Anxiety and depression are often confused because they sometimes share common clinical manifestations, such as both having low mood, insomnia, negative thoughts and behaviors, etc. So how do you distinguish between these two psychological disorders? First, the dominant emotional experience is different. The dominant emotional experience in anxiety disorders is anxiety and fear, which usually does not resolve on its own for more than 6 months. They experience emotional tension and anxiety because they fear that some disaster, illness, or failure has happened or is about to happen to them or to people they are close to. The dominant emotional experience of depression is a depressed mood that lasts more than 2 weeks. They engage in a general denial of their present and future, they are unhappy, and they lose interest in activities that would otherwise be of interest. Second, the level of arousal of mental activity differs. People with anxiety disorders are mostly excited in their mental activity and their thinking is agile. They endlessly and repeatedly think around the content of anxiety, and even show various anxious behavioral actions, such as fidgeting, walking back and forth, repeatedly asking and seeking confirmation, and actively seeking help. The mental activity of depressed patients is usually inhibited, manifested by slowed thinking, slowed speech, depreciated tone, slowed action, reluctance to go out, meet people, and talk, and children and adolescents can show irritability. A small number of depressed patients show symptoms of agitation such as fidgeting. Third, patients with anxiety disorders are often accompanied by symptoms of plant nerve dysfunction, such as panic, sweating, shortness of breath, nervousness, shaking, etc.; while patients with depression often show a decrease in appetite and libido. Fourth, patients with anxiety disorders often have symptoms of plant nerve dysfunction, such as panic, sweating, shortness of breath, nervousness, shaking, etc.; while patients with depression often have decreased appetite and libido. According to the nature of the disease, the severity of anxiety disorders is less than that of depression. Patients with depression more often feel that life is meaningless and have suicidal ideas and even behaviors, while patients with anxiety disorders generally do not have suicidal ideas and behaviors, although severe anxiety disorders can occur. Anxiety disorders and depression are like sister diseases, often existing in one person at the same time, with symptoms of both anxiety and depression, and if the diagnostic criteria for both diseases are met separately, the condition is called co-morbidity.