Anxiety Vs depression

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While I get both anxiety and depression and neither are pleasant, I still somewhat prefer being anxious than depressed. People say they are the same thing, and yes they can go hand-in-hand, but they can also be two separate mental states.

I can't speak for other people but for me the differences between anxiety and depression are as follows:-

Anxiety
- Worrying about the present and/or the future
- Worrying about things I can't control
- Feeling scared
- Catastrophic thinking ("what if?")
- Can often be dealt with by advice and problem solving
- Tendency to turn into panic

Depression
- Dwelling on the past
- Dwelling on things I may be able to control but don't have the mental energy or skills to accomplish or change things (feeling "trapped")
- Feeling sad and hopeless ("It's my fault, I'm hopeless")
- Feeling isolated and alone (social isolation can cause depression and depression can cause social isolation, these usually cause each other)
- Advice is useless, cannot always be dealt with by problem solving
- Tendency to turn into anger

How do you feel about this? Does anxiety and depression affect you like this too?

They're definitely different feelings but with a lot of interaction between the two.

I'd say you've described them well. Anger for me is sometimes temporary a means to break through depression, anger is a strong motivator and sometimes it'll help with breaking out of feeling trapped. Unfortunately relying on being able to make that transition isn't healthy because it just means you're angry that much more often.

I can relate to most of your descriptions. I would add anxiety - tendency to turn into panic or procrastination. I'm not prolonging the anxiety just delaying it as long as possible.

Anxiety is also very close to excitement, some say you can reframe it.

More or less.
I can reframe anxiety into excitement if it ever comes.

But I can't do the same with depression or if depression interferences first before any anxiety came to be.

Fear is easier for me. Even danger is easier, but not sadness, emptiness or even anger...

I even sought some danger... Except if depression interferes first.


I already solved suicidality a long time ago. And I don't exactly feel loneliness and isolation...

The rest is this unwanted baggage whispering in my head and I want that to just be over with.
It's the reason why it feels heavy -- I'm carrying unnecessary weights. It's burning me out.


Anxiety just gives me more loose breaks because there's a registered alleged danger around.
And then accidentally successfully overcame it by doing unintuitive things with it.

Depression however makes me more rigid. More frustrated. And angrier. I don't know how to do with it well. Maybe because I don't forgive myself easily.

To me anxiety, while relatively faster, it's also louder. Easier for me to find it's source therefore also easier to weed out of my system.
It's hard earn and hard kept for me to remain anxious.

But not depression. Depression for me is subtle, sneaky, quiet. Until violence is involved.
It might as well be dismissed as lacking enough blood in my system, eating too much, cold intolerance or plain old "moodiness". It's this annoying sensitivity in more ways than one...

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