By We Level Up FL Treatment Center | Editor Yamilla Francese | Clinically Reviewed By Lauren Barry, LMFT, MCAP, QS, Director of Quality Assurance | Editorial Policy | Research Policy | Last Updated: April 26, 2023

Types of Depression

• Persistent depressive disorder (also called dysthymia): is a depressed mood that lasts for at least two years. A person diagnosed with persistent depressive disorder may have episodes of major Depression along with periods of less severe symptoms, but symptoms must last for two years to be considered a persistent depressive disorder.
• Psychotic Depression: occurs when a person has severe depression plus some form of psychosis, such as having disturbing false fixed beliefs (delusions) or hearing or seeing upsetting things that others cannot hear or see (hallucinations). The psychotic symptoms typically have a depressive “theme,” such as delusions of guilt, poverty, or illness.
• Bipolar disorder: is different from Depression, but it is included in this list because someone with bipolar disorder experiences episodes of extremely low moods that meet the criteria for major Depression (called “Bipolar Depression”). But a person with bipolar disorder also experiences extreme high – euphoric or irritable – moods called “mania” or a less severe form called “hypomania.”
• Postpartum Depression: is much more serious than the “baby blues” (relatively mild depressive and anxiety symptoms that typically clear within two weeks after delivery) that many women experience after giving birth. Women with postpartum Depression experience full-blown major Depression during pregnancy or after delivery (postpartum depression). The feelings of extreme sadness, anxiety, and exhaustion that accompany postpartum depression may make it difficult for these new mothers to complete daily care activities for themselves and/or their babies.
• Seasonal affective disorder: is characterized by the onset of Depression during the winter months, when there is less natural sunlight. This Depression generally lifts during spring and summer. Winter Depression, typically accompanied by social withdrawal, increased sleep, and weight gain, predictably returns every year in seasonal affective disorder.
• SAD Seasonal Depression (Depressed SAD): A form of depression known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is triggered by the changing of the seasons; it starts and ends about at the same periods each year. If you have SAD like the majority of people do, your symptoms begin in the fall and last through the winter, draining your energy and making you cranky. Typically, these symptoms go away in the spring and summer. SAD less frequently results in depression in the spring or early summer and clears up in the fall or winter. SAD treatment options include medications, psychotherapy, and light therapy (phototherapy).

Anxiety Statistics

It’s critical to understand the distinction between anxiety and depression. Anxiety, in its most basic form, is an excessive feeling of worry, whereas depression, in its most basic form, is an excessive feeling of worthlessness and hopelessness. It is conceivable for someone to experience depression and anxiety simultaneously.

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Anxiety Heart Rate & Hypothyroidism And Heart Palpitations Anxiety

Anxiety-related heart palpitations give you the impression that your heart is hammering, racing, fluttering, or skipping beats. Your heart rate may quicken in reaction to some stressful circumstances. Your anxiety illness may potentially be the cause of your palpitations (excessive or persistent worry).

If you start experiencing symptoms like anxiety, forgetfulness, constipation, heart palpitations, or excessive sweating, your underactive thyroid may be receiving too much medication. Your body makes too little thyroid hormone if your thyroid gland is underactive, or if you have hypothyroidism.

Anxiety Or Heart Attack: Heart Attack Or Anxiety

Anxiety causing heart palpitations: Your heart starts to beat quickly. You are struggling to breathe and experience chest pain. Having a heart attack, are you? Or even a panic attack? According to Patricia Tung, MD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Arrhythmia Services, “Any of these symptoms can be exceedingly scary.”

Despite certain similarities, the two diseases are caused by completely different disease processes. Stress chemicals cause the body’s “fight or flight” reaction, which frequently manifests as a racing heart, chest pain, and shortness of breath. This is how panic attacks start.

The symptoms of a heart attack may be the same if a coronary artery is blocked. When not enough blood reaches the heart muscle, it can cause chest pain, a rapid heartbeat, and shortness of breath, according to Tung.

Anxiety Attack Vs Heart: Anxiety Vs Heart Attack

Anxiety attack vs heart attack: One of the main differences between the two is that while a panic attack can happen when at leisure, a heart attack frequently develops with physical exertion. When the heart’s workload increases, such as when a person is running up stairs or shoveling snow, a heart attack is more likely to occur, especially in those who do not regularly exercise.

Another distinction is duration: Panic episodes often last around 20 minutes until they terminate naturally. But a heart attack frequently lasts longer than expected and could get worse.

Anxiety heart attack: If there is any doubt, you should always get emergency medical help, advises Tung. Instead of chest pain, heart attack symptoms in women may be milder and include unusual exhaustion and chest tightness. It’s crucial to avoid downplaying symptoms because otherwise, things can get out of hand. Never be reluctant to dial 911.

How To Slow Down Heart Rate Anxiety? Waking Up With Anxiety Heart Racing

How to lower heart rate anxiety? There are several therapy options available if it is established that the symptoms are related to a panic attack. These may include complementary therapies that emphasize stress reduction and restorative exercises like yoga, tai chi, acupuncture, and meditation.

