What illness is anxiety disorder? What does phq 9 and gad 7 mean? If you want to know the anxious truth, keep reading! PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire 9) and GAD-7 (Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7) are standardized screening tools used to help healthcare providers assess the severity of depression and anxiety, respectively. But, that’s not all!

The PHQ-9 is a simple questionnaire that asks about several symptoms of depression, such as loss of interest or pleasure in activities, feeling down or hopeless, trouble sleeping, and changes in appetite. Each item is scored between zero and three based on how often the symptom has been experienced over the last two weeks. The scores are then added up to create a total score, which can help healthcare providers determine the severity of depression symptoms.

The GAD-7 is also a simple questionnaire that helps to identify the severity of generalized anxiety disorder symptoms. It asks about symptoms such as feeling nervous, worried, or on-edge, having trouble relaxing, trouble sleeping, and trouble concentrating. Each item is also scored between zero and three, and the scores are added up to create a total score.

“Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today’s mighty oak is yesterday’s nut that held its ground.” — Rosa Parks

Signs Of Depression

If you experience some of the following signs and symptoms of depression (phq 9) nearly every day for at least 2 weeks, you may be living with depression:

• feeling sad, anxious, or “empty”
• feeling hopeless, worthless, and pessimistic
• crying a lot
• feeling bothered, annoyed, or angry
• loss of interest in hobbies and interests you once enjoyed
• decreased energy or fatigue
• difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions
• moving or talking more slowly
• difficulty sleeping, early morning awakening, or oversleeping
• appetite or weight changes

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” – Alan Kay

Anxiety Symptoms

Here are some symptoms of anxiety:

   Anxiety And Fatigue

Also, if you often feel anxious, you may recognize this emotional pattern: Something stresses you, a test, a bill, a conflict — and the anxiety begins. It builds and builds while the physical symptoms — the racing heart, the quickened breath — intensify. And as soon as the stress stops, CRASH. You’re suddenly so tired you could collapse and sleep right on the spot.

Anxiety (gad 7) is a feeling of fear, dread, or apprehension. Therefore, it can be brought on by a stressful event or by the way you think about an event. Sometimes people feel anxious even when there doesn’t seem to be an external trigger at all. Fatigue is a persistent feeling of being either mentally or physically tired. It may feel like a lack of energy, a lack of motivation, or a lack of strength. The National Health Interview Survey put out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that women report feeling fatigued more often than men.

Fatigue is also associated with a fair number of psychological conditions, including:

• grief
• work-related or financial stress
• depression
• anxiety

“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” — Marcus Aurelius

   Anxiety and Loss of Appetite

Anxiety (gad 7) triggers emotional and psychological changes in your body to help you deal with the pressure. These changes often affect the stomach and digestive tract and can make you lose your appetite. If stress is the reason, your hunger usually returns once you’re feeling more relaxed. Any number of health conditions could be stealing your desire to eat. But if you’re stressed or struggling with anxiety, either or both may be to blame.

“There’s more talk about stress eating and self-comforting with food. But stress and anxiety can also take away appetite and cause people to miss hunger cues,” says Rachel Goldman, Ph.D., FTOS, a psychologist in private practice in New York and a clinical assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine.

Though they are often used interchangeably, stress and anxiety aren’t the same thing. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), stress is an outside influence that can cause a range of physical and emotional symptoms. Anxiety is one of those symptoms, but it can also be a persistent state of dread and worry in the absence of a particular stressor.

“The difference between winning and losing is most often not quitting.” — Walt Disney

   Anxiety Lightheaded

For some people, their anxiety (gad 7) and dizziness can intensify to the point that they experience panic attacks. Anxiety, dizziness and lightheadedness symptoms will differ in intensity from week to week. On some days the feeling may be especially intense, and on others it may feel much more bearable.

You may have found that your anxiety and dizziness increase when you’re in scenarios that you fear such as in crowds or on public transport. Dizziness, when related to anxiety, will typically be accompanied by a sense of lightheadedness or a feeling that you might faint. To know that your dizziness if being caused by your anxiety, other symptoms of anxiety will be present, like fearfulness, racing thoughts, an increased heart rate and an inability to concentrate.

“Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” — Jack Canfield

Fear and Anxiety

Anxiety is a word we use for fears about the threat of something going wrong in the future, rather than right now. Anxiety (gad 7) can last for a short time and then pass when whatever was causing you worry is over, but it can also last much longer and disrupt your life. Ongoing anxiety (gad 7) can affect your ability to eat, sleep, or concentrate. It can prevent you from enjoying life, travelling, or even leaving the house to go to work or school.

When anxiety holds you back from doing the things you want or need to do, it can also affect your health. Some people become overwhelmed by fear and want to avoid situations that might make them frightened or anxious. It can be hard to break this cycle, but there are lots of ways to do it. You can learn to feel less fearful and to cope with anxiety so that it doesn’t stop you from living.

Some people feel a constant sense of anxiety (gad 7) all the time, without any particular trigger. There are plenty of triggers for fear in everyday life, and you can’t always work out exactly why you are frightened or how likely you are to be harmed. Even if you can know how out of proportion a fear is, the emotional part of your brain keeps sending danger signals to your body. Sometimes you need mental and physical ways of tackling fear and anxiety.

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.” — Mary Anne Radmacher

Overcoming Anxiety And Depression (phq 9 and gad 7)

 Natural Ways To Help Anxiety  

Here are some natural ways to help with anxiety:

Lifestyle changes such as getting more sleep, limiting caffeine, meditating, and eating a balanced diet may go a long way toward easing anxiety.
10 natural remedies for anxiety:

• Stay active
• Steer clear of alcohol
• Consider quitting smoking cigarettes
• Limit caffeine intake
• Prioritize getting a good night’s rest
• Meditate and practice mindfulness
• Eat a balanced diet
• Practice deep breathing
• Try aromatherapy
• Drink chamomile tea

   Medication

Antidepressant medications can help improve the symptoms of depression. With adequate treatment, 70–80% of people with depression may experience a significant reduction in their symptoms.

Medication for anxiety does not cure the condition but may help with symptoms, such as panic attacks, extreme fear, and worry. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a class of drugs that doctors consider first-line treatments for depression and anxiety. SSRIs work by increasing the level of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is a molecule that has important bodily roles, including regulating mood and behavior. However, it may take up to 6 weeks before a person feels the beneficial effects of SSRIs.

Examples of SSRIs that doctors prescribe in the U.S. include:

• fluoxetine
• sertraline
• paroxetine
• fluvoxamine
• citalopram
• escitalopram
• vilazodone

Side effects of SSRIs include:

• anxiety
• restlessness
• insomnia
• dry mouth
• weight gain
• nausea
• diarrhea
• sweating
• headaches
• dizziness

There is also an increased risk of suicidal ideation with SSRIs in young people up to age 25. Some SSRIs such as citalopram can affect the heart, potentially leading to abnormal heart rhythms.

“The older you get, the more fragile you understand life to be. I think that’s good motivation for getting out of bed joyfully each day.” — Julia Roberts

Conclusion

I hope you have learned some of the symptoms of depression and the illness anxiety. Depression and anxiety (phq 9 and gad 7, respectively) are different conditions, but they commonly occur together. They also have similar treatments. Symptoms of both conditions usually improve with psychological counseling (psychotherapy), medications, such as antidepressants, or both. Lifestyle changes, such as improving sleep habits, increasing social support, using stress-reduction techniques or getting regular exercise, also may help. If you have either condition, avoid alcohol, smoking and recreational drugs.

Articles

-Depression and Anxiety: Can I Have Both?

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/expert-answers/depression-and-anxiety/faq-20057989

-Identifying Signs of Anxiety and Depression

https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/addressing-your-mental-health-by-identifying-the-signs-of-anxiety-and-depression

-Depression and Anxiety: How to Identify and Treat Coexisting Symptoms

https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/depression-and-anxiety

Have a Good One,

Cindee Murphy, One Voice – Unstoppable

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Henry Stanley Haskins