Does Your Anger & Irritability Signal Depression?

Many people think of sadness when they hear the word “depression,” but it can also show up in other ways, such as anger and frustration. Chronic anger often wears down your emotional well-being, leaving you feeling drained or detached from those around you.

If you’ve tried dealing with your anger without success and you suspect that depression is the underlying cause, therapy for depression and other treatment options could make a huge difference in how you feel.

Is Anger a Sign of Depression?

Yes, for many people, anger can be a sign of a mental health problem like depression. While anger on its own is not a diagnosable condition and is a normal emotion to feel, when it is persistent, explosive, or uncontrollable, this could be a manifestation of something deeper.

Additionally, when coupled with low energy, hopelessness, or trouble concentrating, it may be a sign of depression. It’s important to pay attention to your emotions and seek help if you notice any concerning changes in your behavior or mood.

Types of Anger that Could Be Signs of Depression

Anger is often divided into a few different categories:

• Irritability: A typical symptom of depression, irritability involves responding to even small inconveniences quite negatively, often snapping at others or just being generally grouchy.
• Hostility: A step further than irritability, hostility could include rage, shouting, or other forms of outward anger.
• Anger “attacks”: Often triggered by something quite trivial, someone with depression might have a sudden, intense outburst of rage in response to a negative event or apropos of nothing.

How Depression & Anger Are Linked

Depression and anger can create a cycle that’s both confusing and overwhelming. Depression can make it harder to cope with stress, lowering your ability to manage challenges. This can leave you feeling more irritable or prone to outbursts. When your emotional reserves are already depleted, you may feel trapped, frustrated, or exhausted, all emotions that can build up and eventually spill over as anger. Anger can also damage relationships, leading to shame and isolation and worsening depression.

Depression & Internalized Anger

Depression-related anger is often directed inward, with people turning their frustrations and disappointments on themselves. Depression often exacerbates the inner critic, turning up the dial of internal anger, shame, and self-doubt.

Why Some People Might Be More Angry When They’re Depressed

Certain populations are more likely to have their depression manifest as anger. Men, teens, and people with a history of trauma often respond with higher levels of irritability, anger, or rage when dealing with depression.

Factors that make it more likely for someone to experience angry depression include:

• Gender: Anger as a symptom of depression is more common in men¹
• Age: Children and teens are more likely to express their negative feelings and low mood with anger and irritability²
• Co-occurring conditions: People who also have anxiety, a personality disorder, or a substance use disorder have a higher likelihood of exhibiting anger³
• History of trauma: People who experienced childhood trauma are more prone to anger attacks and other angry personality traits in adulthood⁴

Treatment for Depression & Anger

Depression is a serious mental health condition that often requires professional treatment to improve. When anger is involved as a noticeable symptom, a therapist can help people feel validated and learn better coping skills. Antidepressant medications can also make a big difference in how someone feels, lessening rageful symptoms along with other the other depression symptoms.

Treatments for depression can include:

• Therapy: Therapists treating depression often take a multifaceted, individualized approach, using techniques from modalities like cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, and dialectical behavioral therapy, helping people understand the causes of their depression, the connections between their thoughts, feelings, and actions, and learn how to process and express their emotions in healthy ways.
• Medication: Antidepressants like SSRIs and SNRIs work to increase neurotransmitters like serotonin and norepinephrine, both proven to have connections to mood and energy levels.
• Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS): TMS is a noninvasive procedure often used in people who don’t respond well to medication, as it comes with very few side effects. It uses magnetic fields to stimulate areas of the brain that may be underperforming due to depression.
• Spravato®: Spravato® is an esketamine-based nasal spray, the first of its kind to be approved by the FDA for hard-to-treat depression. It works differently than traditional antidepressants, increasing the brain’s access to glutamate and thereby stimulating all areas of the brain to work together.

Coping Skills for Anger in Depression

A therapist can help you understand where your anger is coming from, process your difficult feelings, and learn new ways to cope. Beyond therapy, incorporating breathing and grounding techniques, body-mind connections, and other ways to express yourself can help you learn healthier ways to move forward.

Here are a few ways to cope with anger and depression:

• Breathing techniques: Learning to take deep breaths whenever you start to get keyed up can help your body relax instead of giving into your anger. You could try box breathing, counting to 10, or breathing through a straw can all help.
• Mindfulness: Mindfulness practices like guided meditations or focusing on one thing at a time can help connect you back to the present moment and reconnect with your body.
• Stretching and yoga: Finding ways to slow your body down and make a deeper connections between your body and mind can help you regulate your nervous system.
• Boost your support system: Talking about what you’ve been going through can start to remove some of the shame from your feelings and reactions. Depression often breeds shame, guilt, and worthlessness, so it’s important to make a concerted effort to counteract these feelings by being open with a few trusted loved ones.
• Journaling: Instead of blowing up at loved ones, try channeling your feelings onto the page. Journaling can often help people understand more of the connections between their thoughts and feelings, providing a place to “let off steam” that doesn’t hurt anyone.

Contact New Directions Mental Health to Find Support for Depression

The link between depression and anger can be complex and challenging to navigate. However, identifying and acknowledging these emotions is the first step toward gaining clarity, fostering understanding, and beginning the journey to healing.

New Directions Mental Health is here to help our neighbors in Pennsylvania start healing from depression. Call us today at 724.374.7414 or schedule your first appointment today.

 

Sources:

1. Martin, L. A., Neighbors, H. W., & Griffith, D. M. (2013). The experience of symptoms of depression in men vs women: analysis of the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. JAMA psychiatry, 70(10), 1100–1106. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.1985
2. Colleen R. O’Neal, Lynsey C. Weston, Xin He, Keng-Yen Huang, Daniel S. Pine, Dimitra Kamboukos, Laurie Miller Brotman. Change in depression across adolescence: The role of early anger socialization and child anger. Journal of Adolescence, Volume 59, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2017.05.011
3. Nienke J. de Bles, Nathaly Rius Ottenheim, Albert M. van Hemert, Laura E.H. Pütz, A.J. Willem van der Does, Brenda W.J.H. Penninx, Erik J. Giltay. Trait anger and anger attacks in relation to depressive and anxiety disorders. Journal of Affective Disorders, Volume 259, 2019, Pages 259-265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2019.08.023
4. de Bles NJ, Pütz LEH, Rius Ottenheim N, et al. Childhood trauma and anger in adults with and without depressive and anxiety disorders. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2023; 148(3): 288-301. https://doi.org/10.1111/acps.13589