What are Mental Health Conditions?

An introduction

Anxiety

Anxiety refers to anticipation of a future concern. Mild levels of anxiety can be beneficial in some situations. It can alert us to dangers and help us prepare and pay attention.

Common anxiety signs and symptoms include:

Feeling nervous, restless or tense
Having a sense of impending danger, panic or doom
Having an increased heart rate
Breathing rapidly (hyperventilation)
Sweating
Trembling
Feeling weak or tired
Trouble concentrating
Trouble thinking about anything other than the present worry
Having trouble sleeping
Experiencing gastrointestinal (GI) problems
Having difficulty controlling worry
Having the urge to avoid things that trigger anxiety

Anxiety disorders differ from normal feelings of nervousness or anxiousness and involve excessive fear or anxiety.

Anxiety disorders are the most common of mental disorders.
They affect nearly 30% of adults at some point in their lives.
Anxiety disorders are treatable with a number of psychotherapeutic treatments.

Anxiety disorders can cause people to try to avoid situations that trigger or worsen their symptoms. Job performance, schoolwork and personal relationships can be affected. In general, for a person to be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, the fear or anxiety must:

Be out of proportion to the situation or be age-inappropriate
Hinder their ability to function normally

There are several types of anxiety disorders: generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder with or without agoraphobia, specific phobias, agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder and selective mutism.

From Psychiatry.org and Mayo Clinic

For more information on the different types of anxiety disorders, follow the above links

Depression

Depression (major depressive disorder) negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. Depression causes feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease your ability to function at work and at home. Fortunately, it is treatable.

Depression symptoms can vary from mild to severe and can include:

Feeling sad or having a depressed mood
Loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed
Changes in appetite — weight loss or gain unrelated to dieting
Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
Loss of energy or increased fatigue
Increase in purposeless physical activity (e.g., inability to sit still,
(these actions must be severe enough to be observable by others)

handwringing) or slowed movements or speech
Feeling worthless or guilty
Difficulty thinking, concentrating or making decisions
Thoughts of death or suicide

Medical conditions (e.g., thyroid problems, vitamin deficiency) can mimic symptoms of depression so it is important to rule out general medical causes.

Stats about Depression

Depression affects an estimated one in 15 adults (6.7%) in any given year. And one in six people (16.6%) will experience depression at some time in their life. Depression can occur at any time, but on average, first appears during the late teens to mid-20s. Women are more likely than men to experience depression. Some studies show that one-third of women will experience a major depressive episode in their lifetime. There is a high degree of heritability (approximately 40%) when first-degree relatives (parents/children/siblings) have depression.

From Psychiatry.org

For more information on depression, follow the above link

Many things can contribute to anxiety and depression. One thing that for sure can contribute is what has been called "thinking errors" - or ways of thinking that can lead to increased self-doubt and decreased self-compassion