Depression, Anger, and Stress
Did you know that even though sadness and hopelessness are two feelings associated with depression, anger can also significantly contribute to depression? Anger can build up in your mind and body if you don't express it, eventually causing high levels of stress. As time passes, high stress levels and anger can sometimes lead to depression, especially when unresolved tension and disappointment turn into sadness or feelings of hopelessness. It's important to express any anger you encounter, from all events - from the small, like when someone cuts you off on the highway, to much larger, like if you are fired from a job. Keeping anger bottled up inside can turn disappointment into a significant emotional problem.
While sadness is the most obvious symptom of depression, anger is usually at the root of a person's problems and needs to be expressed for a person to begin to feel better. The process by which anger may feed depression goes like this:
- A person gets angry about something.
- The person wants someone or something to make them feel better.
- When no comfort comes, the person begins to feel hopeless, as if the world is cruel or out to get him or her.
- This simple sadness turns to grief very quickly, which leads to feelings of more sadness and hopelessness.
- The initial angry situation is escalated into something the person becomes depressed about, either knowingly or unconsciously.
Recognizing your feelings of anger, depression, and hopelessness is the first step to healing. Once you recognize your feelings, expressing them rather than repressing or suppressing them can help ease symptoms of depression. Anger can hurt your mood as well as your overall health if you keep it pent up; suppression can even lead to serious problems like high blood pressure. Expressing anger is one way to get those harmful emotions out of your body, where they can't contribute to your depression symptoms or other health issues. Remember to try and work through your anger rather than keeping it inside, and you may find yourself feeling better sooner than you thought you would.
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