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Question

How do you know when you have anxiety or depression? I just am curious. I dont know how to tell or if the ways I am feeling would be one of the two or even both. I am not suicidal at all. My life is great and I could never dream of leaving my loved ones behind. I have lost a few family members to suicide and I could never be the one to cause more pain on my family. I just sometimes have feelings and I just wonder if they are anxiety or depression related. I am scared to talk to my mom about it to see if I should be put onto some medication or something. (I am 18 so I know I wouldn't need to tell her but it would be something I would do). I just dont know what signs to look for. If anyone has anything they can say to maybe help me figure it out. Thank you.

Answer

I have generalized anxiety disorder. For me it was pretty obvious, it’s affected my relationships over the years. Also my life as a child I was scared of a lot of things I don’t think normal kids were, like swallowing for example. Or the fire drill at school. I’ve gotten a lot better, none of the things from when I was a kid affect me anymore and I’m not so insecure in relationships, but sometimes I have panic attacks and those are hard to miss if you ever have them. My mom has depression I don’t have a whole lot of experience in that. But from what I’ve seen she will get suicidal at times and be fine in others, and there’s this lack of wanting to do anything at all. Sort of like whats the point? Which in theory a lot of people feel at least once in their life but most people think like you do ya know like well I have my family and all that. With her it’s not constant it’s off and on. And in the moment especially for both of us, we’re incredibly irrational. That goes across the board in both mental illnesses. But anyway, you don’t have to be suicidal and also there are definitely normal feelings of anxiety. Everyone has it. It’s just whether or not it affects your day to day life in a way that hinders you. For example, I don’t do well with change even little things like a change in my work duties, I don’t like talking on the phone bc it scares me, I’m a severe hypochondriac and am worried any and every little thing I find new about my body is something really bad. Those are all irrational and they affect my way of living everyday. But I work on it everyday to get it under control. So long as you mention it to your mom that you want to work on whatever it is you’re feeling I’m sure she’ll understand. But also I hope this helped you know what it can be like from experience.

Answer

You can be depressed without being suicidal. They have quizzes and checklists online for depression and anxiety.. i would check it out. It never hurts to seek help if you think you may need it. Especially with family history of suicide.

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