When you think of stress, it probably brings negative emotions to mind. But some stress is good for you, like the anticipation you feel when you start a new relationship or job. It can fuel excitement and make you want to do and achieve more. Stress can also help you be prepared to face challenges or respond to dangerous situations.
Good stress doesn’t stick around. It boosts your mood to meet the moment, then goes away. If you’re under stress for long periods of time, it can become overwhelming and affect you both physically and emotionally.
“Our stress response does pretty good in the short term, but it doesn’t do very good if you activate it in the long term,” says David Prescott, PhD, associate professor of Health Administration and Public Health at Husson University in Bangor, ME.
“If we stay under chronic stress, our physiological stress response is taxed beyond what it’s designed to do, and it starts to impair us.”
Understanding the psychological mechanisms of how stress can lead to depression can help you prevent it. This is especially important for people who have had a prior episode of depression and would like to prevent relapse.
Stress has direct effects on mood. Early initial symptoms of lowered mood can include irritability, sleep disruption, and cognitive changes, such as impaired concentration. However, the indirect effects of stress are often what causes depression to take hold.
1. Stress disrupts a person’s healthy coping strategies.
When people experience stress, they often stop engaging in some of the healthy coping strategies that usually help keep their mood on track. In other words, when stress triggers a lowered mood, it’s more likely that the person will skip their typical healthy mood regulation strategies—resulting in further mood problems.
Example: Stress at work can lead to overworking; as a result, the person doesn’t go to yoga class, go running, read before bed, or catch up with close friends as much.
2. Early initial low mood symptoms generate further stress.
When a person is stressed and begins to experience some initial changes in their mood, these symptoms often generate further increased stress.
Example:
- the person has an irritable outburst at work and gets a complaint
- impaired concentration results in a mistake—either a major mistake or just a small mistake, like leaving something important at home
3. Stress can disrupt relationships.
Overworking, irritability, and withdrawal can all cause increased arguments. Someone who is absorbed by their own stress may become less emotionally available to their partner.
Especially when an individual has had problems with depression in the past, it can be frightening for partners to see signs that make them concerned that their loved one could be becoming depressed again. Sometimes, partners start to think about leaving the relationship; this then becomes an additional source of stress for the couple.
4. Stress can increase unhealthy coping.
Unhealthy coping mechanisms can have direct effects on mood—e.g., excessive alcohol use leading to lower mood—as well as indirect effects, like excessive alcohol use leading to relationship problems, which then lead to lower mood. Avoidance coping increases both stress and anxiety. (Learn more about avoidance coping in this article.)
5. Routines and structures may be disrupted.
Self-regulatory strength is like a mental muscle—using it helps keep it strong. Life stress and initial lowered mood often lead to people abandoning routines of eating healthy meals and sleeping at consistent times. This, in turn, sometimes begins a slippery slope of under-regulation.
Moreover, having consistent routines like regular eating helps regulate mood.
5 Practical Tips for Depression Prevention
- Become aware of what healthy coping strategies are important for maintaining your mood but that tend to go out the window when you’re stressed or overworking.
- Identify early warning signs that are a signal that you need to make some changes. This can include noticing yourself getting irritable at work, making repeated mistakes due to lack of concentration, or something similar.
- Make a short list of things you could do when you notice the early warning signs. For example, if you notice that you’ve been overworking, you could start scheduling catch-ups with friends for immediately after work so that you feel compelled to leave on time.
- Identify barriers to being able to implement your ideas when you’re under stress. What could you do to overcome those barriers? For example: “If I don’t have money to go to dinner, I could arrange to meet friends for coffee.”
- Your relationships are an important resource. What can you do to avoid straining them when you’re stressed?
Simple things can help—like making sure you say something positive before you say something negative when you first see your partner or roommates at the end of the day.
Having a therapist you can touch base with when your mood starts to go downhill can also help, particularly if your partner or a close friend sometimes feels like they’re the only one supporting you. If you book a booster session with your therapist, consider having a close other accompany you to the session so your therapist can get their perspective.
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If you are feeling overwhelmed by stress, you are not alone; it’s practically a fact of life on college campuses. A poll conducted by mtvU and the Associated Press in the spring of 2009 reported that 85% of students say they experience stress on a daily basis.
Stress is good if it motivates you but it’s bad if it wears you down. Many factors can contribute to the stress you experience, and this stress can cause changes in your body that affect your overall physical, mental, and emotional health.
