11 Inspirational Short Stories about Anxiety and Depression

A wise man once said that anxiety does not prevent tomorrow's pain, but it steals the pleasure of the day, and another said that anxiety is one of the deadliest diseases in humans. Here's a collection of short stories about anxiety and depression.

 

Short Stories of Overcoming Depression And Anxiety

1- What Does Anxiety Do?

A girl went to the hospital; her temperature was very high, and she was suffering from joint pain in addition to severe anxiety. After two days, she asked the doctor how long would I continue in this condition, and how long am I going to spend in the hospital?

The doctor told her that the duration of the treatment would last about six months.

The girl asked him: Do you mean that I won't be able to get married before six months have passed?

He replied: Unfortunately, you will not be able to get married before six months.

This conversation took place in the evening and the next morning, her temperature returned to normal, the pain had disappeared from her joints, and the depression and panic disappeared from her face. The doctor could not find an explanation for this change, so he put her under observation for a few days and then told her to leave, but he didn't know the reason for the recovery of the girl.

After a month, the girl returned to the hospital in the same previous condition (high temperature, joint pain and excessive anxiety.) When the doctor examined the matter, it became clear that her father wanted her to marry a certain person because he would help him at work. The girl loved her father and wanted to do what he wants even though she didn't want to marry this man. For this reason, she suffered from these diseases.
 
When she knew from the doctor that she won't be able to get married for six months, she regained her health. And when the date of marriage approached, she got sick again.

The doctor said to her father, "there are no medicines to treat your daughter, and if you forced her into this marriage, she may become ill for the rest of her life. The only treatment is to give her the freedom of choice, and this is the best medicine for her." 

 

When her father told her that she wouldn't be forced into this marriage, she regained her health and her recovery was rapid and steady.

This story illustrates the great impact of psychological pain on human health, as thousands of people fall prey to diseases because of excessive anxiety.

{anxiety recovery stories}
 

2- The Source of Happiness

John D. Rockefeller

John D. Rockefeller amassed a great fortune and established the world's largest company at the time (Standard Oil) but at the age of 53; he succumbed to the anxiety that destroyed his health. At this age, he developed a blood disease that led to his hair falling out.

Rockefeller was spending many hours in the bed in preparation for death and his health was extremely dangerous so doctors advised him to live on milk only. At that time, Rockefeller was the richest man in the world, and yet he lived on food not enough for a small child. His income was one million dollars a week, and yet he was spending only two dollars a week on his food.

Rockefeller turned into a skeleton covered with sallow skin, so what made him reach this situation?

It's anxiety, tension, and constant pressure. This man worshiped money, and there was nothing that excited him, and brought joy to his heart, more than hearing the success of a deal he made.

Once, he shipped tons of grain worth $40,000 through the Great Lakes without insuring the shipment, while insurance cost him no more than $150. On the night that the ship set sail, a strong storm blew, and Rockefeller was very worried about the cargo.

The next morning, Rockefeller asked his partner to hurry up and insure the cargo, so his partner rushed to the insurance company and paid 150 dollars. When he returned to him with the reassuring news, he found him in very bad condition because Rockefeller received a telegram informing him that the cargo had arrived at its destination safely.

Rockefeller felt depressed and sad because he spent 150 dollars for nothing, and he fell ill that day. When the doctor came and found him in danger because of his excessive anxiety, he gave him two options: quit work or die, so Rockefeller chose to quit work.

Rockefeller stopped thinking about collecting money for the first time because he realized that the money he collected did not bring him happiness, and he turned from a stingy person to a generous person and began donating millions of his money to charity. Peace and safety returned to him, and he felt great happiness that he had never felt before.

For the first time, anxiety had no power over him, and one day his company was sentenced to pay a huge fine. The lawyer was afraid to tell him the news so that he would not fall dead from the shock, but he tried to make it easy for him as much as he could. Finally, the lawyer told him the verdict, and he was very scared for him.

When Rockefeller heard the news, he smiled and said to the lawyer: Don't worry about me; money has no power over me, and there is nothing in this world that can take away my inner peace, good night my friend.

