Is Depression the End Stage of Anxiety?

We often talk about anxiety and depression as separate conditions, but in real life, they so often coexist. Sometimes, I wonder whether what we call “depression” can actually look like late-stage, unresolved anxiety.

When life stops aligning with our values, expectations, or basic emotional needs, stress and anxiety naturally rise. Our nervous system shifts into fight/flight/freeze. If this state becomes chronic, it slowly drains us leading to fatigue, helplessness, hopelessness, and “burnout”. It then can affect multiple domains of our lives.

At a certain point, something else can happen.

When our care factor drops to near zero, the anxiety may ease, but in its place comes a depressed mood, with loss of motivation, meaning and purpose.

Many people we see are right at this junction, oscillating between anxious distress and emotional numbness/depressed mood.

This is why early stress and anxiety management matters so much.

If we can support people early, we don’t just reduce anxiety, we may prevent deeper depression.