Depression and Anxiety as Teammates: A Comic That Explains It

Having Problems Facing Anxiety And Depression? Then You Need To See This Amazing Comic

Why can someone with depression clean the whole house one day and barely get off the floor the next? This comic, drawn by Nick Seluk, creator of The Awkward Yeti, from a story told by Sarah Flanigan, answers that question better than most textbooks. Flanigan lives with both depression and anxiety, and the comic turns them into two lumpy grey characters who work as a team against her: one heavy and listless, the other jittery and wide-eyed.

The comic was shared millions of times because it captures three things people with these conditions often struggle to explain. Symptoms come and go without warning. Good days do not mean someone is cured, or was faking on the bad days. And comments like “but you were fine yesterday” can hurt more than they help. Below, each panel is described with a note on what it shows about real life with depression and anxiety, followed by what research says, a correction of some older claims, and how to support someone who is struggling.

Meet the teammates

The story opens with Sarah, in her pink dress, standing beside her two companions: a dark, sagging blob for depression and a pale, trembling one for anxiety. Giving the conditions bodies is a clever move, because it separates the person from the illness. Sarah is not lazy or dramatic; she is dealing with two very real forces that are not her.

Even with medication, Sarah says, there are mornings when she has to force herself out of bed, pinned under the covers by both creatures. This is an important detail. Treatment often helps a great deal, but it rarely flips a switch, and bad days can still happen while someone is doing everything right.

With a “thud” and a “whump”, depression and anxiety lean their full weight on her, and she cannot find the energy or motivation to do anything. Loss of energy and interest are core symptoms of depression, not character flaws. The physical weight in the drawing matches how many people describe it: everything feels heavy.

Sarah’s mother, meaning well, points out how happy and productive she was yesterday, while Sarah lies flat on the floor. A caption admits the remark makes her cringe. Comments like this can feel like an accusation, as if yesterday proved today’s struggle is a choice.

Dragged down from both sides

Sarah explains it to her mother with a sports metaphor: depression and anxiety are teammates, and she is the opposing team. The two blobs now wear a cap and a helmet with a face guard, ready for a match. It is a neat way of showing how the two conditions often reinforce each other.

Their only goal, the caption says, is to drag her down, and the panel shows exactly that, with Sarah being hauled across the floor amid heavy stomping. Anxiety and depression very often occur together, and each can make the other harder to shake.

Here we hear their voices. Anxiety whispers that her friends are probably talking about her behind her back; depression adds that they are surely having more fun without her. These are textbook examples of the distorted, self-critical thoughts that therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy teach people to notice and question.

Finally they steal what she needs most. Anxiety clutches a yellow block labelled “Energy” and panics about being caught, while depression calmly holds the blue “Motivation” block. Sarah is left on the floor, unable to act even though she wants to.

When they go on vacation

Then a twist: sometimes the pair go on vacation, rowing off in a little boat while anxiety frets about whether they packed enough. Many people with depression and anxiety experience exactly this, stretches of relief that arrive without any obvious reason.

Sarah never knows how long the break will last, but she grabs back her energy and motivation. The panel shows her scooping up the yellow and blue blocks as soon as the teammates are out of sight.

Arms full and smiling, she runs off to get “Stuff.” The bright blue background, after so many grey panels, signals how different these days feel from the inside.

“Done,” the next caption says, and she holds up a glowing green block marked “Accomplishment”. The final words of this sequence explain her mother’s confusion: she gets things done while they are away. A productive day is a window, not proof that the illness is gone.

Never knowing when they will return

Out on the water, depression mutters that nothing matters anyway, while anxiety peers anxiously over the side. Sarah explains that she rushes because she never knows when they will be back: it could be hours or days. That uncertainty is itself exhausting.

“I never know,” she repeats, as depression suggests they just head back. The panel captures how arbitrary relapses can feel, with no clear trigger and no warning.

What she does know is that she must be ready to fight again when they return, and she stands firm in a horned helmet. It is a quietly hopeful image: not a promise of cure, but of resilience and preparation.

The last panel ends on comedy as depression tumbles overboard with a splash while anxiety clings to the boat with a nervous grin. Humour is part of why the comic works; it lets readers laugh with Sarah rather than pity her.

What the comic gets right

Depression, known clinically as major depressive disorder, is more than sadness. The US National Institute of Mental Health describes it as an illness that affects how people feel, think and handle daily activities, caused by a mix of genetic, biological, environmental and psychological factors. Anxiety disorders frequently occur alongside it.

The comic’s biggest insight is that symptoms fluctuate. Many people with depression have better and worse days, and good days can look like full recovery to outsiders. Treating a good day as evidence that someone could “just try harder” misunderstands the condition and can deepen guilt and isolation.

It also shows that treatment and illness can coexist. Sarah mentions medication, yet still has hard mornings. Effective care, whether talking therapy, medication, or both, usually reduces the frequency and weight of the teammates’ visits rather than banishing them overnight.

Myths and claims worth correcting

“A healthy mind in a healthy body” is an ancient Greek saying. The phrase is Latin, mens sana in corpore sano, from the Roman poet Juvenal’s tenth Satire, written in the 2nd century AD. The idea that physical and mental health are connected is sound, though: exercise is a recommended part of treatment for mild depression.

“Antidepressants are mostly harmful.” All medicines have side effects, and the decision belongs to you and your doctor. But for moderate to severe depression, antidepressants help many people, especially combined with talking therapy. Never start or stop them without medical advice.

“Psychiatric diagnosis is pure drug-company politics.” There is a real concern behind this. Researchers Lisa Cosgrove and Sheldon Krimsky reported in 2012 that 69 percent of the task force writing the DSM-5, psychiatry’s main diagnostic manual, had ties to the pharmaceutical industry, up from 57 percent for DSM-IV, and they called for stricter rules. That is a strong argument for transparency, not proof that depression is invented. Brain imaging has found differences, such as a smaller hippocampus in some people with long histories of depression, though no blood or brain test can yet diagnose it.

How to support someone with depression or anxiety

Avoid comparing today with yesterday, and skip advice to “cheer up” or “think positive”. Instead, ask what would help right now, and accept that the answer might be “nothing, just stay”. Offer practical help with small tasks, keep inviting them even if they often say no, and celebrate the done days without making them the standard.

If you recognise yourself in Sarah, talk to a doctor. Depression and anxiety are common and treatable. If you are having thoughts of harming yourself, call or text 988 in the US, or contact your local emergency number or a crisis line elsewhere.

Sources: Comic by Nick Seluk (The Awkward Yeti) with Sarah Flanigan; NIMH: Depression; NHS: Treatment for depression; Cosgrove and Krimsky, PLOS Medicine (2012); Wikipedia: Mens sana in corpore sano.

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