Depression Learning

Can a Person be Depressed and Angry?

Generally speaking a person suffering from a depression disorder will not be depressed and angry at the same time. In fact anger is not a symptom of depression. According to the DSM IV, the Diagnostic Statistics Manual, published by the American Psychiatric Association, persons suffering from depression would exhibit a sad mood. They lack energy and they may even have a flat affect, meaning that they show no emotion at all, they just feel numb or empty.

It is possible for a depressed individual to feel irritable, but that can best be translated as jumpy, or restlessness, or feeling annoyed. However, it does not mean a full-blown anger or wrath. Irritability can be very mild often signifying an annoyance that goes away as soon as the annoying event or stimulus goes away such as a honking horn on a car. Once the annoyance stops the person is no longer irritable/

Anger can have very dire consequences such as plotting revenge etc. Simply put, a depressed person will not have the energy to plot revenge on someone they are allegedly angry with. They do not have the emotions to fight back. Sometimes anger is a good thing to have, especially when it is used for the betterment of society. Anger against social injustices has led to many social changes. However, a person suffering with a severe depression disorder may appear to be apathetic, or disinterested in social matters. Their depressed mood is keeping them in a very sad and helpless state. Their feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness would also reinforce their thoughts concerning change. They would generally be of the opinion, that nothing would change the laws, so why should they even bother.

Traditional psychological theories report that depression is anger turned inward. What that means is that depressed people do not normally lash out at other people. They are more inclined to be angry with themselves. They are disappointed that they are not the people they wished or felt that they could be. They experience a lack of self-esteem and they develop a depression, all because they are disappointed with themselves or some or all aspects of their lives. Some depressed individuals say they cannot show anger outwardly, even when someone has provoked them. Instead of taken their anger out on that person, they will take it out on themselves, hating themselves for not fighting back, blaming themselves for being the cause of the confrontation in the first place or they intellectually beat themselves up, or try to rationalize away the need to get angry in the first place. depression facts place people with major depression or sometimes even moderate depression more in the category of being paralyzed rather than acting out. They are generally more passive and tend to withdraw from life rather than passionately act out in a burst of anger. Depressed individuals may not even defend themselves in an assertive way or express their feelings if someone has insulted them. Instead they may say absolutely nothing and then go home and cry behind close doors where nobody can see or hear them.

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