“Depression is your avatar telling you it’s tired of being the character you’re trying to play.” — Jim Carrey
The biggest irony of this century is that even though we live in the most connected era in human history we feel loneliest than we have ever been.
This is because we are not connected with ourselves. The hectic pace of living prevents us from having time for ourselves to be with ourselves, to feel our emotions.
When you are not connected with yourself you cannot really connect on a much deeper level with anyone else. You act like you do, but let’s be real, you are not.
This disconnection with our own selves makes us blind and deaf to our own selves. This makes us prone to depression and neurosis.
However, most people who have depression don’t even know it. They might even try to hide it and conceal it. This is mostly found in the happiest looking people in the world.
6 Big Signs Someone Has A Concealed Depression:
1. They are outgoing and social but introverted and rarely going out.
Being outgoing and having a social predisposition will make anyone to love being around people and to love going out.
People who have these traits within their character and rarely play with them, are people who have some heavy things weighing on their back.
Imagine that you like other people’s company, that you like being around your friends, but you rarely go out and socialize. Something is holding you back, right?
Well, in most cases, the thing that’s holding people back is depression. Even they are not aware of this depression.
They just feel tired, not in the mood. They’d stay at home and watch a whole season of a TV show than go out with their friends, even though their character enjoys going out more.
2. They have abnormal eating and sleeping habits.
Our bodies have a system that’s making things easier for our organism. This system adapts to routines.
When this system is not operating through a certain pattern, it means something is disrupting its routine.
People tend to wake up around the same hour every day, be hungry around the same hour they usually eat, get sleepy around the same hour they go to sleep.
When this system is chaotic it means that the mind doesn’t work as it should and probably the brain chemistry is imbalanced. This is a big indicator of depression.
People who are depressed would want to sleep more. They would lose appetite or get cravings, especially for extremely caloric foods at abnormal hours of the day or night.
3. They don’t trust anyone.
Trust is a big issue for depressed people. A normal person would trust themselves and other people, to an extent.
Depressed people would fear the world around them. They would look at the world as a hostile place.
This is because at the core of depression is vulnerability, uncertainty, emotions of powerlessness. But this state is necessary for depression to give us its gift.
The gift of depression is transformation, it’s a signal for a need of an inner voyage of self discovery, and without being vulnerable and embracing the uncertainty that’s not possible.
However, people who have concealed depression do not embrace these states and live through them. This makes them unable to trust anything, not even themselves.
4. They are control freaks.
The normal human being understands that there are some things they can control and some things that are outside of their control. They are ok with this.
A depressed person would go to the end of the world and back to make sure they control everything.
This is because the fool’s errand of trying to control everything gives them an endless escape from their depression, from facing the feelings of powerlessness within.
Depression is not an occurrence that happens to few. It happens to all of us. It’s a season for contraction and going within ourselves. But people who avoid it, it runs them.
People who have concealed depression run from the fact that they are depressed. They run from themselves and try to control everything else.
5. They have rare cries for help.
Asking for help is a normal thing. When you can’t do something you call a friend, a parent, someone to give you a hand. It’s not a big deal.
But help for a depressed person, asking for help seems like giving up. It seems like something you do when you literally can’t do anything anymore.
They would not ask for help. But once in a while when they are really tired, they will swallow their pride and cry for help. They might literally cry for help.
So when people offer help, like most people do, the depressed individual actually feels much better because they see others care. And they will appear better to others.
So others will think they helped the depressed individual, the depressed person will think they are better, but their depression is still there. They just got a glimpse of trust.
6. They have anxiety disorders and might suffer panic attacks.
Unlike most people believe, anxiety is not a disease, it’s not something wrong. In fact, it’s a lot right. It’s your psyche’s attempt to restore balance within your being.
When we feel neurosis in form of anxiety or a panic attack it means there is something we are not listening to that our being tries to tell us. So it screams.
Instead of trying to get rid of neurosis we should try to listen to what it has to say. It’s a sign that we have a healthy psyche that would shake us if we go to the wrong direction.
But when you have concealed depression every direction outside of you seems like the wrong one because the right direction is within, facing and embracing your depression.
Anyone who has a concealed depression is prone to anxiety disorders and panic attacks. But if they experience such neurosis they should see it as a wake up call, not a problem.
Do you know someone who has such symptoms? Help them out! Do you find yourself in these signs? Write us, we can help you out!