Depression Hidden By A Smile

 


The term Smiling Depression has become more common over the last few years and refers to the way many people can have low mood while still functioning day-to-day. 

Often they are so successful that friends, family and work colleagues would be surprised to know how they were feeling behind the smile.


Typically a client will explain how they have learned to put up a front of being okay because that’s what everyone expects from them. They go through the motions of playing along with the ‘role’ they have learned to play which hides the truth that their low mood is more persistent than many would believe.

When we think of famous people like Robin Williams it is clear that he was smiling through his depression, playing the comedy role the world loved him for. What does this tell us?

How people look on the outside is not a good indicator of how they feel on the inside.

Low mood and mild depression are not just feeling sad, it can be an absence of emotion. Often we refer to a flattening of a person’s mood where the activities they once would have found enjoyable, now hold little interest for them.

Other times there can be periods of anxiety, the pressure of holding onto the smile becomes too much. Let’s not forget that it takes a lot of mental effort to maintain the front that everything is okay.

The increased mental effort (sometimes referred to as mental labour) is going to put greater pressure on the person’s ability to cope with other aspects of their life.

It can be difficult for a person who has hidden their depression behind a smile to accept help. They are used to managing, functioning and just getting on with things, but in fact, it is far from a weakness to ask for help it is a strength.

“I’m fine!”, they say. “I’m just tired, I’ll have a quiet weekend and get some sleep. I’m sure I’m just run down”. This might be the case, but it is also worth remembering that being tired and run down can be a symptom of that mental labour, a burnout from holding at bay the depression behind that smile.

Like with many problems the sooner help is introduced the sooner their mood can be lifted and help can be given to prevent the same problem from occurring again.

A chat with their doctor will allow them to get all the information about what can be done to help, and this is particularly important with the most severe cases where the ability to function day-to-day has been significantly reduced.

For those that feel the pressure of keeping that smile on their face, Hypnotherapy, in particular, Hypnoanalysis can help.


Hypnoanalysis: Getting to Root Cause Smiling Depression

Hypnoanalysis is a type of analytical therapy that works through and resolves the emotional build-up which causes low mood and depression. The therapy works under the principle of cause and effect. For every effect there has to be a cause; a reason why this person suffers in the way they do.

Rather than managing symptoms, the aim is to remove the psychological cause of depression and a low mood. By enabling past events to be re-examined and the emotion released, those patterns of behaviour which are no longer appropriate, the symptoms, cease.

Imagine being able to do without management strategies to control your mood because it no longer exists, without the possibility of symptom substitution.
The process does not have to be a long-drawn-out process either. Most people can complete their therapy within 6 to 8 sessions.

There is no reason to put up with a low mood and depression that is negatively impacting your life. 
Imagine what your life would be like if you were free from the doubts and worries which have been an obstacle for so long.

Find out more and book a free initial consultation at www.ketteringhypnotherapy.com or give me a call on 01536 350328


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Getting a Better Nights Sleep - The 3 Week Challenge: Principle One

Image
It all began a month or so before lockdown when I noticed how many sleep aids there were in the chemist.  That same week I had four people contact me for help with sleep problems.  This made me ask myself: “What does psychological research and Hypnotherapy tell us about getting a good nights sleep?” A positive psychological approach focuses on what makes people healthy rather than unhealthy. Instead of looking at the behaviour of someone who is struggling to get a good nights sleep, we should focus on the person who frequently sleeps well. How is the behaviour different? Can we copy it? I began teaching people to use these psychological techniques alongside Hypnosis to nudge their sleep pattern. I was pleased to see the differences that could be made…but more people are needed to really see how effective it could be. Fancy a challenge? You need to apply the principles for the next three weeks and review the changes to your to sleep.  Each princip...
Read more

Hypnosis Explained

Image
    If you are hoping to read that Hypnosis is a magical, mystical, controlling power that can make people behave in ways they choose not to, then you are certainly going to be disappointed. Any assumption that a person is asleep or unconscious is also not the case.  So have you ever experienced Hypnosis? Think back over the last 24 hours…. When you woke up this morning, do you remember that half-awake half-asleep feeling? On that commute to work, perhaps you drifted into auto-pilot and as you were driving along? Perhaps your mind drifted to the things you had to do.  You could be forgiven for thinking that you were daydreaming. Tonight, just as you drift off to sleep you are very likely to experience that same half-awake half-asleep feeling. Every one of those experiences could be given the name Hypnosis. Hypnosis is a natural state we all experience many times throughout the day. It is as much part of our lives as breathing. The idea of being under the control of ...
Read more

Imposter Syndrome: Do you sometimes feeling like a fraud?

Image
  One behaviour people experience from one time or another is being an imposter; the feeling that they might get ‘caught’ out for not being as good at what they do as people assume they are. Imposter syndrome is where an individual doubts their accomplishments and abilities and these are converted into a fear of being exposed as a fraud. Interestingly, this still happens when there is plenty of evidence to the contrary.  What do you attribute your successes to? Unjustified feelings of being an imposter are an attribution bias. It is a tendency to attribute successes to luck or poor judgment on the part of others’. In a self-deprecating way, the assumption is that they are ‘just getting by’ and if others saw the real them then they would less than impressed. When we feel this kind of imposter syndrome, we failing to have any internal acknowledgment of our own achievements, something which is characteristic of those suffering from anxiety, and unsurprisingly, low self-estee...
Read more