The Hidden Face of Depression

When people finally admit to friends and family that they are suffering from depression, it is an announcement that often comes as a big surprise. Most people are not aware of the symptoms of depression and are therefore ill-equipped to recognize when someone close to them is in pain. You also need to consider the fact that people who suffer from depression very often do a fantastic job of hiding the most obvious symptoms. When questioned, they may even blame something other than their illness for their change in mood and behavior.

The question that needs to be asked now is why people with depression go to such great lengths to hide the fact that all is not right. Let’s start with the obvious reason, which is that depression is still an illness that many people understand very little about. It does not come with an obvious set of symptoms that make it easy to see when someone is suffering. As such, there are still some who view it as all being in the head of the person with depression, and that all they really need to do is “have some willpower and cheer up and get over it.” This is dangerous, as it does nothing but trivialize something that can be very serious.

With that in mind, the person who has depression may feel uncomfortable about revealing how they feel. They might believe that no-one will understand what they are going through, and that the people they trust the most may even shun them or look at them as being somehow weak, when nothing could be further from the truth. Depression is not just simply a case of the blues or being a little down, it is a major issue that can lead people to believe that there is no hope for them.

This is not to say that people always hide depression because of how others might react.  There are, in fact, many folks who simply believe that they are just a little down, and that if they try to behave “normally” (by the way, I really dislike that word), they will eventually find their way back to happiness. It seldom, if ever, works out that way, though, and things tend to get a whole lot worse if the depression is left unchecked. Professional help, and perhaps even medication, may be required to get the person suffering from depression out of that hole and back to a more manageable way of life.

Anyone who has suffered from depression will tell you how exhausting it is, with a good portion of that tiredness coming from the fact that a large portion of the day is spent putting on a face that makes it appear as though you are okay. If you sense that someone close to you is acting a little differently than what you are used to, you really should take the time to talk to them without any sort of judgement or agenda. The fact of the matter is that while people with depression may try to hide it, they are secretly hoping that someone will notice and will step up to help.

Tip for people dealing with depression: Try out therapy.  Often times when you try to talk to friends, they are all good with supporting you, but after a while if they don’t really know how to help you they may feel uncomfortable and may even start backing away from you.  If you get professional help, you can get the support you need so that your friend time can be friend time (meaning that some of your interactions with your friends can be when you are leaning on them for support and other interactions can be you having a little more fun, without the depression looming over your get time with your friends).

If you are looking for an individual therapist to work on depression and you live in Long Beach, Lakewood or the surrounding areas, please give me a call to ask me a question or to set up an appointment.