Smiling depression: when the discomfort is masked

Depression can take many forms, including an expression that is difficult to identify both by the patient and those around him. They are often far from the ideas that we can attribute to the disease. This is called smiling depression.

If it is estimated that one in five people has suffered or will suffer from depression in their lifetime 1, not all will experience it the same way. The depressive symptoms are varied and more or less severe, ranging from pathological sadness to psychomotor slowing down, including eating disorders. Sometimes these symptoms are hidden or even not recognized as such by the sick person. We then speak of smiling depression.

A depression "not so atypical as that."

"It's a depression that you can't see," explains, psychologist. The person gives the impression of being well, pretends. She does not communicate about her discomfort and sometimes even does not identify it. She identifies weariness, a lack of energy but without necessarily telling herself that she has depression. We also speak of masked depression ".

If the term is not scientifically recognized, we talk about it more and more because it contradicts the idea that we generally have and in an erroneous way of the depressed person: permanently sad, who cries all days ... But if there are extreme forms, there are also mild and moderate forms: "Somewhere, there are as many classifications of depression as there are stories, suggests the psychologist. It must be understood that this smiling depression is not that unusual; it is ultimately quite widespread ".

Symptoms that are difficult to identify

Among the more specific symptoms of smiling depression, we find a weariness of life " which does not prevent the person from continuing to manage what he has to manage " daily: family, work, social relations ... " These symptoms will intervene without the person telling himself that it is because he is doing badly that he has this type of behavior ". The psychologist also warns about alcoholism: "The person is ill and will start to drink alcohol, to use it as an anxiolytic without realizing it, which will precipitate him in more depression. Marked because alcohol increases depression. It is a bias that we find especially in smiling depression ".

Smiling depression: what are the risks?

The shift towards a " more visible " depression often results in " a detonating event - unemployment, difficulties at work, bereavement, romantic break-up, confinement ... And when it hatches, the person is all the needier that he does not understand what happens to her and she thinks it happened suddenly. The transition is even more violent. However, depression never comes suddenly. In this case, it had already stained all of it. Of the person's life, well upstream ".

What then is the impact of smiling depression? In everyday life, strong somatization. " This gives rise to various consultations with the general practitioner for health problems such as fatigue, pain especially in the back or even skin problems ". But it is in the long term that things get complicated, warns the psychologist, with the risk of burnout, suicide … " When someone expresses that things are not going well, we can extend a hand to him, explained -she during Facebook Live on depression and its received ideas. But [people who do not express it] remain isolated in their suffering. These depressions are more worrying because they set in without anyone seeing them ".

Childhood injuries

When the depression declares itself more frankly, the patient who suffers from it has " a long way to go to find the causes of this depression, which are often older than the triggering event itself. "People affected by a smiling depression would have as a point in common the fact of not daring to express their emotions, to put a mask on their suffering and their feelings. " These are people who are quite locked from the inside, who may have had an education that makes them not let go because they did not have the right, as they did not have the right to question the state of their mental health. There is a dishonorable aspect to showing vulnerability. Often, it comes from childhood wounds that weren't treated, and these people thought that as they got older, they would leave it all behind. But everything we flee pursues us, as the saying goes ".

Injunction to well-being

Another point that can be considered in these smiling depressions is the injunction to well-being, which the psychologist denounces. " We are in a world that requires us to be constantly in a posture of well-being - on social media, in magazines, everywhere. We are told that if we do yoga or meditate and look at life on the bright side, everything will be fine. Going badly today is not a good idea. However, it is very guilty, and it does not help ".

According to her, it is important to welcome these difficult moments: " We must bring back a certain reality, that is to say, that in our lives, we go through moments when we are doing more or less well, and sometimes even worse, and we can be OK with that. It's part of our life paths. "

"From the moment we recognize a problem, we can deal with it."

This awareness is an integral part of managing depression, starting therapy aimed at " understanding why life is colored this way ". "Acceptance has a positive effect and does a lot because once you accept, that's where you can start the real work," explains the psychologist. The person who says to himself, 'OK, I have depression, and I will consult 'has already done half of the trip. From the moment you recognize a problem, you can treat it. And that's the whole problem of these smiling depressions: there is a lack of recognition of the problem ".

Kentucky Mental Health Care provides Telehealth psychiatry services to those clients who cannot make it into our offices. With new Medicaid regulations, you can get medication, therapy, and social assistance, all without ever leaving your home or worrying about transportation.