These words were spoken by the man who got sick one day because he lost $150, Rockefeller managed to overcome anxiety and this made him live a life full of inner peace. He was expected to die at the age of 53, but he lived to the age of 98. 

 

The good that Rockefeller had done and the many millions he had donated cured him of every disease.

{anxiety success stories}
 

3- A Fugitive Without a Pursuer

During the American Civil War, a southern resident was overwhelmed with terror as he heard the booming cannon shots and saw the fierce flames consuming the land. Fear, anxiety, and intense turmoil gripped his heart until he lost his sanity.

He fled the village in the dark of night, heading for the distant mountains, where he entered a deep cave and hid in a narrow crevice, escaping the horrors of war.

From that moment on, he lived in constant fear and distress, severing all ties with humanity and the light of day. He existed like a wild animal, navigating the darkness of night, searching for water and food, and returning to his cave before dawn, unseen by anyone and seeing no one.

After a few months, his clothes had torn apart, his nails had grown long, and thick hair covered his naked body. His back became hunched, and he walked with a stoop.

Years passed without him encountering a single human being. His emotions froze, his feelings dried up, and he no longer remembered anything about human life. His estrangement from the world dragged on, and he forgot the words of his language. The words on his lips turned into incoherent murmurs that sometimes became broken cries.

Decades passed before a scouting expedition discovered him. They carried him, terrified and roaring like a wounded lion, to a mental institution, where he spent several months before beginning to grasp some of the changes in time and regaining a fragment of his lost humanity.

This is the story of a man who chose to flee from the known present into the embrace of an uncertain future. He preferred dying in darkness to living in the light and chose to escape into the night rather than face the day. As a result of this choice, he lost his human characteristics and became like an animal.

My dear,
God created us and endowed us with abilities and talents that enable us to wrestle with the hardships of life and confront difficult circumstances. These confrontations make us stronger, wiser, and more resilient, while fleeing brings only weakness, darkness, and emptiness. The fear and anxiety that overwhelmed this man made him flee from the world, spending the rest of his life as a fugitive in the mountains, wandering aimlessly between the hills with no one pursuing him.

Many people waste their lives running from things that are not chasing them!

{teenage anxiety stories}
 

4- The Panicked Killer, Short Story About Anxiety

There was a young man who lived with his uncle, having no one else in his life. The young man was his uncle's sole heir. Driven by greed, he murdered his uncle, meticulously inspecting the scene to ensure there was no trace of his crime.

After the mourning period, while walking down the street, the young man encountered a police officer who offered his condolences for the loss of his uncle. Moments later, the officer pointed to a red spot on the young man's shirt. The young man became extremely flustered, filled with anxiety and panic.

The officer, using his skills, suspected that the young man, being the only heir, might be the killer, so he started an investigation. Eventually, the young man confessed, revealing all the details of the murder. The officer asked him to sign a statement, and as the young man reached into his shirt pocket to take out a pen, he found a red ink pen, the source of the stain. However, his overwhelming anxiety and fear had already led him to confess.

5- Don’t Despair

Booth Tarkington

When Booth Tarkington became blind, he didn't feel anxiety and said, "If I had lost all my five senses, I would continue to live inside my mind, because we see with our mind and live by it."

“To be blind is not miserable; not to be able to bear blindness, that is miserable.”
John Milton

{overcoming anxiety success stories}
 

6- The Only Solution Story

A man has been ill for a long time, during this time a skilled doctor was supervising him, and when the patient’s money ran out, the doctor kept supervising his treatment. A few days later, the man regained his health and received an envelope from the doctor. The man thought that the envelope contained the expenses of the medicine and the doctor’s fees. Due to his extreme poverty, he put the envelope in the drawer without thinking of opening it.

The man kept living in anxiety and depression, he found no taste for sleep or food, and he was thinking sadly about how to pay this great debt. After a long time, he decided to get rid of anxiety and open the envelope, and when he opened it, he was very surprised because he just found a message saying, "Thank god for your health" and there was no debt to pay.

