Decrease In Anxiety?

For the most part, on this blog I have been talking about my problems with depression, which have been pretty severe, as I have described.  The main reason that I did Magnetic Resonance-guided Focused Ultrasound Surgery (MRgFUS) was to treat my depression.  However, associated with my depression has been some fairly severe anxiety as well.  I have difficulty leaving the house or doing things on my own because of this anxiety, so, like the depression, it is pretty debilitating as well.  My psychiatrist and therapist believe that my depression is the primary condition, with the anxiety being secondary.  Hence, the anxiety is only there because of the depression and if the depression went away, so would the anxiety.  It is quite common for people with depression to also have anxiety and vice versa.

Well, I had an appointment with my psychiatrist today and he made an observation that was very interesting and may be relevant to the results of my MRgFUS surgery.  He observed that I seemed less anxious than normal and just more at ease with myself during the appointment.  I have been seeing this psychiatrist for many years, so his observation that I seem less anxious is worth noting.

That, of course, is a very subjective observation and not much to go on, so he gave me a Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) test.  I received a score of 21.  Now, I have done a bit of research today, and there seem to be several different rating scales for the BAI.  However, he said that my score was on the high end of low anxiety, which is not inconsistent with the rating scales that I have seen.  Of course, we don't have a score for the BAI that was performed before my surgery, so this score alone is not particularly useful either.  However, my psychiatrist said that he would never before have considered me to be in the range that I received.  Thus, there is evidence that my anxiety has decreased since my surgery.

That is all very interesting, however I haven't noticed any real change in my depression or anxiety myself since the surgery.  To me, I still feel just as anxious as I did before the surgery.  I still worry a lot and I still have trouble doing things.  Thus, I wouldn't take this as strong evidence that something has changed.  However, it is something for me to keep in mind over the next little while as I await more concrete results.