First of all some science:
It is 100% IMPOSSIBLE for a person to suffer with clinical depression and an anxiety condition simultaneously.
Despite what you may have been told...
Despite the medication you take...
Despite how 'low' you feel...
If you suffer from an anxiety condition, including GAD, panic attacks, phobias, obsessions or compulsions... you do not have clinical depression... unless you have two brains or, indeed, two heads. No one has ever had both and no one ever will.
You are probably saying... "but I FEEL depressed. I am so 'down'. My mood is so low".
Yes, we recognise that people feel this way but please understand that feeling low is NOT the same as clinical depression. Feeling low, depleted, tired, fed up and frustrated is not the same as depression... it's the, often, inevitable side-effect of constant anxiety. We know because we all felt that way too. When the anxiety goes... mood stabilises. In every case.
When presented with anxiety disorder symptoms, doctors often diagnose depression, prescribe anti-depressant drugs in order to subdue the symptoms. Sometimes doctors do this out of ignorance, sometimes due to time constraints or poor alternative resources and often because it's just the easiest route to follow.
The brain is a complex structure but its functional output is simple... it cannot produce two opposing emotional states simultaneously so, in the same way as you cannot be happy and sad simultaneously, you cannot be anxious and depressed.
The 'knock on effect' of misdiagnosis and mistreatment can be
incredibly damaging.
The sufferer then walks away with a diagnosis of depression
and pills which reinforce the false belief that they are in some way 'mentally
ill'. This is counter productive and misleading, but, all too common.
So why are depression and anxiety so different?
Anxiety and depression as far removed from each other as neck pain
and athletes foot.
Why?
Because anxiety is a behavioural condition that
is caused solely by a modification within the system that controls
fear levels (anxiety is not an emotion, it is the disorder of fear); Depression is caused by a change
in the brain chemicals which control mood. Very different conditions
indeed.
Now, to add confusion... it IS possible for anxiety sufferers to
develop LOW MOOD as a symptom of their anxiety disorder, but they are
STILL very separate conditions... this low mood is probably a combination of tiredness, frustration and desperation.
Anxiety sufferers do not develop
true clinical depression...
True, clinical depression can be treated using medication to correct
brain chemistry although, in parts of the world where medication is too
expensive or unavailable, doctors prescribe lifestyle changes and
exercise with dramatic recovery results.
How do I know whether I have anxiety or depression?
There is a very simple way of determining whether you are suffering
from true clinical depression or anxiety-related depressive thoughts and
symptoms.
Ask yourself this: Do you feel anxious, have obsessive thoughts, experience compulsions, have panic attacks or phobias?
If the answer is YES... you do not have clinical depression!
Can you help me if I have clinical depression?
The Linden Method was developed initially to eliminate anxiety disorders such as GAD, panic disorder, phobias and OCD. However, over time, many sufferers of true clinical depression have also joined The Linden Method.
It has become apparent that even sufferers of clinical depression have benefited enormously and many have made full recoveries using our Method.
No matter what other conditions you have; if you experience any form of emotional imbalance, The Linden Method will show you how you can permanently and quickly eliminate it.
If you suffer from clinical depression, with or without anxiety, regardless of whether you take medication or not, you will, almost definitely, benefit from the Linden Method.
Anxiety and depression are not linked physiologically, but I know from personal and professional experience that anxiety and low mood are related... but not by illness, more by the feelings of helplessness, desperation, sadness and frustration an anxiety sufferer experiences.
I also know that by addressing anxiety directly, symptoms that manifest as low mood or depression can be eliminated quickly. I was amazed at just how quickly positivity took over in my life... like going on a diet, TLM can give you quick results which snowball into total recovery.