Depression and anxiety are two of the most common mental health concerns, and they frequently show up together. Yet both can be easy to dismiss in the early stages—written off as stress, a rough patch, or just “how things are right now.” Recognizing the signs early can make a real difference in how quickly you get support and how much these conditions end up affecting your daily life.

Signs of Depression

Depression is often misunderstood as simply feeling sad, but it shows up in a much wider range of ways:

• Persistent low mood that doesn’t lift, even during things you’d normally enjoy
• Loss of interest in activities, hobbies, or relationships that used to matter to you
• Changes in sleep—sleeping too much, too little, or waking up feeling unrested no matter how much sleep you get
• Low energy or fatigue, even after rest, that makes basic tasks feel exhausting
• Difficulty concentrating or making decisions, even small ones
• Changes in appetite or weight, in either direction
• Feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt that don’t match the situation
• Withdrawing from friends and family, even people you care about
• A sense of hopelessness about things improving
• Physical symptoms like headaches, stomach issues, or general aches that don’t have a clear medical cause

Depression doesn’t always look the same from person to person. For some, it shows up as sadness; for others, it shows up as irritability, numbness, or simply going through the motions without feeling present in your own life.

Signs of Anxiety

Anxiety often centers around excessive worry, but it also has physical and behavioral signs that are easy to miss or attribute to something else:

• Persistent, hard-to-control worry, often about things that may not happen or are out of your control
• Restlessness or a feeling of being constantly on edge
• Racing thoughts that make it difficult to focus or relax
• Physical symptoms—a racing heart, tight chest, shortness of breath, muscle tension, or stomach issues
• Sleep difficulty, particularly trouble falling asleep due to a busy mind
• Avoidance—steering clear of situations, conversations, or responsibilities that trigger anxious feelings
• Irritability, especially when anxious energy has nowhere to go
• Difficulty concentrating, since anxious thoughts often compete for mental space
• Seeking frequent reassurance from others about decisions, relationships, or outcomes
• Fatigue, since anxiety keeps the body and mind in a heightened state that’s exhausting to sustain

Why These Signs Are Often Missed

While treating many people over the years, I have noticed depression and anxiety frequently show up together, and their symptoms can overlap or mask each other—fatigue, irritability, and difficulty concentrating can stem from either condition, or both at once. Many people also normalize these symptoms for a long time, attributing them to a busy season of life, personality, or simply “being tired,” which can delay getting support. If several of these signs have been present consistently for a couple of weeks or more, it’s worth paying attention to.

How Teletherapy Can Effectively Treat Depression and Anxiety

Research has consistently shown that teletherapy is as effective as in-person therapy for treating depression and anxiety, and it offers several advantages that make consistent treatment more achievable:

It removes barriers that depression and anxiety themselves create. The effort of getting dressed, commuting, and sitting in a waiting room can be genuinely difficult when you’re depressed or anxious. Teletherapy lowers that barrier, making it easier to actually show up for sessions consistently—which matters, since consistency is one of the biggest factors in therapy’s effectiveness.

It allows you to engage from a place of comfort. Many clients find it easier to open up about difficult feelings from a familiar, private space, which can support deeper engagement in the therapeutic process, especially early on.

It supports the consistency that treatment depends on. Depression and anxiety typically respond best to regular, ongoing therapy rather than sporadic sessions. Without the logistics of travel or scheduling around a commute, teletherapy makes it easier to maintain that consistency over time.

It expands access to the right specialist, not just the nearest one. Instead of choosing from whoever happens to be geographically close, teletherapy allows you to work with a therapist whose experience and approach actually match what you’re navigating—including language, cultural background, and specialization in depression and anxiety specifically.

It still builds a genuine therapeutic relationship. The core of effective therapy—trust, understanding, and a real working relationship with your therapist—develops the same way over video as it does in person. The format changes; the depth of the work doesn’t have to.

Getting Support

At Zurita and Associates, depression and anxiety are two of the primary areas we work with, often together given how frequently they overlap. With over 30 years of experience, Ruben Zurita takes a culturally informed, integrative approach that looks at the full picture of what’s contributing to how you’re feeling, not just a checklist of symptoms. Sessions are offered entirely through telehealth, in both Spanish and English, making support accessible no matter where you’re located in New Mexico.

We accept a range of insurance plans (Aetna, BlueCross/BlueShield, Carelon, and Cigna) as well as private-pay options. If you recognize some of these signs in yourself and aren’t sure what to do next, a free 15-minute consultation is a low-pressure way to talk it through and see if we’re a good fit.

Contact us to schedule your free consultation.

If you’re experiencing thoughts of self-harm or suicide, please reach out for immediate support by calling or texting 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), available 24/7.