Living with untreated depression or anxiety can quickly devastate your mental and emotional health. Despite this, many people with depression or anxiety delay seeking treatment, even when working with a mental health professional can provide tangible symptom relief.
Understanding when it’s appropriate to seek treatment can help you make the best decision for your health and well-being and start you on a path to recovery that can last a lifetime.
Looking for expert psychiatric or therapeutic help for depression? Find an Elite DNA location near you and schedule an appointment today.
Recognizing the Signs of Depression and Anxiety
In deciding when to get help, the first step is understanding the signs and symptoms of depression and anxiety disorders. This can help you determine whether you’re truly experiencing a mental health disorder or whether you’re going through a challenge that may resolve itself without the need for any professional intervention.
While these signs are meant to give you a clearer picture of the severity of your mental health challenges, receiving a diagnosis requires seeing a mental health professional. The dividing line between everyday struggles and diagnosable mental health conditions is often fuzzy, and working with a professional can help pin down a precise diagnosis and treatment plan.
Depression Symptoms
Depressive disorders are one of the most common mental health challenges in the United States today, with major depressive disorder being the most common depression diagnosis. According to the National Institutes of Mental Health, approximately 21 million adults in the U.S., or 8.3% of the adult population, experience at least one major depressive episode each year.
The most common symptoms of major depressive disorder include:
- Feeling sad, empty, or hopeless for most of the day nearly every day
- Sleep disruption, including either sleeping too much or too little
- Chronic fatigue or energy loss
- Reduced ability to think or concentrate
- Suicidal thoughts or attempts
- Loss of interest in hobbies or activities
- Unintentional weight gain or loss
- Physical aches and pains
Physical symptoms of depression may sometimes appear as well. People with depression may experience chronic pain, headaches, and gastrointestinal problems if depression goes untreated.
While major depression is one of the most common forms of clinical depression, there are several others that people may experience. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a pattern of depressive symptoms that typically occurs in the fall or winter months. Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is a more intense form of premenstrual syndrome and can include severe depression that occurs each month before menstruation. Persistent depressive disorder is the condition used to describe a form of depression that lasts for longer than two years.
Meeting with a therapist or psychiatrist can help you determine the exact type of depression you are experiencing and provide you with targeted strategies to treat depression and guide you on the path to recovery.
Anxiety Symptoms
Anxiety disorders are characterized by a feeling of fear, worry, or dread in situations that aren’t objectively threatening. They are the most commonly diagnosed category of mental disorders in the United States, affecting more than 40 million adults in the U.S., or 19.1% of the population, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Similar to depressive disorders, there are many different types of anxiety diagnoses. This includes generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, or specific phobias. Yet all these forms of anxiety share a common core of mental health symptoms, including:
- Feelings of excessive worry or fear
- Being unable to calm down from anxious thoughts
- Irritability or restlessness
- Racing heartbeat
- Feeling a knot in your stomach
- Nausea
- Sweating
Left untreated, anxiety disorders can quickly affect your ability to go about your life as you see fit. It can hold you back from performing your best at work, from maintaining a strong social support network, or from completing daily tasks and responsibilities without interruption. Thankfully, anxiety disorders are highly treatable, and most people will see substantial improvement in symptoms when they start working with a mental health care professional.
When To See a Therapist
When you feel the onset of anxiety or depression symptoms, talk therapy can help support you in resolving your challenges and achieving a lasting recovery. Starting therapy as soon as possible is almost always the best course of action, as it can help prevent your mental health condition from getting worse.
Too often, people avoid treatment because they feel like they need to overcome their challenges on their own. They may feel like mild depression isn’t sufficient cause to seek depression treatment. Or they may doubt the effectiveness of therapy or mental health interventions in treating anxiety or other mental health conditions.
The simple fact is that therapy can help and that starting treatment as soon as you begin to experience uncomfortable or disruptive symptoms is typically the fastest route to feeling better. There are a few simple reasons why this is the case:
Stopping the Problem from Getting Worse
Depression or anxiety don’t have to be permanent. But if you leave your mental health challenges untreated, they can quickly escalate to chronic, severe conditions that become even more difficult to break free from.
A depressed mood, for example, can lead to a number of other challenges that make your depression worse. It can cause you to lose motivation to exercise or engage in other forms of physical activity, ultimately leading to physical problems or medical conditions. A depressed mood can also lead to social isolation, making it harder for people to find social support when they need it most. It can disrupt your sleep, which can in turn make your mood disorder get worse over time.
Starting treatment as soon as possible – even if you think your problems are mild in severity –can help prevent this escalation of symptoms that makes it more difficult for you to achieve recovery.
Preventing Co-Occurring Conditions
Depression and anxiety both place you at increased risk of developing a co-occurring mental health condition or medical problem. For example, people with depression often develop disorders such as anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), or physical illnesses – and the same is true for people with anxiety disorders. Gastrointestinal problems (such as irritable bowel syndrome) are also much more common in people with these mental health challenges.
By starting your treatment as soon as possible, you can protect yourself from developing these other conditions.
Saving Money
The cost of therapy is the most frequently cited reason that people avoid seeking mental health support. However, by starting treatment as soon as you notice disruptive symptoms, you may save yourself time and money down the road.
If depression or anxiety grows to be overwhelming, they can have devastating financial consequences. It may lead to people losing their jobs, their homes, or their savings. This often makes the mental health condition more severe, typically requiring more intensive and expensive mental health treatment options.
As is often the case in mental health care: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Treating your problems when they first appear can nip your problems in the bud, which in turn saves you money in treatment costs.
Improving Overall Quality of Life and Well-Being
Even if your symptoms of depression or anxiety haven’t crossed the threshold into a mental health condition, therapy can substantially improve your overall quality of life. Therapy isn’t only a treatment for severe mental health disorders but can be a supportive and enriching place to enhance your life and well-being.
Working one-on-one with a therapist can help guide you toward achieving your life goals, identifying your values and what’s most important to you, and supporting you in living your best life. Even if you’re unsure if you truly have a mental health condition, seeking out expert care can provide a positive and supportive space for you to thrive.
Start Treatment Today with Elite DNA
Overcoming depression and anxiety is never easy – but it is possible. With services such as anxiety and depression counseling, psychiatry and medication management, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and group and family therapy options – Elite DNA has everything you need to make a holistic and lasting recovery from your mental health challenges.
When you’re ready to begin therapy for depression and anxiety problems, our team can help determine the right level of care for your needs, provide expert mental health support for depression and anxiety, and will be there to support you along every step of your treatment journey.
Need help coping with depression? Find an Elite DNA location near you by visiting our website.
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