Mixed anxiety-depressive disorder is one of the mental disorders that has been most debated in terms of whether or not it is taken into account within the classification of mental disorders. Finally, it has not been accepted within this classification and not precisely because a person cannot present it, but is rather diagnosed separately as a depressive disorder with traits of anxiety or vice versa. Mixed anxiety depressive disorder refers to those cases where people cannot be diagnosed with anxiety or depression since they do not meet all the symptoms, however they show to have some symptoms of both pathologies in a way simultaneous.
In this article from Psychology-Online. Mixed Anxious Depressive Disorder: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment, we are going to describe in greater depth what this type of pathology consists of.
Index
- Mixed anxiety depressive disorder: symptoms
- Causes of mixed anxiety depressive disorder
- Is Mixed Anxiety Depressive Disorder Cured?
Mixed anxiety depressive disorder: symptoms.
It is necessary to take into account that, for a person to be diagnosed with this type of disorder, it is necessary that the symptoms that they present, both anxiety and depression, are mild. Another issue to take into account is that all the symptoms that the person presents are affecting one or more areas of their life.
Diagnostic criteria according to DSM-V
For a person to be diagnosed with an anxiety-depressive disorder, they must meet some of the following symptoms, taking into account that you must have been experiencing them for at least 1 month in a row and a state of mind depressant. The main symptoms are as follows:
- Meet enough irritable and annoying most of the day
- Have a constant and intense worry even without having any real reason to be worried
- Difficulty concentrating on any type of activity and learning any new skills
- To have sleeping problems
- Experiencing tiredness and fatigue
- To have negative obsessive thoughts almost all day
- Being extremely sensitive and wanting to cry
- Feelings of worthlessness and low self-esteem
- Excessive worry about what will happen in the future and feel the need to protect yourself
All these symptoms cause in the person who suffers a high degree of dissatisfaction and unhappiness in one or more areas of his life.
Causes of Mixed Anxious Depressive Disorder.
It has been found that there are different causes that can lead a person to suffer from mixed anxiety depressive disorder. This type of psychological imbalance can appear in combination with various factors such as environmental, psychological and biological. Next, we will explain what each of them consists of.
- Biological factors. There are some biological factors that can influence a person to suffer from this type of disorder such as for example that there is an imbalance in brain chemistry due to the deficiency of some neurotransmitters What serotonin and / or dopamine. This can also be inherited and passed from one generation to the next.
- Psychological factors. Among these factors is everything related to the personality of the individual, there are certain personality traits or characteristics that are more vulnerable to suffering from this type of disorder. Here also influences what are the person's own beliefs, their thoughts, ideas and the general perception they have of life.
- Environmental factors. Among the main environmental factors is that one grew up in a dysfunctional family, having received a type of attachment insecure and having had many difficulties and problems throughout life, mainly of a family and economic nature.
Is Mixed Anxiety Depressive Disorder Cured?
People suffering from this type of disorder need to undergo psychological treatment. The psychological treatment that has obtained the best results for the cure of this condition is the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. The goal of this therapy is to gradually reduce the person's symptoms of anxiety and depression. To achieve this, first of all, the patient is explained through psychoeducation what his diagnosis is and all the aspects related to it, such as knowing what the disorder you suffer from consists of, its causes, symptoms, consequences, among others things.
Afterwards, work is done on reducing their level of physiological activation related to anxiety, for this, relaxation and breathing techniques are used. On the other hand, it also works through the cognitive restructuring with those negative thoughts that encourage you to act or feel in a certain way so they are modified to change the perception of the person and that they become more positive. Another objective is for the patient to improve their mood and for this they work with the behavioral activation by making the patient return to those activities that were pleasurable.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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