3 Ways That Anxiety Can Lead to Depression.
3 Ways That Anxiety Can Lead to Depression. And, What to Do About It.
Did you know that anxiety can lead to depression? Anxiety and depression are often lumped together in the same basket when we talk generally about mental health. There are significant ways that they overlap, but we can also identify the ways where Anxiety leads to Depression. Understanding how and why this happens means that we can be more proactive about our mental health.
WITHDRAWING – A COMMON BUT ISOLATING SYMPTOM OF ANXIETY
People with anxiety, especially social anxiety often start to withdraw from socialising. By our very nature as humans, we are designed to be tribal beings. We need to be social and have a place in our tribe. It fills us with a sense of belonging. Withdrawing from socialising and no longer having fun with friends can be detrimental to our mental wellbeing.
initially, this withdrawal may be from overwhelm in groups or fears of saying or doing something wrong. But here is the things; every time you avoid socialising you tell confirm the fear that your brain has that it was an unsafe situation and you reinforce that you protected yourself by avoiding it. It teaches the brain that it is a good safety mechanism to use. Every time these social settings are avoided due to anxiety it actually gets harder the next time as you are now needing to overcome the pathways that the brain has created.
So what starts off as being overwhelmed at being in groups, or general anxiety about what might say or happen in those settings ends up separating you from your need to be a social being. We actually see in tests with animals that when removed from their pack they start to develop symptoms of depression. Withdrawing is a symptom of anxiety that can lead to depression and a sense that you no longer ‘belong’.
OVERTHINKING IS ANOTHER CONNECTION BETWEEN ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION
Overthinking is a common trait shared by anxiety and depression. But when overthinking takes control the anxiety can turn into depression. In both anxiety and depression, we see overthinking as when your thoughts consume you; however, there are some differences too. A good way to explain this is that with anxiety the overthinking tends to be about the future and is too future-orientated. They spend a lot of time worrying about things that might happen. In fact, these worries about the future maybe there all the time. Depression though is more past-focused. It is holding those feelings of regret and wishing that you had done things differently. Reliving of things that are in the past and you cannot change. Overthinking about the negative things or mistakes in our past is not helpful as we cannot do anything about it.
So to explain how overthinking in anxiety can lead to depression I want you to imagine that you are driving through the forest on a well-worn path. You can see a good route leaning a little to the left, but your wheels get stuck in the rut and you can’t maneuver off the worn track. In some ways our brain works much the same, it tends to want to pick the easiest route. When you are constantly worried and overthinking about fears in the future these deep neural patterns are created and it can be difficult to stop those thoughts.
With depression, we see neural loops which are where you get stuck in this constant thought loop that can be very consuming. It tends to affect multiple parts of your brain perhaps starting with a logical thought and then moving to an emotional place creating this cycle. With anxiety, we see overthinking create the negative pathways and as they become deeper and more defined the loops start to take over and it can be very difficult to get out of these thoughts.
DEPLETED CORTISOL CAN ALSO LEAD TO DEPRESSION
The third way that anxiety can lead to depression is through depleted levels of cortisol. This is a stress chemical that is actually pretty essential for day-to-day life. It gives us drive and motivation and makes us get up and go DO stuff. In someone with anxiety what we see though is the cortisol activated at too high of a level and too often. You have this natural supply of cortisol but with anxiety, it is dialed right up along with adrenaline. Your system is primed, but you are running too high and those levels are not sustainable.
It is much like a race car skipping past the pit and not getting the maintenance done. They are out there flying around the track – when all of a sudden a wheel falls off or they crash. We see this in people too. They will be flat out; push push push. And then they crash. Constantly using up the cortisol at high levels creates a deficit and this can lead to depression. This is typically exhibited as fatigue, low motivation, and no energy to put into things. These are all very good indicators that we are looking at depression.
SO HOW CAN WE PREVENT ANXIETY LEADING TO DEPRESSION?
These 3 points can feel a bit confronting if you identify with them. Please know that things do not have to end up spiraling into something worse! The key is in acting early and being proactive with your mental health. Stress is a pretty common part of life – it’s knowing that a due date is approaching on a work project. Anxiety is when that stress begins to unravel into thoughts of not being able to turn the project in, getting fired from work, or not being able to feed your family.
If you can see that your levels of stress and turning into anxiety; or if you are experiencing symptoms of anxiety then I really want to encourage you to catch it now and begin to put things in place. I would love to be a part of that journey for you. You can reach out on Instagram, or check out the website at www.savasanacollective.com. I offer one on one coaching, and nurturing self-paced courses designed to help you find healing and alignment. Or, reach out to a therapist or counselor for help in managing your anxiety. We can see so clearly where anxiety left unsupported can lead to deeper patterns creating depression and chronic issues. But with support, you can create strategies that will help you make shifts in these 3 areas.