[pookums2]

I am curious, is rage a componet of depression or is it a biproduct of the condition. When a depressed person goes into that rage stage is it instant or does it accumulate slowly and end with a fir of rage. Thank you

http://ezinearticles.com/?Depression...hip&id=1457658
http://ezinearticles.com/?Is-There-a...on?&id=1798066

[lavieenrose]

It varies person to person. People are complex. It's often been said that depression is anger turned against the self. Others externalize their anger. Women more often turn anger against the self, and are more often than men diagnosed with depression. I don't know if this helps at all.

[Perna]

Anger is an emotion everyone has but most do not easily learn to acknowledge and work with. All emotions are just information telling us how we're feeling about ourself, others, and the environment. When we feel threatened or as if something of ours that was valuable to us has been taken from us, we feel angry.

Some of depression is turning anger inside, toward ourselves, instead of dealing with the actual situation of hurt or loss. If we feel helpless, we don't feel like we can be angry at who or whatever is hurting us. Children are somewhat helpless if you think about it; they can't "go" anywhere, don't have money or resources and if school is bad, home life is bad, and they don't have many friends or their friends are feeling/doing things contrary to what our individual feels/wants to do, what is left? There's no way to get any help or get out. If the child acts out anywhere they just get stricter outside control slapped on them. I did the opposite, and just retreated inside, didn't engage with my world. That can be what depressed people do too; if you can't fight it, sleep :-)

Rage is suppressed anger. If you don't acknowledge anger or reduce the situational forces (solve the problem of feeling hurt or in danger) it doesn't just go away. However, I think "rage" as commonly thought of is actually a form of acting out. Anger is a feeling, not the action taken because of the feeling. Feelings are mostly chemical in nature and if you get a build up of certain bodily hormones/chemicals (think of stress and how it is possible to make yourself form an ulcer, get a headache, worsen other conditions) then feelings intensify until they are impossible to "control". People cry constantly, some people, especially men with their additional testosterone, smash their fists into doors/walls/etc., panic attacks happen. Violent acts/rage often looks spontaneous but usually is built up from suppressing anger. Being depressed can be one way of suppressing anger but if that doesn't work completely, there can be angry outbursts.

Some depressed people have chemical imbalances in their brain but some of those chemical imbalances are due to not acknowledging and working with emotions well or improper care of the physical body (diet, exercise, etc.) in the first place. It's impossible to tell yet exactly what is causing a person's depression, how best to treat it at the outset. Some people do well with therapy, some with meds, many with both meds and therapy and some don't get treated and the depression gets better for other reasons or doesn't get better. What symptoms one has with one's depression, whether episodic rage or sleeping too much is a function of the individual's background, life situation, and bodily chemistry/health.