Subhead
Anxiety/Depression
This is something everyone struggles with in different capacities, but too many people choose not to discuss it, even with their own family and friends, let alone their family doctors. These are very normal feelings to have during stressful times in life. Anxiety and depression come in many different forms and severities, some people can manage with simple techniques, for others, it may be a lifelong battle. Here is a very superficial level discussion on what symptoms one may expect and what treatments are available.
Anxiety: typical symptoms include being worried or stressed about things. Things that may or may not be within your control. Can be large or small things, can be anything or everything. There can be physical manifestations such as chest palpitations, sweating, shortness of breath, sensation of impending doom. These symptoms can arise suddenly, usually when near or around a trigger such as stressors, environments, or people/events.
Depression: symptoms include changes in personality and mood, changes in appetite, either eating more or less than usual, sleeping more or less than usual. No interest in the hobbies you use to enjoy. Depression does not always mean sad, but can be masked by someone hyper focused on a particular task in their life to hide their feelings. Sometimes one can shift this depressive feeling by drinking more alcohol or more tobacco or more work, and not willing to take any free time to enjoy others around them. This can lead to thoughts of hurting themselves or others if severe enough.
Treatment: Believe it or not, both are treated very similarly. The primary place to start is therapy/counseling. Especially for children and teenagers this is always one of the main modalities to feeling better. Talking to an expert/specialist and learning how to pinpoint triggers, how to avoid, but more importantly, how to cope with the triggers and the subsequent symptoms that are associated with anxiety and/or depression. Your family physician should always recommend and suggest this as a first line option, but can pair it with medications. The other half of the solution are medications that help augment your body’s hormones, typically serotonin to combat depression and anxiety. These medications are to be taken daily and may take up to 4-6 weeks to feel an effect and even then, there will likely need to be a titration of dosage which takes another 1-2 weeks. It is always recommended to give each medication at least 3-4 months trial before deciding it is not helpful. Any side effects would warrant stopping the medication sooner.
At the end of the day, our society is beginning to understand and accept that anxiety and depression can be a very normal part of our lives, that we can become happier and more successful when these things are better controlled. Just like diabetes and high blood pressure, you can continue to live with them and choose not to treat them, but eventually it will cause harm to the body and may even increase the risk of death. Just like medical issues, psychiatric issues need to be monitored and managed regularly, they need medications, lifestyle modifications, etc. Psychiatric diagnoses are medical and can be managed by your family doctor, but we can’t treat what we don’t know about, so come in and have a discussion about what you are feeling, why, and see how we can partner together and make it better. Again, everyone has some form of anxiety and/or depression, severity may be different, but we all deal with it, so do not think you are alone in this. You definitely do not have to suffer alone or manage it on your own.
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