Depression and Anxiety
DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY: THE FRENEMIES NO COLLEGE STUDENT WANTS TO MEET by Kaiya Bhatia / art by Ayane Garrison
F
renemies. We all know Jim and Dwight from The Office, or Perry the Platypus and Dr. Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb. Each side of these pairs has opposing agendas, but like all good frenemies, they occasionally work together to help one another out. College students, however, deal with a different kind of frenemy relationship: one that lives inside their heads. The most common and insidious pair of frenemies present in the lives of college students is anxiety and depression, a difficult and sometimes deadly duo. The energetic volatility of anxiety versus the dull monotony of depression ignites a fierce rivalry within the host’s mind. And yet, each condition makes us more vulnerable for the other’s attack on our neural systems. For example, imagine you get anxious about failing your upcoming test, making you question if you’re prepared enough or how you might fare. In turn, you may begin to fear that you have no chance of passing the exam at all, leading you to feel hopeless and lost. These swells of depression may then render you unmotivated to study, compounding your initial anxiety of failure [1]. This cycle repeats itself over and over, enabling anxiety and depression to feed off of each other, ultimately
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leaving you paralyzed. It is a selfdefeating, self-fulfilling prophecy — one that can lead to fatal consequences if misunderstood.
THE DIAGNOSES
While depression and anxiety exist in many different forms, college students are most commonly diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and/or Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). GAD is characterized by persistent and excessive worrying that is difficult to control, usually without apparent or rational cause for concern [2]. Experiencing these symptoms over a period of six months warrants an official diagnosis of GAD. MDD, on the other hand, is characterized by a period of at least two weeks of depressed mood or loss of interest. Related symptoms of MDD include issues with sleep, eating, energy, or concentration [3]. The “frenemy” relationship between GAD and MDD is clinically referred to as a comorbid relationship, which
GREY MATTERS JOURNAL AT VASSAR COLLEGE | ISSUE 2
