Depression is a term sometimes thrown around to describe a person’s mood, but the condition of depression is much more than a drop in mood. It is when a person is stuck in a dark frame of mind that steals their happiness, scope, energy and motivation. Depression is a recognized mental health disorder and an ongoing condition that gives a person a bleak outlook on life.

Depression can look different on different people, but there are some common, repetitive symptoms of depression, such as unexplained bodily pain, recklessness, energy loss, insomnia or sleep pattern changes, lack of interest in things that used to be of interest, hopeless feelings, weight and appetite fluctuation, irritability or anger, self-hatred and problems concentrating.

One particularly strong type of depression is bipolar disorder, or manic depression as it is sometimes known. This type of depression takes the person inflicted with it back and forth between two extremes: manic and depressive. When the person is in the midst of a manic episode, they have abnormal amounts of misguided energy and confidence, and when they are in the midst of a depressive episode, they are extremely lethargic and self-loathing.

Treatment for depression usually comes first in the form of therapy, and second in the form of medication. Therapy is the preferred method of dealing with depression because it tends to give more permanent and natural results. When a person is depressed and addicted, they often receive treatment from a rehab program that treats the co-occurring disorders of addiction and depression. Medication is needed in severe cases of depression when a person is so chemically imbalanced that their neural network cannot correct itself through therapy alone.

Anxiety is a condition that causes feelings of chronic nervousness and fear over the anticipation of something, real or imagined. Anxiety is identified as a mental health disorder, meaning that it came about due to certain environmental, psychological and biological factors, and it has repeated negative effects on the person who is inflicted with it.

Some of the observable physical symptoms of anxiety are insomnia, headaches, twitches and tremors, stomach and bladder problems, perspiration, a racing heart, spells of dizziness, strained breathing, tense muscles and fatigue. Anxiety can also be internal; not apparent to other people but internally damaging the person affected by it. Some of these symptoms include brain fog, restlessness, dread, broken concentration, negativity, tension, irritability and belief in ever-present danger.

Anxiety disorder is the blanket term for several kinds of disorders that fall under its umbrella, such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, certain types of phobias, Panic Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. They are all a type of anxiety disorder, but they each have their own separate distinctions. Where as the condition of anxiety is enmeshed with a person’s lifestyle, an anxiety attack is a particularly bad episode of intense fear or panic.

People who suffer from an anxiety disorder may experience these in a particularly upsetting situation, or one where they perceive their fears are coming true. Anxiety attacks are sometimes confused with panic attacks for how severe their physical symptoms can be, for example, hyperventilation, chest pains, choking sensations and overwhelming panic. Anxiety treatments usually include some kind of behavioral therapy and/or medication. If the disorder is accompanied by addiction in what is called a co-occurring disorder, then dual diagnosis addiction treatment is needed.