Anxiety without depression your opinion

Badbuz

Well-known member
I have had sa for the past 3years iv also had bad depression from time to time.ive managed to beat my depression i think and i was wonderin hav any of yee had the same experience.do yee think depression and social anxiety go hand in hand or is it possible to have 1 without the other.
 
Definitely. I've battled both depression and SA practically my whole life, and I know I've had depression free moments (even a few years without it), but never been completely SA free. I think that one can cause the other, or make it worse- my SA is worse when my depression gets really bad. I'm still not sure which came first for me, as they both pretty much started when I was probably a pre-teen... but I have a feeling the SA was first, then I probably got depressed when I couldn't fit in socially at school.
 

PennyLane

Well-known member
I totally agree with lurk, its possible to have one without the other....I have had times when I felt depressed but im able to beat it. In fact even in daily cycles there are days I feel crap and others where I feel pretty good and confident, unfortunately the extreme parts of my SA don't go with the depression.

Like lurk said I think one can cause the other as well. Personally for me I think the SA when im feeling lonely, unconfident , bored and frustrated leads to mild depression as I start to wonder if it will ever stop!
 

Noca

Banned
Ive known people who have SA and arent depressed in the least, however SA and depression normally go hand in hand.
 

Badbuz

Well-known member
Thanks for your replys guy im glad to know that its possible to shake the depression off cus i havent felt depressed in a gud while,but like yee i cnt shake my sa in the same fashion which leads me to believe that sa isnt related to serotonin levels in the mind
 

Noca

Banned
Thanks for your replys guy im glad to know that its possible to shake the depression off cus i havent felt depressed in a gud while,but like yee i cnt shake my sa in the same fashion which leads me to believe that sa isnt related to serotonin levels in the mind

If you take biology classes youll learn that we are basically just a big sack of chemicals. The chemicals mostly dictate how we go about our lives and how we feel.
 

Jake123

Banned
If you take biology classes youll learn that we are basically just a big sack of chemicals. The chemicals mostly dictate how we go about our lives and how we feel.

I'm starting to even think there's no such thing as "free will", we just respond to stimuli for the situation and condition we're in. It's all an illusion.
 

izzymarie

Active member
I think Depression and Social Anxiety are one in the same.. social anxiety is just a certain degree of depression. Cause think about it, there is obviously a reason we all have anxiety.. and that reason for most seems to stem from bad self esteem, which is a form of depression. It's a vicious cycle :/
 

Badbuz

Well-known member
I dont think serotonin is the problem tho when it comes to anxiety iv tried a few dif types of antidepressants and they have never helped the anxiety part of the problem and i havent heard any1 say they have,i have heard people say that they have helped with depression,which could mean serotonin inbalance does not cause social anxiety.
 

iamthenra

Well-known member
I've got both anxiety and depression... I think that because of the SA, which prevents me from finding a girlfriend, and obsessing over having a girlfriend, causes me great frustration, which then causes the depression to kick into full gear..... I think if I had a girl friend, that I probably wouldn't be depressed, but with SA I probably never will have a girlfriend, so more than likely I will be depressed for the remainder of my life...
 

FountainandFairfax

in a VAN down by the RIVER
I've got both anxiety and depression... I think that because of the SA, which prevents me from finding a girlfriend, and obsessing over having a girlfriend, causes me great frustration, which then causes the depression to kick into full gear..... I think if I had a girl friend, that I probably wouldn't be depressed, but with SA I probably never will have a girlfriend, so more than likely I will be depressed for the remainder of my life...

Dating someone didn't help my SA much. It gave me a little confidence, but I still felt hollow inside. I think when you have a problem with depression, you always feel like you're going to fill that hole with the next girl, guy, drink, drug, etc... but it never ever gets filled.

Sometimes I think it's just a scar you have to carry and learn to live with. Maybe after that you can get on with the business of loving yourself and someone else.
 
The following steps will significantly reduce panic attacks:
Breathe properly - if you control your breathing, you control panic. As soon as you notice the signs of anxiety, check your breathing: breathe in slowly through your nose pushing your tummy out (to the count of 5 or so). Breathe out slowly and for a bit longer through your mouth. Do not breathe rapidly or shallowly. This will soon restore the balance of oxygen and you will feel a lot better. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy! CBT is proven to be the most effective thing for panic attacks, OCD and anxiety etc. It takes a bit of work, but it is super effective. Try relaxation exercise tapes They really make a difference if you practise often enough . They will also help you sleep better if done at bedtime.
 

cosmosis

Well-known member
They go hand in hand, but I think it all depends on how you define depression. Anyone with high anxiety typically has periods of 'letting go', 'giving up' in order to try to deal with not being able to fix the anxiety or what the anxiety is trying to fix. Many of the posts on this forum are people who are in that stage. Sometimes it might turn into what people generally call depression if it has enough fuel. Or you could say we get mini-depressions (even for a couple hours) from time to time due from having to deal with anxiety.

The point is, everyone has to have a release from it. Sometimes that is depression, sometimes that mini eposides of sadness or pitying. If you refuse to let go, your body will do it for you in the form of OCD or panic or something similar. You take your pick.
 
I had my first panic attack at the age of 12. I was not depressed at that time, but anxiety definetely affected my mood later.
I agree with Noca that we are a sack of chemicals, and we must sometimes affect those chemical imbalances with chemicals, that is: medication. But at the same time I believe that we are the sum of ouir parts. SA tends to make mood lower due to isolation etc. You can have SA without depression and other way around, but if you don't beat your SA it is likely to have an adverse effect on your mood at some point.
The good thing is that you can beat SA. You may need to take meds, you may benefit of a therapy etc. I personally try to encourage people to to go to the root of the problem and change themselves. We health care people tend to medicalise everything. It sounds so simple: you have problem A, so take these tablets B. I mean, I'm not anti meds. I take meds myself. Not regularly anymore, but as prn(only when I need). But the real turning point for me was when I realised that if my mind has the power of forcing my body to react in a certain unpleasant way, it must logically have the power to force my body to react in another way as well. So, I managed to change the way I react. Basically, I changed myself. It did not happen overnight. And of course it's not all in your mind. If you drink too much coffee for example, you are bound to be anxious. etc. Good diet, exercise everything affects. But the point is that we have so much power in our mind, if we only know how to use it for our benefit, and not against us, as is often the case with anxiety.
 
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Claudius

Member
I had SA for 2 years becfore I ever had depression, because of the SA, so you can obviously have one without the other.
Now I go through periods of having and not having depression but I never really don'y have the SA.
 

lithium

Well-known member
My SA causes my depression. Whenever I have a good day in which I am able to function somewhat normally and socialize to some extent, I tend to not feel the least bit depressed.
 

lyricalliaisons

Well-known member
Mine definitely don't go hand in hand. In September of '07 I started seeing a psychiatrist & he put me on a med for depression. It helped almost immediately & I went from being VERY suicidal to feeling good in no time. But my anxiety never left & never got better. The doctor didn't put me on an anxiety med for two years because he was convinced the anxiety was linked to the depression & would go away once the depression was under control. He was obviously wrong about that, but still thought the two were somehow correlated. For over a year, I was virtually depression free, but my anxiety didn't change a bit.
 
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Hellhound

Super Moderator
Well yes.. it is possible to have anxiety without depression, sometimes both might go hand in hand, or one thing could lead to the other, one can worsen the other, etc. Depends of the case.
 
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