what is the difference between phobia and depression?
406807
Phobia is to be afraid of something while depression is to be overly sad.
346997
SEE A DOCTOR!  It took me 1 year to get established on medications that did not make my depression worse and actually started to help me. And be referred to a counselor. You need to talk about it.\n\nI see a lot of good answers on here but everyone MUST realize this - depression can sneak up on you and totally immobilize you. It can cause severe panic attacks and you can develop a fear of even going outside. Until depression starts to lift, you are pretty well unable to help anyone else or enjoy any hobbies. And its not feeling sorry for yourself - even if depression were a self-pity or mind thing, you still are not physically, emotionally or mentally able to deal with it alone. You must have professional help and hopefully, a good friend who will recognize what is happening to you and be there for you whenever you need her/him.
796670
Depression is a common condition, 15% of the population will suffer from clinical depression at some point in their lives.\n\nEverybody has periods where they feel low, or down. These are normal emotions, and appropriate after bad news, bereavement and so forth.   However, depression – the illness, is persistent, and help is required to recover. The difference with depression is when the unhappiness is without cause, or lasts much longer and is out of proportion to circumstances, or seems beyond the sufferers personal control to manage.\n\nDepression affects people differently.  Some are mildly affected – often known as dysthymia,  and manage to function despite their condition.  Others may be severely depressed and find it very difficult to carry out even the most basic tasks., such as washing and dressing.\n\nThere are also different types of depression, such as the episodes of depression, followed by elation in manic depression  (bipolar affective disorder, SAD (seasonal affective disorder) and PND (post natal depression).\n\nSpike Milligan and Winston Churchill were two famous manic depressives.  Depression is not selective of class, status or upbringing.\n\nSYMPTOMS\n\nSymptoms are many, varied and not all sufferers will exhibit the same problems. They may include:\n\nContinual low mood\nFeeling of inadequacy\nFeeling “tearful” and “emotional”\nIrritability\nAnger / aggression\nAnxiety\nLack of motivation\nLack of social interest\nPoor personal care\nIrrational / guilty thoughts\nFeeling of hopelessness\nSuicidal thoughts\nTired all the time\nLoss of appetite / weight\nComfort eating\nInability to sleep\nDisturbed sleep\nLoss of concentration\nSleeping too much / not waking refreshed\nLoss of libido\nAvoiding people / social situations\nLack of energy\nFeeling physically ill\nExtreme lethargy\nBleak and pessimistic view of the future\n\nN.B. Anxiety and depression are closely linked. Anxiety can cause depression, and depression can cause anxiety.\n\n\n\nSO WHY DO I FEEL LIKE THIS?\n\nDepression is a complex illness, and can occur for several reasons.\n\nIn a person suffering from depression, levels of neuro-transmitters are lowered. One of these is serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine or 5HT).\n\nIt can be triggered as a result of a number of causes:\n\nSocial Circumstances\nUnemployment, divorce or break down of relationship, bereavement, redundancy, sudden/dramatic change to personal circumstances\n\nPhysical Conditions\n\nGlandular fever, influenza, anaemia, diseases such as multiple sclerosis, severe arthritis,  and treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy\n\nHormonal Changes\nPregnancy, resulting in PND – about 10% of all women experience significant PND.  Depression presents more commonly in women (this may also be because men are more reluctant to visit their doctor)\n\nPsychological Conditions\nSufferers of anxiety may also find they develop depression. Unresolved psychological issues also contribute. About 60% of people suffering chronically with anxiety and panic will also develop associated depression.\n\nDrug and Alcohol Abuse\n\nWHAT TREATMENTS ARE AVAILABLE?\n\nEach sufferer is an individual, and treatments vary.  Many people combine treatments for optimum effect, i.e. medication and counselling. The preferred choice at present is SSRI’s along with CBT. The medication is to lift the mood enough to be able to take on board and learn skills needed to overcome the condition long term.\n\nThe first step is to visit your GP. They can confirm your diagnosis and ensure your depression does not have a physical cause.  You must be prepared to be honest with yourself and your GP. If you have some unresolved issues, medication alone will not provide a cure, and your GP can recommend you for  some form of therapy.\n\nTherapy\nThis may include Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or counselling.  All health authorities have a Community Mental Health Team, who will be able to select and provide appropriate trea
687908
Both.  I think Generalized Panic Disorders are biological because they can rarely be controlled without medication.  They are caused by a chemical imbalance. Phobias, however, are phychological because they are ingrained fears that can be cured with therapy.
