Not all depressed people are sad or lonely. Sometimes laughing too much, or being obsessively sociable, for example, is a sign of hidden depression.
Last update: July 08, 2020
Hidden depression is a condition in which a person does not have symptoms typical of this disorder, but other signs and characteristics that act as a mask. The first person not to notice this situation is the one who suffers from it. The main difficulty lies precisely in keeping away from malaise.
Attempting to hide or mask the symptoms of hidden depression is unconscious or preconscious. It does not mean that the person deliberately wants to pretend something he is not or does not feel. Concealment is a form of defense against suffering that the affected individual may not feel able to deal with.
Hiding this problem from others, and from yourself, is not a good way to solve it. On the contrary, it is sometimes made chronic. How do you recognize a person who is probably suffering from hidden depression? Below you will find the 5 signals that sufferers transmit.
"Tell me my friend: is life sad or am I sad?"
-Beloved Nerve-
Symptoms of hidden depression
1. Be obsessively sociable
People with hidden depression struggle to be alone. Others are a kind of excuse, because they are afraid of being alone with themselves. If they have no other people around, strong feelings of sadness are more likely to occur.
This is why they tend to be obsessively sociable. They continually try to organize outings with friends, social events or similar pretexts. If they can't, they call family, friends, colleagues, etc. over the phone. They do not want to see loneliness even from a distance, otherwise it would act as a mirror, making them reflect.
2. Overemphasizing one's own well-being
It often happens that exaggerated behavior reveals an attempt to compensate for the completely opposite feeling one is having. It happens, therefore, that people with hidden depression tend to downsize their presumed state of well-being. If asked how they are doing, they won't say "good", but "great" or "great".
As pointed out, this is an unconscious form of compensation. It is almost an attempt to self-convince and convince others. Smoke in the eyes to remove the idea of ​​discomfort and therefore keep away from depression.
3. Always talk about the past
In hidden depression, as well as in other forms of the depressive state, the past plays a fundamental role. This is why very often past events come to the surface in conversations with people who manifest this type of depression. It is possible that they refer to these events in a joking way, in any case they refer to them frequently.
Failing to break away from the past indicates that there are unresolved events. The past may have been positive or negative, it doesn't matter. What is relevant is that a person continues to relive what has already happened through the re-enactment. This implies the presence of strong links with the past and that it has not been possible to place oneself in the present.
4. Unregulated eating habits
Eating disorders always indicate an emotional malaise; in particular, of depression. Especially if the changes in appetite are not transient, but tend to become permanent and even become more and more pronounced. These habits include eating less than normal, more than normal, or eating in an unregulated or odd way.
Very often one of the forms of expression of hidden depression is hunger. Sometimes the affected person does not stop eating or eats more, but is disgusted with certain foods or has very frequent digestive problems. In some cases you develop a true obsession with a certain food or do it in a certain way.
5. Not being able to sleep peacefully
Sleep is another factor that makes emotional distress visible. As in the case of nutrition, in these cases it can be noted that there is a sort of anomaly that can be of various types. In general, we sleep little or too much.
In some cases, other behaviors occur such as sleepwalking, difficulty sleeping, intermittent dreams, etc. Any of these clearly inadequate forms of rest could be a symptom of hidden depression.
Of course, all of these indicators need to be carefully evaluated. Depression goes beyond the state of sadness or hidden denial and has nothing to do with a state of passing confusion. It is a condition that must be evaluated by qualified personnel in the matter.
