8 Toxic behaviors that may arise from Anxiety and Depression

It’s not enough to suffer from anxiety or depression. Now, we’re realizing that these illnesses may even cause toxic behaviors.

I live with depression and anxiety every day. It’s sometimes a struggle just to get out of bed. But, I am sure you’ve heard that before. You may have even felt the same way yourself. Now, to make things even worse, I’ve started to notice toxic behaviors in how I treat others.

Could it be that these toxic behaviors have arisen from anxiety and depression?

Some think this is true.

Toxic behaviors born from mental illness

Mental illness is common. In fact, most people have at least one family member who suffers from this terrible ailment. Also, most of us have witnessed a form of toxic behavior in our families as well.

Here are a few of those toxic behaviors that just may have stemmed from mental illnesses such as anxiety or depression. Take a look.

1. Narrow-mindedness

The inability to have an open mind is a form of toxicity. Because of the turmoil that we’ve experienced in our lives, we start to label others before really getting to know them. We also form opinions with no real basis in reality.

Mental illnesses like depression and anxiety make us pass judgments on others or various situations. We see similarities between a present situation and something traumatic that happened in our pasts. This is why we make generalizations and assumptions about what will happen now.

We start to form a narrow mindwith limited ideas on things that are new to us.

This is extremely unhealthy and hinders our ability to grow.

2. Isolation

Due to our past experiences with anxiety, we start to isolate ourselves from others. We avoid certain people at all costs because we are afraid they will reject us or make us feel inferior.

Avoidance and isolation are both forms of toxic behaviors because we can never reach our full potential by hiding away like a hermit. Even though we may be introverts, we still suffer from alack of social stimulation. We hurt others as well by utilizing our isolating characteristics.