820222
I feel the same sometimes; it's like a sense of fear and just this ominous scary feeling. Some people have a phobia of going outside, you might want to consult a specialist before it develops into anything uncontrollable. It really does take over your life and deter you from achieving a lot of goals. To get rid of it naturally, I would suggest first of all to consult the approprate specialist, so you can be diagnosed with whatever it may be that's causing this. Remember that it's really common and there's nothing to be ashamed of- specialists go into that line of work because the want to help people, not judge them. I would also recommend meditation, and a mode of thinking that whenever a negative thought enters your mind, immediately dismiss it and reinforce a positive thought, that way, once your mind is trained not to think about negative things anymore, whenever you do actually think of a negative image, it's to be taken seriously because it's more intuitive. You might also want to check out affirmations. Good Luck! I personally suffer from OCD, but it is controllable. OCD is an anxiety disorder, but remember that these things should never be treated with medicine. It's just not healthy and natural. It alters who you are and it'll change your mood, just stay away from them in general. For example, for depression they recommend Prozac- when you're on it, it makes you think slower and tired and the long term effects do have an impact on your thinking. So, once again, Good Luck. See a specialist!
402091
Control comes from between our ears! Use your mind properly and soooo many phobias/addictions will go away. YOU are responsible for your own thoughts. Take control of them and direct them in a positive way.
501848
anxiety and depression.
237352
fear is a response from your nervous system.... that has 2 systems: the sympathetic and the parasympathetic.... the sympathetic is your " fight or flight" response to your body and your parasympathetic is your " feed or breed" response. as long as there is something to stimulate these systems there will always be fear!!!
667798
People are scared of all kinds of things.  The best way to get over a phobia, any phobia, is to try it out and  discover how irrational it is to fear something...  ...especially something as delicious as kissing.
552553
Depression is when the Serotonin(I'm not sure I spelled it correctly) in your brain is out of whack, I don't think it can be confused with boredom or anxiety because when you are depressed you usually don't want to do even the activities you love most, feeling sadder than usual, feeling extremely tired and unfocused, close yourself off from people, there are different ways depression can surface, boredom goes away when you get tired of doing nothing, depression makes it impossible to just get over it, get up and get out of the house.\nI hope this answered your question
689660
Necrophobia- Fear of death or dead things.\n\nThanatophobia or Thantophobia- Fear of death or dying.\n\nYou can get meds for this from a psychiatrist. i know b/c i have a phobia also (socialphobia)
80048
Fear.  People are fearful of those who are not "like" them.  Its sad and sickening.  It is also dangerous to people who are in the minority.  People are fearful for many reasons but it all comes down to being fearful and not having the ability to see beyond those fears.
255830
Just having a closed-eyes imagination that what they are and what I am? Concertration on existed exeriences and sorting out the phobiatic emotions to deal in personal history in mind gives the way for confidence. This can be a natural way of emotions but many don't get it. There is also a thing that they get it in any other way.
938698
Animals don't have phobia's.  A phobia is an irrational fear.  An animal may and should have a rational fear of an enclosed space, such as fear of the unknown, why are they stuck there now?  But an IRRATIONAL fear?  No, they don't have the brain capacity for it.  Most of their response are learned behaviors, such as someone lunging at them and pulling back, gives them a flight response when someone comes near, etc.  But all of these responses are again, learned.\n\nhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-25352,00.html\nThe above website is a list of animals that learned phobias from being hit with cars, or fear of heights, etc.
781673
I recently started seeing a psychiatrist, and I was scared also.  But afterward, it was ok.\nThey ask you about your history (drug/alcohol abuse, prior suicide attempts, any medical history {blood pressure, diabetes etc} and if you have ever seen a dr before and if you have what did they do for you).  Then they move on to how you are feeling right now, and how u have been feeling in the past few weeks.  If, for example in my case, you have depression, they will ask you abuot when it started to get worse, what seemed to bring it on, how often you are crying, etc.  If its anxiety, they'll ask you anxiety related questions (what makes it worse, better, how frequent its occuring, etc)\nI wouldn't be too scared.  The more scared you are, the harder it will be to wait for the appt. and the more likely you'll cancel the appt.  Just relax. They won't talk about anything that makes you terribly uncomfortable at first if u dont want to.  My dr is great.  She lets me choose the topic now that I've gone a few times.  Its nice to be able to get somethings out in the open and deal with them.  \nWish you tons of luck, hope all is well!
750551
In my work, I do meet people with all sorts of phobias - and they can be extremely phobic. Buttons was a recent one - they were OK if they were on clothing but one on the floor would send them into a total panic - screaming, the lot. Also met fear of ice cubes, fear of vomiting, fear of bouquets, fear of balloons, fear of parsnips to name a few. Having said that, not sure what name each of these has! The trouble with phobias is that they don't make much sense - perhaps we all have irrational bits from time to time.
658677
Depression may mean that you are not able to do your daily tasks; patterns in sleep change; patterns in eating change; and a simple thing like taking a shower becomes a huge ordeal.  This person would have to see a doctor, as it could become even worse.\n\nBipolar would mean that you are very up for a while (manic), and when it wears off, you are very down (depressed).