Is There True Joy In The Holidays? Not If You’re Perfectly Hiding Depression
Perfectly hidden depression. What is it? It’s depression that’s so deeply disguised you might not even know it’s there. You feel something in your gut; you may sense something is...
Perfectly Hidden Depression: How To Take Off The Mask Of Perfectionism
Perfectionism with an inner constant critic. Over-responsibility. Discounting painful emotion or past trauma. Chastising yourself if you’re not counting your blessings. Always being there for...
When The “The Worst Thing” That Can Happen… Happens (When You Tell Your Truth)
I was on a first date with Jeff years ago. He was nice. I knew people that he knew and vice versa.v He’d earned his Ph.D. in psychology, having graduated from the same program that I was currently...
Six Ways to Overcome The Fear of Giving Up Perfectionism
If you’re a perfectionist, you can feel increasingly burdened by the ever-higher expectations that others develop for you. The teenage quarterback who has led his team to three state...
The Ten Characteristics of Perfectly Hidden Depression
I’ve been writing for three years now about a syndrome called Perfectly Hidden Depression.
These are people who are inwardly struggling with depression, at times severe depression. But others would never guess that they were. They can act both intentionally, but also unconsciously, to deny and avoid pain or suffering. And they do it quite well. In fact, perfectly.
Is It Self-Pity, Depression Or Perfectly Hidden Depression?
Nobody likes a whiner. Who might fit this bill? Let’s say you’re filled to the brim with self-pity or a sense the world is against you. You can’t get a break. Bad things seem to...
What Can Signal A Risk For Suicide? When You’re Perfectly Hiding Depression
I’ve been writing for five years about what I term perfectly hidden depression — when you’re leading a perfect-looking life and not a soul recognizes that you’re carrying...
Do You Have Perfectly Hidden Depression? Four Basic Ways To Heal
I’d like you to introduce me to someone. The person is not a stranger; you’ve gone to bed with them every night for years. They’re right there waiting for you when you wake up in the...
Nine Paths That Lead To Perfectly Hidden Depression
How do you learn to hide pain?
What is it about hurt, vulnerability and sadness that makes many of us form a persona of happiness and busy-ness that shields us from the eyes of others? Why do we push ourselves to build a life that looks perfect from the outside, but can feel empty and despairing on the inside?
Perfectly Hidden Depression And The Power of Loneliness
The famous shower scene in Psycho can leave any of us feeling a bit dubious into stepping in. But when you’re lonely — when you’re hiding pain from the world, sometimes the shower...