Which comes first?

[Beagle]

I have just started seeing a new counsellor who says that anxiety is a symptom of depression. I have always felt that my anxiety has lead to periods of depression, as I don't feel depressed before my anxiety builds.

What are other peoples' experiences?

[Sparkle1984]

Like you, I've always felt that the anxiety comes first. However, when I think about it more deeply I can see that some of my anxiety episodes started at times when I was already feeling low or fed up in some way. For example, one of my worst anxiety episodes began a few months after I'd been moved to a different job following a major restructure and I didn't enjoy the new job anywhere near as much as my old one. So I was already feeling fed up as I didn't find the new job very fulfilling and I felt resentful about how my old job had been taken away from me. The anxiety episode itself was to do with the passing of time, death and dying. It went on for 8 months in total. When I managed to get another new job, the anxiety symptoms and thoughts subsided within a matter of weeks, as I felt a lot happier in myself.

[debs71]

Hi,

For me personally, depression came first, way before anxiety/panic attacks.

I became depressed for weeks first. The depression was easy for me. I felt nothing, just lay in bed all day and night. I would probably have just lay with depression for weeks, but the thing that got me to my GP was when I started feeling very anxious and had a panic attack. I was so frightened.

I can see why depression would lead on to anxiety. With depression, you kind of lose yourself, what you think, feel....it is miserable, and I can see how this escalates into a point of anxiety, like a slow burn which then explodes.

[SarahH]

Well I am going to disagree with Sparkle and Debs. I suffer from anxiety which makes me depressed/low. For many years i thought I was depressed but then in march this year I was admitted into a psych unit with acute anxiety............................now I thought I was suffering from depression but after 4 days of intensive assessment I was diagnosed with PTSD/GAD/Post Viral Fatigue........................and to be honest it all made alot of sense when it was explained to me.

However...we are all different:)

[jill]

Hi hun :D:hugs:

I can only go off myself, so for me, anxiety came first with bouts of depression and as time went on, higher levels of anxiety, more and more symptoms, then depression, then panic and more anxiety. In that order.

TAKE CARE

LOVE JILL XXX

[MrAndy]

anxiety hit me square in the face 1st the depression came a few months after, then i went completley bonkers :)

[rb1978]

For me Anxiety came first. Looking back I've never been a carefree kind of person and have always been a worrier. I started obsessing about my health about 10 years ago. I've never really felt that I've found any treatment that helped with this if I'm honest. Gradually over the years I've noticed a tendency to suffer from depression too. I think it's because the worries build up and I don't seem to be able shrug things off like friends do (none of whom suffer from HA I should add) and I end up dwelling on health worries so much.... For me depression kind of crept up on me if I'm honest.

[Chartobi]

Anxiety first for me too. Looking way way back into my childhood I can see that I had behaviours that signified anxiety (at the time I just thought I was weird though and never voiced what I was thinking so it got overlooked).

I didn't experience my first bout of depression until my anxiety kicked into overdrive and I became housebound for a year.

[Beagle]

Thanks for all your responses everyone, given me plenty to discuss at my next session

[AnxietySufferer]

well.. i think Anxiety, but then i dont know because Anxiety came on at a time in my life where I knew I wasnt happy? So maybe it was brought on my depression? ll i know is that Im fed up of the physical symptoms of Anxiety and I just want to feel better. I know that this is making me depressed..

[MrAndy]

Beagle how did your session go relating to this subject ?

[theharvestmouse]

Anxiety came first then ******* depression.

[Beagle]

Beagle how did your session go relating to this subject ?

Hi Mr Andy

My counsellor still says that the depressions comes first and that anxiety is a symptom of the depression.

To be honest I have had a mix of anxiety and depression for so long (decades, in differing levels) that I cant remember what came first, or even when it actually started, just that the anxiety is the current one which is harder to deal with.