The Difference Between An Anxiety Attack And A Depressive Episode - From The Words Of My Own

I know to some people that don’t really understand the difference between anxiety and depression will think that an anxiety attack and a depressive episode is just the same thing. When really it’s not. It’s completely different. One is so fast and all over the place and the other one is just numb but calm.

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Anxiety attacks are something that sort of builds up over time and you just kind of freeze and then you burst out into this panic and manic situation that you just don’t know how to control it. You breathing gets intense, sweaty palms, shaky limbs, your thoughts are just all over the place and it won’t pause it causes you to do harm to yourself or to others unintentionally because you’re so scared of the aftermath because you’re already thinking about that instead of calming yourself down in the presence.

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A depressive episode hits you where you don’t expect it and your just left sitting there, whether it be at school or work, and you just realise “oh shit, I’m fucking in this moment and I don’t know what to do.” But you just sit there and try to get on with your day but you know all you’re waiting for is getting home, just laying in bed and do nothing. Either eat a lot of food or eat no food.

Have a really long sleep or no sleep at all.

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With a depressive episode, there’s really no in between of how you feel. It just sinks down to one deep end and it takes a little bit of time to get back out of it. Where as with anxiety, you know, you get that reassurance from someone or you build that reassurance yourself and you move past it.

Yeah it may come back, however you’ve moved on from it and you’ve got that reassurance in your head and you know you don’t need it again (unless obviously you get really bad)

But depression is a whole other level because it can last for so long and it can become so intense that people in the outside world won’t even realise what’s going on with you until they come into your home and they see your personal life and see what it is actually doing to yourself.

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I literally have written this first blog post talking to my iPad because I know that I can have the words in my head but I just can’t get them out, its much easier to just speak it so it quite literally feels like I am talking to you. Which technically I am, being what I want from this blog.

What I want my readers to know is that what I’m saying is coming from my heart and it’s coming from my mind directly and that everything I say is truthful and is a real story, and it can be so relatable. As well as to just let people know that is totally okay to speak up and speak out about your conditions.

A voice for you or a voice to you,

S x