December 1, 2025 · Stress & mood
How it worsens anxiety and depression
By Dr. Rachel Larkspur, PhD · 6 min read
Stress doesn't just feel bad — it actively feeds the two conditions it resembles. Understanding the spiral is the first step to interrupting it.
Stress primes the alarm
Chronic stress keeps cortisol elevated and the amygdala on high alert. The brain starts scanning for threats everywhere — deadlines become catastrophes, a delayed text becomes rejection. Anxiety isn't a character flaw here; it's a sensitized alarm system doing overtime.
Then exhaustion flattens everything
Months of alarm-mode deplete dopamine and serotonin pathways. Pleasure dulls, motivation evaporates, and withdrawal begins — which creates more stress (missed work, strained relationships), which deepens the low mood. This is the spiral: stress → anxiety → exhaustion → depression → more stress.
Circuit-breaker 1: Shrinking the input
You can't eliminate stress, but you can audit it. For one week, log what spikes your tension and sort demands into control / influence / release. Most clients discover a third of their stress lives in the "release" column — things they've been gripping that were never theirs to carry.
Circuit-breaker 2: Behavioral activation
Depression tells you to wait until you feel like doing things. Recovery works in reverse: schedule small, values-based actions first — a walk, a call, twenty pages — and let motivation catch up. Mood follows movement, not the other way around.
Circuit-breaker 3: Physiological sighs
When the alarm won't quiet, speak its language: two short inhales through the nose followed by one long exhale. A few rounds measurably lower arousal. It's not a cure — it's a doorway that makes everything else (sleep, conversation, decisions) possible again.