PSYCH 1301D ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION

Anxiety and Depression

Anxiety and depression have affected many individuals in my family including my grandmother, many aunts, cousins, my siblings, my niece and myself. I am going to share how anxiety disorder has affect me personally and how it has affected a close relative of mine.

    My Story

I was only 18 years old and was a single mom with newborn baby commuting 132 miles a day to school and home 5 days a week to attend junior college. I did not know how stressed out I was until I was in class one day and I started to feel a sense of doom and fear that was very powerful. I began to have physical symptoms such as a rapid heart rate, my palms sweating, tunnel vision, shortness of breath and chest discomfort. I literally thought I was dying. I sat through it until it passed and talked to my instructor afterwards. She checked my pulse and it was 140 beats per minute. She recommended I make an appointment to see my doctor. This is when I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder.  I felt alone and like I was crazy and did not want to talk about what I was experiencing. I did not want others to judge me or think I was mentally unstable. My parents did not understand and would just tell me to try to relax. I did not want to take the medication because my mother discouraged me not to take it because she thought I could get to dependent on it. I suffered with panic attacks for about 2 years. I moved from home after graduating college and began working at a hospital. Several years past before I had any severe anxiety symptoms. Ten years after graduating college, during a very stressful time of my life, I began to have symptoms again. This time I went to see a counselor and began an antidepressant medication that is used to treat anxiety. I had excellent results with the treatment and with the tools the therapist recommended. I am thankful that it is not as difficult to share my experience with anxiety disorder that I know that I am only one of many who had suffered from it.

My cousin's Story

     The relative I interviewed was diagnosed with mild depression and generalized anxiety disorder 4 years ago. Her symptoms were different than mine. She had irritability and was described herself as “uptight”. She was constantly worrying and even had problems sleeping at night. She wanted to sleep during the day and found herself treating others around her negatively. When she described her symptoms to her physician, he diagnosed her and prescribed an antidepressant medication. She stated that when she weaned off the medication, the symptoms returned so she is continued to take it. She said she felt guilty for having to take medication to treat this mental disorder and felt like she was not fully relying on God to heal her.

According to and article titled Psychology Today, "They're probably two sides of the same coin," says David Barlow, Ph.D., director of the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University. "The genetics seem to be the same. The neurobiology seems to overlap. The psychological and biological nature of the vulnerability are the same. It just seems that some people with the vulnerability react with anxiety to life stressors. And some people, in addition, go beyond that to become depressed" (pg. 1).

References

Anxiety and Depression Together. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/200310/anxiety-and-depression-together