Agitated Depression And Irritability: How They Are Connected

Published on November 20th, 2018

Updated on January 2nd, 2024

When we hear depression, we think of someone who cannot stop crying, cannot get out of bed, or is feeling hopeless. While these can be ways that a person shows their depressed mood, depression can be felt in other ways. We can feel depressed sometimes without realizing it.

Not all people feel their depression through sadness, hopelessness, and despair. They may instead feel their depression through anxiety, stress, anger, and irritability.

Depression can cause a person to be easily annoyed or agitated. Sometimes, a depressed person may have irritability be their most prominent symptom. This causes them to suffer from what is referred to as agitated depression.

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Agitated depression is not a clinical diagnosis. It is a term that is used to refer to people who feel the following ways when depressed:

Irritable
Restless
Angry
Agitated
Short-tempered
Stressed

When a person suffers from agitated depression, they may engage in behaviors that are not good for them. These behaviors can make their mood worse and impact their quality of life. Such behaviors that may be caused by agitated depression include:

Lashing out at others
Being impatient
Aggressively expressing anger
Having inappropriate fits of rage
Breaking personal property out of anger
Struggling to manage stress at work or school

Agitated depression is not uncommon. It is different than typical depression. A person with agitated depression may not be fatigued or feel like they are “in a fog”. They will be short-tempered and have a low tolerance for being bothered. They may also be hyper-alert and struggle to calm racing thoughts.

Agitated depression is often misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder or intermittent explosive disorder. The irritability, anger, and bursts of rage that can occur with agitated depression are similar to the symptoms of these disorders. Agitated depression can be tricky to identify, but can be treated and managed if properly diagnosed.

Symptoms of Agitated Depression

Symptoms of agitated depression will look different than the typical symptoms of depression. A person with agitated depression will struggle to cope with anxiety and changing levels of energy. This difficulty to cope causes irritability. They may also struggle with ruminating thoughts. Ruminating thoughts are persistent and recurring thoughts that keep a person’s mind in a dark place. This dark place may often be consumed with:

Anger
Anxiety
Depression
Self-defeating thoughts
Feelings of resentment
Hopelessness
Helplessness

Agitated depression causes hypersensitivity to stimulation. It also causes high reactivity. Along with typical symptoms of depression, a person with agitated depression may also exhibit any of the following symptoms:

Restlessness
Reactivity, or having a “short fuse”
Snapping at friends and family
A short temper and high irritability
Acts of rage
Racing negative and (sometimes) violent thoughts
Ruminating thoughts
Discomfort with keeping still
Excessive complaining
Yelling
Anger that is difficult to understand
Being critical of others
Difficulty sleeping
Picking at skin, hair, clothes, or nails
Extreme difficulty or inability to cope with stress
Difficulty understanding the source of their anger
Episodes of being easily and visibly agitated

Causes of Agitated Depression

A person suffers from agitated depression when they do not know how to cope with their mood. They may not understand what causes their irritability and depression. A person with agitated depression may not understand their feelings or how to recover from their depressed mood. They may feel like a prisoner to their anger and depression.

Some people with agitated depression learned to use aggression to cope from a family member. They may have also learned that expressing any negative emotions besides anger is unacceptable. This results in a person not knowing how to express their depression and emotional pain in a healthy way.

People with agitated depression may suffer from other mental health disorders, like:

Bipolar disorder
Insomnia
Anxiety
ADHD
Borderline personality disorder
PTSD
Addiction and substance use

There is a key identifier for agitated depression. It is displaying outbursts of anger out of frustration for not being able to cope with their depressed mood.

Treatment for Agitated Depression

Treatment for agitated depression is much like treatment for clinical depression. It will include therapy methods that teach coping skills. These coping skills will help the affected person learn how to control their anger, anxiety, and depression. Therapy for agitated depression may also incorporate anger management skills. In some situations, medication may be recommended.

Therapeutic techniques used for agitated depression include:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps you learn how your behaviors are connected to your depression and negative thoughts. It also teaches you how to manage thoughts and feelings to prevent outbursts.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) teaches you how your emotions affect your thought processes and decision-making skills. It also teaches mindfulness skills. These skills help you manage unwanted feelings and behaviors in the moment, so they feel less intense.
Talk therapy can teach perspective. Perspective helps you to learn about the reason behind your anger and depressed mood. It teaches you how irritability and depression are affecting you. It can also teach you how they are affecting your relationships with yourself and others.