What Are 9 Mental Health Conditions Depression Is Often Linked To?

The problem with depression is that it is often linked to other mental health issues as well that most people don’t recognize. Here are nine of the most common mental health conditions that depression is often linked to.  

1. Anxiety

Depression and anxiety are often co-occurring disorders. Anxiety is typically a reaction to stress, but it can become a generalized reaction to stimuli that aren’t stress-related. Like depression, it is thought to arise from a combination of both environmental and genetic factors. Anxiety, as a mental disorder, can take many forms, such as panic disorder and social anxiety disorder.  

2. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Also known as PTSD, it presents through flashbacks, nightmares, and intrusive thoughts after a traumatic event has taken place. Individuals can become anxious and depressed for months or even years after the event. To cope with these awful symptoms, many people turn to substance abuse.  

3. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Also known as ADHD, it results in impulsive behavior and high amounts of energy. An individual may not be able to focus as much as they want to. Those with ADHD have also reported experiencing symptoms of depression. It is possible that they have both conditions at the same time, but having ADHD can have an effect on one’s life that can lead to depression.  

4. Personality Disorders

Personality disorders occur within at least 10% of the population, and many of these people don’t know that they have these disorders. Personality disorders include borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and narcissistic personality disorder.  

5. Eating Disorders

Eating disorders like anorexia typically occur with depression and anxiety. The two most common types of eating disorders include anorexia nervosa and bulimia. If left untreated, they will only get worse, resulting in damage to the individual’s organs or even death.  

6. Substance Abuse

Substance abuse disorders are often linked to depression and involve the use of drugs and/or alcohol to the point of causing physical harm to themselves, as well as to their financial, social, and occupational lives. Someone who has a substance abuse disorder tends to be unable to discontinue use, they increase the amount of substance being used over time, they have to take the substance to ease withdrawal symptoms, and they spend most of their time using or recovering from use.  

7. Social Anxiety Disorder

This is also called social phobia and causes an overwhelming fear of interacting with other people or performing in front of other people. It is one of the most common phobias out there and rarely develops after the age of 25.  

8. Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is the inability to distinguish between the real world and hallucinations or confused thoughts. A person with schizophrenia can also experience symptoms of sadness and emptiness, and develop a major depressive episode at some point in their lives.  

9. Phobic Disorder

Specific phobias are the most common type of anxiety disorder and involve the irrational fear of something that actually poses no threat or danger.  

If you believe that you experience depression and/or any of the above-mentioned mental health disorders, it’s important that you speak you a mental health professional as soon as possible to receive a diagnosis and start receiving treatment.