hi everybody and welcome back today
we're going to be discussing depression
anxiety and anger what's the connection
I'm your host dr. Donnelly Snipes anger
and anxiety are two emotions that result
when our brain thinks that there might
be a threat and the key word there is
might just like your fire alarm or smoke
alarm in your house sometimes goes off
when there's not really a fire our body
may perceive that there might be a
threat and cause us to start feeling
angry irritable or anxious in in an
attempt to help us prepare to fight or
flee anger is akin to fight an anxiety
is like fleeing when we get stressed
when our body thinks there's a threat
when we decide that there is a threat we
have our threat response system and what
happens is a cortisol is released that's
our main stress chemical cortisol causes
another brain chemical called
norepinephrine to be released when
norepinephrine is released it causes our
body to do a bunch of other things but
one of the side effects is it causes our
body to dump blood glucose so we have
the energy in our blood in order to
fight or flee sounds like a great system
doesn't it it does the other things that
happen are some of the other things that
happen during this stress response is
our body says you know what now is not
the time to relax so I'm gonna turn down
that serotonin so we're not gonna relax
now is not the time to procreate there's
a threat no it's not the time to bring
in you know little spawn so I'm going to
reduce those sex hormones okay well
again that makes sense if there is a
threat but when anger and anxiety goes
on for too long then we can have some
other side effects from it when
serotonin is low and serotonin is one of
those brain chemicals that is
responsible for a whole lot of things
from heart rate to mood
to sleep to appetite and to a certain
extent libido but when serotonin levels
are out of whack then we're going to
start experiencing disrupted sleep when
we don't get enough good quality sleep
it's gonna be harder to concentrate
harder to focus we're gonna feel
fatigued you you can you know what you
feel like when you haven't had good
sleep the other thing is the disrupted
sex hormones when we are under what our
brain perceives as attack or exposed to
a threat it's not time to procreate
so our sex hormones are altered so our
libido goes down the other thing that
happens when our sex hormones are
altered is it alters the availability of
some of those really important brain
chemicals like serotonin norepinephrine
and dopamine when those are out of whack
then we are going to feel depressed
anxious fatigued and have difficulty
sleeping and changes in our appetite
anger and anxiety isn't our normal
emotions and when they happen that is
your brain's clue that there might be a
threat but when we feel angry or anxious
on an ongoing basis for a while it's
kind of like driving a car with your
foot to the floor on the gas pedal for
hundreds of miles that engine is going
to get really really really really hot
and that's not good for the car and
eventually the engine block may crack
but with us we start feeling depressed
we run out of gas so to speak depression
can occur when we've been too angry or
too anxious for too long and some of the
symptoms that may result when depression
occurs for this reason include lack of
pleasure when we don't have
norepinephrine and we have altered
levels of dopamine it's gonna be hard
for us to feel
happy feelings it's going to be hard for
us to feel those excited feelings
difficulty concentrating this goes back
to all three serotonin norepinephrine
and dopamine all three of those are
involved in helping us focus and learn
and remember things when those are out
of whack we're gonna have difficulty
concentrating sleep changes when we're
under threat we are not sleeping
restfully our body saying you need to be
alert you need to be ready to fight or
flee at a moment's notice so we're not
getting good sleep when you don't get
good sleep it impairs your ability to
think clearly to remember things and it
impairs your energy level eating changes
happen when we're not sleeping well our
circadian rhythms can get out of whack
which will alter our sleep hormone
regulation
additionally foods that are high in fat
or sugar also prompt the release of
serotonin and dopamine which are some of
our feel-good chemicals so a lot of us
when we feel anxious or depressed we may
look toward self medicating if you will
with food and so those eating changes
can be a sign that your neuro chemicals
are out of whack on the other hand some
people just don't want to eat at all
when they're angry anxious depressed
they just have no appetite and that's
also a sign that your serotonin and your
brain chemical levels may be out of
whack and finally guilt when we're angry
and anxious for a long time we may start
seeing things as negative everywhere we
may start seeing ourself negatively and
we may start feeling guilty for not
having the energy not having the
concentration not having the desire to
get up and do things with the people we
love or do the things that we really
think we quote should be doing so the
long and the short of it is depression
can be caused by a lot of things but one
of the major causes is
assistant anger or anxiety and it's
important to recognize if your
depression or your depressive symptoms
are caused by persistent anger and
anxiety you need to figure out where
those threats are coming from and
develop tools in order to help you
address your anger and anxiety so your
brain chemicals can rebalance your sleep
can improve your appetite can improve
and your libido can improve I hope that
was helpful for some of you who are
curious about why sometimes we can feel
anxious and depressed at the same time