Depression is more serious and long-lasting than stress, and requires a different kind of help. In a 2010 survey by the American College Health Association, 28% of college students reported feeling so depressed at some point they had trouble functioning, and 8% sought treatment for depression.
The good news is that depression is a highly treatable condition. However, it’s not something you can snap out of by yourself, so it’s important to get help. How do you tell the difference between stress and depression? Both can affect you in similar ways, but there are key differences. Symptoms of depression can be much more intense. They last at least two weeks. Depression causes powerful mood changes, such as painful sadness and despair. You may feel exhausted and unable to act.
Here are common signs of stress and depression. Which fits you best?
Common Signs of Stress
Common Signs of Depression
- Trouble sleeping
- Feeling overwhelmed
- Problems with memory
- Problems concentrating
- Change in eating habits
- Feeling nervous or anxious
- Feeling angry, irritable or easily frustrated
- Feeling burned out from studying or schoolwork
- Feeling that you can’t overcome difficulties in your life
- Trouble functioning in class or in your personal life
- Withdrawing from other people
- Feeling sad and hopeless
- Lack of energy, enthusiasm and motivation
- Trouble making decisions
- Being restless, agitated and irritable
- Eating more or less than usual
- Sleeping more or less than usual
- Trouble concentrating
- Trouble with memory
- Feeling bad about yourself or feeling guilty
- Anger and rage
- Feeling that you can’t overcome difficulties in your life
- Trouble functioning in your class or in your personal life
- Thoughts of suicide
Reducing Stress
If you are stressed out, there are many good ways to get relief. Drinking or taking drugs however, won’t solve anything and can lead to more problems. Here are some constructive choices:
Make a plan
Figure out what is really causing the stress. Think of as many possible causes as you can, and write them down. Now brainstorm for solutions that will reduce the stress, and commit them to paper. A trusted friend, family member or school counselor may be able to offer some good ideas as well. Now choose a few solutions to start tackling the issues. If they are complicated, break them down in to manageable chunks. Then give your plan a try. If one particular solution doesn’t help, try another one. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. It’s all a part of the process.
Get the stress out
Remember to take breaks when you feel worried or stuck. Do something relaxing every day. Sing, dance, and laugh–anything to burn off the energy.
Take care of your body
A healthy body can help you manage stress. Get 7 to 9 hours of sleep, eat healthy food, stay hydrated and exercise regularly. Go easy on the caffeine. Shorting yourself on sleep, and especially pulling an all-nighter, robs you of energy and your ability to concentrate. A healthy diet improves your ability to learn. Don’t skip breakfast.
Don’t suffer in silence
Get support, whether from family, friends, your academic advisor, campus counseling center, or a trusted online community. A heart-to-heart talk with someone you trust can help you get rid of toxic feelings and may even give you a fresh perspective.
If these steps don’t bring relief, or if you are still unable to cope and feel as if the stress is affecting how you function every day, it could be something more acute and chronic–like depression. Don’t let it go unchecked!
Getting Help for Depression
If you think you might be depressed, take a depression screening. Print out the results or e-mail them to yourself and then show them to a counselor or doctor.
To get help, start with your student health center or counseling service on campus. Most community colleges provide limited free mental health services and can refer you to local providers for longer-term treatment. You can also talk to your family doctor. Your local Mental Health America (MHA) affiliate can refer or in some cases provide services as well. To find the nearest MHA affiliate, call 800-969-6642 or go to Find An Affiliate.
Remember, depression and other mental health conditions are nothing to be ashamed of. Depression is not a sign of weakness, and seeking help is a sign of strength. Telling someone you are struggling is the first step toward feeling better. You will need the help of a mental health professional to beat depression. Talk therapy, antidepressant medication or a combination can be very effective.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741 or dial 911 for immediate assistance.
Learn More
The American Institute of Stress
Phone: (682) 239-6823
http://www.stress.org/
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA)
Phone: (800) 826-3632
http://www.dbsalliance.org/site/PageServer?pagename=home
Active Minds
Phone: (202) 332-9595
http://www.activeminds.org/
Anxiety Disorders of America
Phone: (240) 485-1001
http://www.adaa.org/understanding-anxiety
Freedom From Fear
Phone: (718) 351-1717
http://www.freedomfromfear.org/
National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH)
Phone: (866) 615-6464
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/index.shtml
Amen Clinics
Phone: (888) 564-2700
http://www.amenclinics.com