Women’s Heart Attack Symptoms Vs Anxiety

Heart attack or anxiety woman: A heart attack is a medical emergency, despite the fact that a panic attack may make you feel like you’re having one. The most typical symptom is chest discomfort, but other symptoms like shortness of breath, nausea, and back or jaw pain are slightly more prevalent in women.

Anxiety Heart Racing When Trying To Sleep: Heart Flutter Anxiety

Due to the way they sleep, some people get heart palpitations when they are lying down. Palpitations may result when sleeping on your side with your head cocked upward. Anxiety, stress, and melancholy are just a few additional typical reasons for heart palpitations.

Can Anxiety Cause A Heart Attack?

In severe circumstances, a rapid heartbeat (tachycardia) can impair normal heart function and raise the risk of cardiac arrest. Chronically high blood pressure can cause coronary disease, heart muscle deterioration, and heart failure.

Acid Reflux Anxiety And Heart Palpitations

Acid reflux probably won’t immediately cause heart palpitations. Palpitations could be brought on by anxiety. GERD can indirectly cause palpitations if its symptoms, especially tightness in the chest, make you nervous.

Anxiety Chest Pain Vs Heart Attack: Anxiety Attack Heart Rate

If you experience chest pain, it’s usually recommended to get emergency medical help. Chest discomfort is a worrying indication. Even if your anxiousness is the cause of your chest pain, it’s better to know than to run the risk of losing important time if you are experiencing a heart attack.

When experiencing a heart attack, people can describe their chest pain in a variety of ways. Several instances include:

• Chest pain that radiates to other parts of your body, such as down your arms or up to your jaw
• Chest pain that worsens with exertion
• Nausea along with chest pain
• Pressure in the chest, as if someone has put something heavy on your chest
• Rapid heart rate
• Shortness of breath
• Squeezing sensation in the chest

According to studies from 2020, 30% of individuals who are having a heart attack don’t experience chest pain. Back pain and exhaustion are two symptoms that some people list as heart attack symptoms.

Even though doctors are aware that anxiety and chest discomfort are related, you should still go to the doctor if you have any symptoms.

If you are experiencing chest pain, dial your local emergency services. Don’t try to get to the hospital by yourself. Emergency personnel can assess you and decide whether you are experiencing a cardiac episode or whether your chest pain is being caused by anything else.

Does Anxiety Cause Chest Pain? Anxiety Causing Chest Pain

Chest pain in anxiety: Your body can and frequently does experience physical symptoms like sweating or shortness of breath when you’re stressed. Your brain and body trigger an immediate stress response when you experience anxiety. This also entails a modification of the body. Your body may get rigid or tighten up.

Can anxiety cause chest pains: A psychological or emotional reaction can also be part of the stress response. You might react irrationally or violently more frequently. The fight-or-flight response is the name given to these reactions. Your body gets ready to fight back or flee when you feel pressured or frightened.

If this fight-or-flight stress response occurs seldom, your body should recover completely in 30 minutes. However, if it happens frequently, your body can’t bounce back as rapidly. Increased muscle tension may result from this, and your chest may experience pain as a result.

Similarly to this, under even more stress, your heart rate may rise and your heartbeats may become more powerful. You may experience unique pain as a result of it and tight chest muscles.

Anxiety Or Heart Problems? Heart Attack Vs Anxiety

The fight-or-flight response is controlled by the sympathetic nervous system. This regulates how the body responds to circumstances that it considers stressful or harmful. Blood pressure and pulse rate rise when the sympathetic nervous system is activated, temporarily stopping biological processes like digestion.

The parasympathetic nerve system, commonly referred to as the “rest and digest system,” keeps body processes like digestion running smoothly when a person is at rest. In addition, it will lower blood pressure and heart rate after a fight-or-flight reaction.

Together, the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems help the body stay in homeostasis, which is a state of equilibrium.

Heart Racing Anxiety

Anxiety-related heart palpitations give you the impression that your heart is hammering, racing, fluttering, or skipping beats. Your heart rate may quicken in reaction to some stressful circumstances. Your anxiety illness may potentially be the cause of your palpitations (excessive or persistent worry).

Diagnosing anxiety palpitations: Anxiety And Heart Rate

Anxiety Or Heart Problem

A screening questionnaire is the first step a clinician takes to identify anxiety palpitations. They will be able to recognize those who are more likely to experience heart palpitations as a result of anxiousness. Anyone who achieves a particular score will be referred to a doctor for monitoring.

A physician might employ a transtelephonic event monitor or a Holter monitor.

If a patient has everyday palpitations, a doctor might think about utilizing a Holter monitor. A basic ECG gadget called a Holter monitor constantly tracks a person’s heartbeat for 24 to 48 hours. Throughout the monitoring time, the user is required to wear the Holter device and keep track of any symptoms.