The man did not believe his eyes and re-read the message many times. In the end, all the anxiety and depression disappeared from his heart, and he felt reassured and happy. Then he went to thank the doctor, who was a man of faith, when he became aware of the patient's poverty, he decided not to take any money from him.

Calm down and go to bed, what you're worried about is worthless.

{depression and anxiety stories}
 

7- An Anxiety Success Story

Martin and Osa Johnson

The famous traveler Osa Johnson married Martin Johnson at the age of sixteen, and the couple spent a quarter of a century traveling from one country to another. During this period, they presented to the cinema images of primitive life that are on the verge of extinction in Asia and Africa.

When they returned to America, they intended to go around and give a series of lectures and show their famous films, and they boarded the plane from Denver heading to the coast. But unfortunately, the plane hit the top of a mountain and crashed and Martin died instantly.

The doctors estimated that Osa Johnson would never leave her bed after that day, but they didn't know her. Three months later, she was sitting in a wheelchair giving lectures to a large group of listeners, and in the following period, she gave more than a hundred lectures!

And when Dale Carnegie asked her why she did that?

She replied, "I did it, so I wouldn't have time for myself to be sad or worried."

{overcoming severe anxiety stories}

8- Fears And Illusions, Anxiety Short Story

The passengers of the train noticed that there was a woman who felt anxious and panic, whenever the conductor passed by, she would stop him and ask him many questions. One of the passengers asked the conductor, what was the woman worried about?

 

The conductor replied, "She is afraid that the bridges on which the train passes are unsafe, she is afraid that the train will be late, and she is afraid that she will not find the intended ship in its place upon arrival."
 
A lot of people, if there are no fears, they create them for themselves!

9- Unwarranted Anxiety

Dale Carnegie

In his childhood, Dale Carnegie would always panic when there was a storm or thunder in the sky, and he was always anxious. As the years went by, he found that 99% of the fears that caused him anxiety never occurred, and he realized that his excessive anxiety was unjustified.

My dear friend,
Some people suffer from the problem of anxiety, so we can call them (anxiety addicts) If there is nothing in their lives to worry about, they look for someone else's problems to worry about. Therefore, they deprive themselves of enjoying inner peace because of the feelings of anxiety that fill their lives.

Man cannot live in anxiety and peace at the same time.

{short stories about depression and anxiety}
 

10- Anxiety About Nothing

One of the women said to her doctor if I went anywhere, I would tell myself after leaving the house.

- Maybe I forgot to turn off the power.

- Maybe the house caught on fire.

- Perhaps the children went out with their bicycles to the street and were run over by a car!

Therefore, I feel anxious and I hurry back to my house to make sure that nothing happened.

Anxiety steals the joy of life.

{stories of overcoming anxiety}

 

 11- What Makes You Tired?

One of the doctors studied the case of 176 businessmen, and it became clear to him that more than a third of them suffered from one of three psychological diseases, all of which arise from nervous tension, which are heart disorders, stomach ulcers and blood pressure.

Sadly that the lives of businessmen are shattered because of anxiety!

Is this the price of success?

And what benefits a man if he won the whole world and lost his health?

Dale Carnegie says, I honestly prefer to be a simple farmer playing my guitar instead of destroying my health at the age of 45 to establish a company.

Dr. Alexis Carrel says, Businessmen who don't know how to fight anxiety die young.

And one of the American doctors says that 70% of patients who visit doctors can treat themselves on their own if they get rid of the anxiety and stress that dominates them.

There is no other way to get rid of anxiety other than to allow peace to enter our hearts.


Here's the end of the stories.
See you in new stories ❤️
Read Also...
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20 Real-Life Inspirational Stories of Success and Struggle
Top 12 Folklore Stories From Around The World

 

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We offer a curated collection of short stories addressing anxiety, designed to help individuals overcome symptoms of depression, anxiety, and therapy-related phobias through cognitive behavioral therapy. These essential inspirational stories feature individuals who have struggled and succeeded in overcoming social anxiety, drawing from personal experiences. We hope these stories inspire you to stop worrying and embrace positive changes, encouraging participation in the community without anxiety and promoting mindfulness-based stress reduction.
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