Commentary: 'Smiling depression', depressed while appearing happy, a dangerous combination
CAMBRIDGE: The term "smiling low" – appearing happy to others while internally suffering depressive symptoms – has become increasingly popular.
Articles on the topic have crept up in the popular literature, and the number of Google searches for the status has increased dramatically this year. Some may question, however, whether this is actually a existent, pathological condition.
While smiling depression is not a technical term that psychologists utilise, information technology is certainly possible to exist depressed and manage to successfully mask the symptoms. The closest technical term for this condition is "atypical depression".
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In fact, a significant proportion of people who experience a low mood and a loss of pleasure in activities manage to hide their condition in this fashion. And these people might be peculiarly vulnerable to suicide.
HAPPY Face
It can exist very hard to spot people suffering from grin depression. They may seem similar they don't have a reason to exist lamentable – they have a job, an apartment and maybe even children or a partner. They smile when you greet them and tin deport pleasant conversations.
In short, they put on a mask to the exterior globe while leading seemingly normal and active lives.
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Within, all the same, they feel hopeless and down, sometimes even having thoughts about ending it all. The strength that they take to keep with their daily lives can make them peculiarly vulnerable to carrying out suicide plans. This is in contrast to other forms of low, in which people might have suicide ideation just not enough free energy to act on their intentions.
Although people with smiling depression put on a "happy face" to the outside world, they can experience a genuine elevator in their mood as a result of positive occurrences in their lives. For example, getting a text bulletin from someone they've been craving to hear from or being praised at work tin can make them experience better for a few moments before going back to feeling low.
Other symptoms of this condition include overeating, feeling a sense of heaviness in the arms and legs and existence hands hurt by criticism or rejection.
People with smiling depression are besides more likely to feel depressed in the evening and experience the need to slumber longer than usual. With other forms of depression, still, your mood might be worse in the morning time and you might feel the demand for less slumber than you're normally used to.
Smiling depression seems to be more common in people with certain temperaments. In particular, it is linked to being more than prone to anticipate failure, having a hard time getting over embarrassing or humiliating situations and tending to ruminate or excessively think well-nigh negative situations that take taken place.
BURDEN AND Treatment
It is difficult to determine exactly what causes smiling depression, but low mood can stem from a number of things, such as work problems, relationship breakup and feeling as if your life doesn't have purpose and meaning.
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It is very common. Nearly 1 in ten people are depressed, and between 15 and forty per cent of these people suffer from the atypical form that resembles smiling depression. Such depression often starts early in life and can final a long time.
If you lot suffer from grin depression, it is particularly important to go help. Sadly, though, people suffering from this condition ordinarily don't, because they might non retrieve that they have a problem in the first place – this is particularly the case if they appear to be conveying on with their tasks and daily routines as before.
They may also feel guilty and rationalise that they don't have anything to exist lamentable almost. So they don't tell anybody almost their problems and finish upwards feeling aback of their feelings.
So how tin can you intermission this cycle? A starting bespeak is knowing that this condition really exists and that it'due south serious.
Only when we stop rationalising away our problems considering we think they're non serious enough can we start making an bodily difference. For some, this insight may be plenty to turn things around, because it puts them on a path to seeking help and breaking free from the shackles of depression that have been property them back.
Meditation and physical activity accept also been shown to have tremendous mental health benefits.
READ: More evidence exercise may be good for your mood
In fact, a study done by Rutgers Academy in the Usa showed that people who had done meditation and physical action twice a week experienced a drop of almost 40 per cent in their depression levels only eight weeks into the written report. Cerebral behavioural therapy, learning to alter your thinking patterns and behaviour, is another choice for those affected past this condition.
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And finding meaning in life is of utmost importance. The Austrian neurologist Viktor Frankl wrote that the cornerstone of proficient mental health is having purpose in life. He said that we shouldn't aim to be in a "tensionless state", gratis of responsibility and challenges, merely rather we should be striving for something in life.
We can discover purpose past taking the attending away from ourselves and placing it onto something else. Then find a worthwhile goal and try to make regular progress on it, even if it's for a small-scale amount each solar day, considering this tin really have a positive impact.
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We tin too discover purpose past caring for someone else. When we take the spotlight off of usa and start to think near someone else's needs and wants, we begin to feel that our lives matter. This can exist achieved by volunteering, or taking care of a family fellow member or even an animal.
Feeling that our lives matter is ultimately what gives us purpose and meaning – and this can make a meaning departure for our mental health and well-being.
Olivia Remes is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on mental disorders. A version of this commentary offset appeared on The Conversation.
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/smiling-depression-appearing-happy-dangerous-mental-health-223046
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