We have all had times in which we have felt deeply sad, maybe even depressed, and acutely stressed, maybe even anxious. When we feel these emotions, we often don’t like it, and we try to get them to go away; we feel like they shouldn’t be there. And if these emotions persist, we think we somehow have a problem or a brain disorder.

I have an example of this from my own life. When I was 13-14, I began to feel really stressed and anxious about things pertaining to school. People were beginning to talk about going to college, college plans, scholarships, and getting a job to pay for college. At first, these things didn’t affect me because I had decided when I was 10-11 that I would not be going to college due to lack of funds (my family was very poor at the time and didn’t even have enough money for the basics, so college was out of the question). But the leaders at school began to talk about the negative consequences of not going to college and the major benefits of going to college. I began to freak out. I felt so anxious about the consequences of not going to college that I felt so compelled to go, but then I felt anxious about going because I didn’t have the finances, and I began to feel depressed because I didn’t believe that I could do hard things. Because I felt so anxious and none of my friends seemingly felt anxious, I felt that something was wrong with me and that I was weirdly different and more isolated than everyone else, which added to my anxiousness.

But, is it really bad to feel those emotions? If we feel these emotions, does that mean we have a brain disorder or a problem?

I am writing this post to give clarity on these subjects.

Is it bad to feel anxiety and depression? If we feel these emotions, does that mean we have a brain disorder or a problem?

In short, the answer is no. Anxiety and depression are rather normal responses in our bodies. Anxiety is a natural, normal, healthy response to a perception of danger. It’s not a disease or a brain disorder; it is exactly what our bodies are made to do! If you are hiking in the woods and a bear pops out, your fear helps you to react in a way that helps you to survive. Your fear is meant to help you. The problem we have with fear is not fear itself; our problem is that our brains don’t know the difference between real dangers and imagined dangers. Our brains believe whatever we tell it; therefore, whatever thoughts we entertain are the thoughts we believe. This poses a problem if we see people as dangerous; then, we will stay away from all people and have little fulfillment with others. And our brains are beautifully designed to remember danger, so we often remember those things which we are scared about.

Depression is what happens when we perceive there is no escape from danger. We feel hopeless in overcoming our dangers and getting out of our tough spots.

Now, just because these emotions are normal does not mean we need to suffer from fearing over things that are not truly dangerous or being depressed about things we truly can overcome. To help overcome these, we have to realize that we feel these because of our thoughts. We have thoughts that something is scary or hopeless. Therefore, we recognize how we are feeling and recognize the thoughts that are stemming from them. Then we can work to change our thoughts by identifying the distortions of our thinking and then replacing those distorted/twisted thoughts with truths – not just happy thoughts, but actual truths that we believe to be true. To see the 10 ways of twisted thinking as well as a model to help overcome these emotions, see this link.

After feeling these feelings, we have the opportunity to change our thinking to something more positive which gives us more power over our lives and ourselves. These emotions can inspire us to do something productive and positive about ourselves and our situations, helping us to progress into the best versions of ourselves. So please, in your journey, be patient with yourself, honor your body and your brain, and work to overcome the stressors that may come your way so you may become better and feel more fulfilled.