There is a big difference between having sad feelings and having depression. Low feelings are natural and can be relieved without the need for medical intervention. Depression may require professional treatment to help improve your symptoms and your quality of life.
Anxiety is the body’s natural reaction to extremely stressful situations. When you’re under persistent stress or facing a sudden danger, your body reacts by releasing chemicals that stimulate your alertness. Unfortunately, the repetitive release of these chemicals can turn into an anxiety disorder.
Causes & Symptoms
Depression is a common mental condition that affects your feelings and alters your well-being. A depressive disorder includes symptoms such as extreme sadness over an extended period of time, loss of interest in normal activity, feelings of worthlessness and guilt, loss of appetite, change in sleeping patterns and thoughts of suicide.
Anxiety disorders often result in feelings of fear of social situations, phobias, obsessive compulsive tendencies, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of traumatic events, and panic disorders. These emotional and physical changes can decrease your ability to function well at work or in family and social settings.
How We Can Help
At the Men’s Vitality Center we will perform a physical exam and discuss your symptoms of anxiety or depression in order to accurately diagnose your condition and develop a psychiatric treatment plan that is right for you. It is important to understand that anxiety and depression are treatable.The goal is to give you the tools to manage your feelings of anxiety or depression and help you maintain your mental health.
Common Questions About Depression & Anxiety
If you think you have clinical depression, your first visit should be to your primary care doctor where your physician can perform a thorough exam and you can discuss your symptoms. This is to ensure that your depression is not due to an underlying medical condition. The doctor will then make a diagnosis and recommend treatment options that may include antidepressants and/or talk therapy.
Yes, our physicians can prescribe antidepressants and monitor your progress during your treatment for depression. Working with a primary care doctor to manage your mental health allows your treatment to be part of a more comprehensive and whole-body approach.
You should visit your primary care doctor if anxiety is affecting your daily life and causing you distress. Being mildly anxious for brief periods of time is normal. It is when anxiety overwhelms your life and/or results in physical symptoms, such as increased heart rate, breathing rapidly (hyperventilating), trembling or having trouble concentrating on anything other than a particular worry that you should seek help. When physical symptoms overwhelm you it is often referred to as an anxiety or panic attack. Sometimes these can feel like heart attacks. If these happen frequently, we recommend visiting Men's Vitality Center to help manage your feelings of anxiety.
Your doctor will perform a physical exam and ask you a series of questions about your symptoms. Blood work may also be performed to make sure that your symptoms are not being caused by another condition, such as hypothyroidism. Once other conditions are ruled out, your doctor may diagnose you with an anxiety disorder.
Often your doctor will treat your anxiety disorder through prescribing anti-anxiety medications, referral to psychological therapy or both. You should work closely with your doctor to form a treatment strategy that works for you. How to start treatment for depression?
Can you get antidepressants from a primary care doctor?
When should you see a doctor for anxiety?
How is an anxiety disorder diagnosed?
How do doctors treat anxiety?
