Anxiety and Depression Treatment

Anxiety and Depression Treatment Huntington New York

When is it time to seek anxiety and depression treatment? This is a question that so many of my personal patients have pondered before reaching out to me. There is no time like the present, as treatment can help you over come and proceed with leading a healthy and happy life.

According to brain scanner Dr. Daniel Amen, there are 7 types of depression, each with the exact same symptoms. But many are not serotonergic, meaning they will not respond to antidepressants. One way to look at Depression is from a causal point of view. Is there a family history of Depression or Bipolar Disorder? Bipolar Depression is often misdiagnosed and someone with this condition should not be given antidepressants prior to or without a mood stabilizer or Atypical Antipsychotic. When Depression presents with Anxiety, which is very common, we need to explore our history for problems growing up with our family, especially primary caregivers. 1 in 5 families have enough discord to warrant the presentation of Anxiety and Depression in adulthood. Anxiety and depression are often the first symptom presentation of PTSD.

Dr. Daniel Amen 7 Types of Depression

Pure Anxiety – results from too much activity in the basal ganglia, setting a person’s “idle” too high.
Pure Depression – often results from high activity in the deep limbic system—the brain’s emotional center. This type is associated with primary depressive symptoms that range from chronic mild sadness (also known as “dysthymia”) to crippling major depression.
Mixed Anxiety and Depression – brain scans reveal high activity in the brain’s basal ganglia and the deep limbic system.
Over-Focused Anxiety/Depression – there is excessive activity in the brain’s anterior cingulate gyrus, basal ganglia and/or the deep limbic system. Sufferers of this type have trouble shifting attention and tend to get locked into anxious and/or negative thoughts or behaviors.
Temporal Lobe Anxiety/Depression – is related to too little or too much activity in the temporal lobes, in addition to overactivity in the basal ganglia and/or deep limbic system.
Cyclic Anxiety/Depression – results from very high, focal activity in the brain’s basal ganglia and/or deep limbic system. Cyclical disorders, such as bipolar disorder, cyclothymia, premenstrual tension syndrome and panic attacks are part of this category because they are episodic and unpredictable.
Unfocused Anxiety/Depression – results from too little activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in addition to high activity in the basal ganglia and/or deep limbic system. Because of its similarities with ADD, distinguishing between the 2 can be difficult. However, ADD—in its classic form—starts in childhood and can be seen consistently throughout a person’s life. Unfocused Anxiety/Depression may not actually start until later in life.

*All reference material comes from https://www.amenclinics.com/healthy-vs-unhealthy/anxiety-depression/

Anxiety Quiz

Answer the following question truthfully.

Do you feel very anxious or worry about a lot of things?
Do you think your worry is excessive?
Do you worry more days than not?
Do you worry more days than not?
Have you been worrying like this for the past 6 months?
Is it hard for you to control your worrying?
Have you noticed any physical symptoms such as restlessness, feeling tired easily, trouble concentrating, irritability, muscle tension, or trouble sleeping?
Does your worrying negatively impact your ability to function, like at school, work, with friends, with family, or in other areas that are important to you?

*If you answered yes to one or more of the questions, you might be suffering from anxiety.