when sadness feels Like Anger...
Ever feel so frustrated and pent up that even the slightest thing seems like it could set you off? On the verge of rage, but is it truly rage or is it a different emotion – one that defies words but combines anger, frustration, sadness, anxiety, “stressed out” and edginess? Irritability can feel like emotional sandpaper under your skin and once it is in full swing, everything, from a partner’s kind words to your dog’s whine, seems to make it worse. Typically when we think of depression, we think of the classic symptoms : sadness, low energy, insomnia, appetite changes, and so on. Sometimes, however, depression presents with a slightly different constellation of symptoms, especially in children and young adults. In fact, in children, sadness might not even be present and irritability alone can lead to a diagnosis of depression . The notion of an irritable or agitated depression has been around in mental health treatment for decades, but is not yet supported by the formal d...