Depression & Anxiety Help

Welcome to your Depression and Anxiety disorders help site. You can select more specific information on a particular depressive disorder from our resource menus.

What is Depression?

Depression disorder is a term that can refer to a wide variety of abnormal variations in an individual's mood. If changes in an individual's mood are persistent and cause distress or impairment in functioning, then a mood disorder may be present. Individuals with mood disorders experience extremes of emotions, such as deep sadness, that are higher in intensity and longer in duration than normal.

Generally Mood disorders are classified as either a type of unipolar depression or Bipolar Depression. Unipolar depression is characterized by periods of depressed mood, profound sadness, or loss of interest in normal everyday activities. Bipolar depression can be characterized by periods of depressed mood that alternate with periods of extremely elevated mood, increased energy, and a sense of euphoria. These periods of "highs" or elevated mood are referred to as mania. Within both unipolar and bipolar categories, specific sets of symptoms characterizes a particular disorders, each of which has its own diagnostic profile, treatments, and prognosis. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) describes the diagnostic criteria for each of these disorders.

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety disorder is a general term covering several different forms of abnormal and pathological fears and anxieties such as Phobias, Fear of Heights, Agoraphobia. People with symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) tend to always expect the worst and are unable to stop worrying about health, money, family, work or school. Recent studies indicate that as many as 18% of Americans may be affected by one or more of these symptoms within their life time.

Some of the symptoms that you can experience when suffering from Anxiety Attacks or Panic Attacks are characterized by feelings of impending doom, trembling, sweating, a pounding heart, and other physical symptoms.