There are four theories as to why anxiety disorders and clinical depression seem to go together.

1. Most people can’t distinguish different kinds of emotion. All they know is they feel upset.

2. Depression leads to anxiety. Because you’re depressed and feeling worthless or hopeless, you may worry that you feel this way, and be anxious that you’ll feel this way forever and that it will interfere with your personal and work life.

3. Anxiety leads to depression. Anxieties and phobias definitely interfere with personal and work lives, and its only natural that people feel depressed about this!

4. The Common Cause theory. According to this theory, anxiety and depression may have their own unique causes, or triggers, but they also share at least one common cause.

Want to find out if you may suffer from panic depression?

The causes for anxiety can be difficult to diagnose, as can the symptoms, but various self-administered tests exist where you can check yourself to see if you suffer from clinical depression or anxiety disorder. One site to go to find these tests is at the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, as well as those sites devoted strictly to clinical depression, like Depression Screening.

Children can also suffer from anxiety and depression, for a variety of reasons. Indeed, with the pressures of school and one’s peers, children are actually more inclined to anxiety and depression – as shown in the fact that teenagers have the highest suicide rate in America.

Removing the stigma of shame from anxiety disorder and clinical depression is the first step toward controlling or even curing these disorders.