If you think you may, you are not alone. Many people with depression conceal it, because they don’t want to bring anyone else down.
Here we’ll talk about 14 common habits of people with concealed depression:
1. They consider the worst case scenario regularly.
People with depression are often highly intelligent, and quite capable planners and organizers. While this can be somewhat helpful, it also shows how often they are planning for disaster coming their way.
2. When others hurt, they hurt too.
People struggling with depression are often highly emotionally sensitive. When others hurt, they hurt as well, and often quite deeply.
3. It’s hard for them to shut off their brains.
People with concealed depression interpret their worlds in a very face pace, much faster than most people do. This means they judge good and bad very quickly -and often blow them out of proportion- as well as have difficulty sleeping or otherwise getting their brains to calm down.
4. They seek love and acceptance, like everyone.
People who conceal their depression don’t do it because they want to lie to people. They do it because they don’t want to burden others and want to be loved and accepted by others.
5. They might have remedies based on habit.
Going for a walk or ride, jog or listening to a certain kind of music are among some of the habits people with concealed depression develop.
6. They come up with artful cover-up stories.
Due to the fact that they have to make them really believable, people with concealed depression are experts at coming up with multilayered, often elaborate cover-up stories to excuse their behavior, whether it be retiring from a social event or missing work or anything else.
7. They often struggle with abandonment issues.
Additionally, because they won’t share their feelings with others, they become highly secretive about their emotions & how they feel about others, especially when they feel strongly about someone. This is a reaction of mistrust, because they don’t trust that people they care about will stay around them.
8. They have sleeping habits that buck the norm.
This may be the easiest of these habits to see yourself. People who are depressed sometimes sleep for days on end. On the other hand, people who are depressed often have trouble sleeping and can experience insomnia for days.
9. They have odd eating habits.
People who are depressed will often either totally binge and pig out or they may stop eating entirely for days, subsisting only on water and/or caffeinated beverages. A lot of the time they do this very secretly; they don’t want to be seen eating or NOT eating. (Cue the development of cover-up stories.)
10. Their perception of life and death is often quite involved.
This might also be an easy way to spot concealed depression: start talking about life and death with the person you’re concerned about. Chances are you’ll get a very involved commentary. People in this condition are not necessarily suicida, though sometimes they are.
11. They interpret substances differently.
People who have concealed depression have a very involved understanding of how substances affect them. They know that caffeine and sugar will pull them out of their depression, and they have to put considerable effort into feeling better, unlike people who don’t suffer from depression.
12. They sometimes make muted cries for help.
If you can notice these cries in a person with concealed depression and try to help them, you create a huge trust bond with that person.
13. They tend to search for purpose…but not the way most people do.
Like most people who don’t suffer from depression, people who do suffer from concealed depression search for a meaning or purpose in life, too. Unfortunately they are more likely than others to feel considerable anxiety and inadequacy, so their purpose feels like something they can never fulfill.
14. They are often very expressive and talented.
People with concealed depression have explored the depths of their emotions unlike most, and the result is often very beautiful, sometimes dark, and disturbing. Their artistic tendencies in visual arts, music, performance arts or anything they put a lot of their time and energy into are often glorious displays in one way or another, from painting to composition to sports.
After reading this, do you find yourself concerned about someone in your life? Please urge or help them to get help from a qualified therapist or counselor. You may just save their life.
