Anxiety and depression are two of the most basic psychological diagnoses. They also represent components of many other psychiatric and medical illnesses. When dealing with either anxiety or depression, it is extremely important that a clinician rule out any medical causes of these sensations prior to beginning psychotherapeutic treatment.
Even if medical causes are found, this does not necessarily mean that the client will not be able to benefit from psychotherapy. In some cases medical conditions can coincide with mental ones, such that an adjustment of each is in order. After all, the mind is a part of the body and the body is a part of the mind. There simply is no separation; each is a part of the total organism and each is fully connected to the other.
So if someone has hypothyroidism, or example, that as brought about feelings of lethargy, this is a clearly medical condition. But oftentimes we will see the patient accommodate the symptoms of the thyroid condition with additional depression symptoms. In this case, it can be beneficial to treat both the physiology and the psychology concurrently to facilitate full adaptation in the patient.
The same is also true of anxiety, which can be a response to internal or external stimuli. It has been argued that anxiety is a basic condition of consciousness, that we are necessarily anxious provided that we are cognizant of and involved in our social environment. Anxiety is in certain ways tantamount to the human condition itself. But there is no reason why someone should have to suffer unnecessarily in their anxiety. There are some people who experience the anxiety of living as oppressive and unnerving. These patients can benefit strongly from psychotherapy that aims to help them adapt to and tolerate anxiety and stress.
We frequently see anxiety and stress occurring together simultaneously, and in these cases patients can suffer enormously. This is common, for example, in patients suffering from addictive disorders or from chronic pain. In these cases the anxiety and depression may each be fully diagnosable and may furthermore exacerbate the primary symptom. In these instances of symptom clustering, treatment must be provided not only for all of the co-ocurring symptoms but also for the underlying causes and meanings that have led the client into their present state of suffering.
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