• Having blood relatives who have had depression.
• Having suffered traumatic or stressful events, such as physical or sexual abuse, the death of a loved one, or financial problems.
• Go through a significant change in life, even if it was planned.
• Have a medical problem, such as cancer, stroke, or chronic pain.
• Taking certain medications. Talk to your doctor if you have questions about whether your medications may be making you depressed.
• Consumption of alcohol or drugs.

Who Gets Depression?

What about anxiety.

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