Depression is really the combination of stagnation and despair. You’re in a place of pain and it seems your situation is inescapable. And because the demon of depression is more of an existential angst as opposed to a purely mental stress, I think its prescription is slightly different than anxiety.
Anxiety is a feeling of more tension and restlessness; in that sense it’s more of an active state of mind than depression. Running with your suggestion that the “cure for anxiety is the certainty that things will work out,” that means the cause of anxiety is not feeling in control. And that makes sense to me.
So to the extent that depression is the feeling I can’t do ANYTHING about my situation, anxiety is the feeling I can’t do EVERYTHING about my situation.
In that vein, maybe a good working solution to anxiety is letting go of the need to be in control of everything. We adopt the mindset of doing the best we can and and letting go of the need to have everything work out. And as I said above, life is not meant to be won, it’s meant to fought. Equally so, life is not meant to be controlled, it’s meant to be lived. And we do that by making an effort and not by controlling all outcomes.
In short, maybe we can say a good path to calm anxiety is to do whatever we can do, stop worrying about what we can’t do, and be at peace in whatever happens and wherever life takes us.
2022