Recently I had the wonderful opportunity to have a discussion with mental health advocate Allison Walsh and clinical expert Angela Phillips on their podcast Dear Mind, You Matter. Our conversation ranged from destructive perfectionism as a camouflage for emotional pain to self-acceptance and other avenues for overcoming perfectly hidden depression.

I hope you give the episode a listen; I’m sure you’ll enjoy it!

A selection of memorable moments from the episode, kindly provided by Allison and Angela. You can find more on their episode website:

• 5:49 But there’s a thing called destructive perfectionism, which is all about accomplishment, task, task orientation. You constantly have to meet the expectations of others around you. And I mean, all expectations.
• 6:13 That kind of perfectionism actually can be a camouflage for emotional pain that actually you may have suppressed that pain for so long that you’re not even conscious of it anymore.
• 20:14 There could have been something that was in their family environment, in their cultural environment that caused them to adapt this way. And the very thing that helped them live through that and survive that is the thing that now has grown into this. And it’s become their task master.
• 23:26 You really want to look at the absolutes in your life, the rules you’re following: the musts, the shoulds, the have tos, the aughts, the nevers and begin to say, well, which one of these does still work for me, but which does not?

Dear Mind, You Matter is brought to you by NOBU, a new mental health and wellness app. To download NOBU, visit the app store or Google Play.