About half of patients with pure anxiety disorders develop major depression within five years. Insofar as depression and anxiety are genetically determined, they share a single set of genes {which are tied to the genes for alcoholism}. Depression exacerbated by anxiety has a much higher suicide rate than depression alone, and it is much harder to recover from. "If you're having several panic attacks every day," says Ballenger, "it's gonna bring Hannibal to his knees. People are beaten into a pulp, into a fetal position in bed."
( Andrew Solomon )
[ The Noonday Demon ]
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