Heart Anxiety: Anxiety Heart Palpitation

The duration of a transtelephonic event monitor is shorter than that of a Holter monitor. The monitor is manually operated even if the person wears it constantly.

Some transtelephonic monitors demand that the user press the device on their chest only when they believe they are having palpitations.

Before a doctor can determine that heart palpitation is brought on by anxiety, the results of these tests must rule out all other possible causes.

Can Menopause Cause Anxiety and Heart Palpitations?

Menopause symptoms, which might include hot flushes, exhaustion, heart palpitations, muscle soreness, lethargy, poor concentration, low mood, anxiety, vaginal dryness, and occasionally urine incontinence, are generally experienced by women. These will differ greatly from person to person and may change.

Heart Palpitations Anxiety Treatment: How To Stop Heart Palpitations Due To Anxiety?

How to get rid of heart palpitations from anxiety? Once a doctor is certain that an anxiety problem is to blame for the heart palpitations, they could suggest that the patient seek therapy.

A doctor will take the patient’s preferences into account while creating an anxiety treatment plan.

Options, according to the OWH, might include:

• Psychotherapy
• Medicine
• Complementary approaches

Treatment plans may use a combination of these strategies to target symptoms of anxiety, including heart palpitations.

Heart Attack Vs Anxiety Attack: Psychotherapy

According to NAMI, a therapist can assist a person in figuring out what triggers their anxiety episodes and how to deal with them.

A specific form of psychotherapy called exposure-response prevention tries to lessen attacks by teaching patients how to respond positively to triggers. By gradually exposing people to their worries, this technique helps them build coping skills.

Additionally, a therapist might advise someone to try cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT). This kind of treatment focuses on a person’s mental patterns, such as negative ideas that fuel worry.

Best Anxiety Medication For Heart Patients

Appropriate medication can be prescribed by a doctor to help treat anxiety disorder. Aside from antidepressants like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, doctors may also prescribe drugs that treat anxiety (SSRIs). If a person’s medication is not working for them or has side effects, they should consult a doctor.

Anxiety Low Blood Pressure Fast Heart Rate

Numerous symptoms associated with hyperventilation and low blood pressure might exacerbate anxiety and, in turn, hyperventilation. Low blood pressure causes the heart to beat more quickly and forcefully to make up for it.

Anxiety Heart Rate 120

Numerous anxiety-related physical symptoms might worsen anxiety as they mimic significant medical conditions. The most typical of them is tachycardia, commonly referred to as a “fast heartbeat.” Usually, a normal heartbeat ranges from 60 to 100 beats per minute. In a healthy adult, tachycardia is defined as a heartbeat that is over 100 beats per minute. Tachycardia frequently results in additional symptoms because of how it impacts your body.

Tachycardia frequently induces a great deal of concern since it can make you believe that anything is wrong with your heart when it seems to happen randomly. However, the symptoms are frequently brought on by anxiety, and the heartbeat is typically perfectly harmless.

Anxiety Attack Or Heart Attack: Complementary approaches

A person might utilize a variety of approaches at home to lessen anxiety. Self-management, according to NAMI, can aid a person in controlling their anxiety. In order to better regulate their anxiety, people who practice self-management educate themselves about the condition and set aside time each day to work on it.

By calming the mind, yoga or other relaxation techniques can reduce anxiety. Running is one such workout that might help people reduce stress and anxiety.

However, these methods aren’t always feasible or useful, so it’s crucial to consult a doctor to go through your treatment alternatives.

We Level Up Dual Diagnosis Treatment

The exact definition of dual diagnosis (also referred to as co-occurring disorders) can differ between institutions.  However, it is generally described as the specific treatment of someone who has been diagnosed with a substance use disorder and a mental health disorder at the same time. Treating dual-diagnosis clients is a critical aspect of our inpatient treatment experience because co-occurring disorders are strongly correlated with instances of substance abuse.

Creating a treatment plan that addresses the physical aspects of withdrawal, the psychological connection with drug use, and managing underlying mental health disorders is part of setting clients up for success.  A thorough mental health analysis identifies possibilities for treatment.  Meeting with mental health counselors and medical care providers means access to behavioral therapy and medication treatment. At our dual diagnosis treatment center, We Level Up can implement the highest quality of care. 

We recognize the fragile complexities of how mental and substance abuse disorders can influence others and sometimes result in a vicious cycle of addiction.  That’s why we offer specialized treatment in dual-diagnosis cases to provide the most excellent chance of true healing and long-lasting recovery.

It can be challenging to accept that you may be living with a mental illness, but once it is properly diagnosed and treated, treating the presenting case of substance abuse can be magnitudes easier. Only a properly trained medical professional can diagnose these underlying conditions.  If you believe you are suffering from a disorder alongside addiction, we urge you to seek a qualified treatment center to begin your journey to recovery. Call We Level Up today.

Heart Palpitations Anxiety FAQs