Depression & Anxiety

Anxiety, Depression and Stress

We all know what we mean by feeling Anxious or feeling Depressed, and the two often go hand-in-hand.  Sometimes they are also mixed in with Stress, which physiologically feels a lot like anxiety but is fundamentally different.

All of these emotional states are readily treatable with therapy, but it is important to work with a Clinical Psychologist who is qualified to properly assess your symptoms, and determine the relationship between your symptoms and how they may be interacting.  They all require different treatment approaches, and the treatment must be properly tailored and integrated for you.

Depression and Anxiety are highly comorbid illnesses.  This means that individuals with one tend to have symptoms of the other as well.  Both issues need to be treated but it is important to understand the relationship between the two issues in terms of causality and in terms of "what is maintaining and exacerbating what".

Sometimes Depression results from untreated Anxiety.  This is because Anxiety tends to cause us to avoid things or activities that are frightening or uncomfortable, and over time our lives become a little bit narrower and our sense of hopelessness increases.  Our self-esteem starts to wane.  That’s when Depression can start to take a hold of us. 

It can happen the other way too, Depression tends to make us sleep badly, feel fatigued and sometimes teary or irritable.  This often leads to less exercise, not wanting to do things (even seeing friends), and then we start to feel inadequate and isolated.  This opens the door for Anxiety as we stop taking on challenges and feel less and less able to cope.

When we are under too much Stress its harder to maintain our emotional stability, its easier to feel anxious about things and more likely that we’ll start stepping back from life and into a depressive lifestyle.  Stress can derive from many things, but is often due to time pressure, pressure to achieve at unrealistic levels, or to struggling to cope in situations where the individual has little control of the situation or the outcome.  Different approaches are needed, depending on the nature and source of your stress.

The most effective treatment for Anxiety, Depression and Stress is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. 

Depending upon your unique circumstances and background (which may include longstanding issues or another illness) a specialized variation of this core therapy such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy or Schema Therapy may be needed to help you.  We are trained in and use all of these therapies everyday.