According to a study conducted by educational psychologists, people with “smiling” depression may be able to camouflage their symptoms to such an extent that not even their closest relatives might identify them.
A study carried out by educational psychologists from Catalonia discovered that people who suffer from “smiling” depression are able to mislead and camouflage their symptoms even from their closest relatives.
Situation that brings to mind the cases of singer Chester Bennington, and actor Robin Williamsboth of whom committed suicide without raising suspicions in their relatives.
In fact, it was the wife of the leader of Linkin Park who uploaded a photo to his Twitter account back then saying: “This was days before my husband took his own life. The suicidal thoughts were there, but you might never have noticed it.”
This was days b4 my husband took his own life.Suicidal thoughts were there,but you’d. Never kmow. #fuckdepression pic.twitter.com/2IPXxXJxmT
— Talinda Bennington (@TalindaB) September 7, 2017
Now, the study details why the disease can be difficult to detect by relatives of patients.
A study published in ‘The Lancet’, carried out by Vanessa Rodríguez Pousada, collaborating professor of the University Master’s Degree in Psychopedagogy at the Universitat Oberta Catalunya (UOC), and Ferran Marsà Sambola, collaborating professor of the Studies of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the UOC, affirms that cases of major depression have increased by 28% since Covid appeared. However, experts believe these numbers might be even higher given the number of cases of depression that go undiagnosed.
Among them occupies an important place the ‘smiling depression’, a type of depression that can go unnoticed even by the closest environment.
“The term ‘smiling depression’ refers to depressive symptoms that present the typical symptoms associated with these disorders, but in which the diagnosed subject shows an desire to hide. And this longing results in an active position so that the people around him do not perceive the discomfort he is facing”, explains Rodríguez Pousada.
The fact that people who suffer from it make an effort to hide their discomfort, which translates into greater difficulty in detecting it. Therefore, the diagnosed cases might be a very small portion of all existing ones.
Nevertheless, those who suffer from it experience the same discomfort as a person with typical depression. And in fact, they are aware of what is happening to them. Or, at least, that something is wrong.
But there are several reasons that can lead them to try to hide it. One of them is to believe that their obligation is to be happy and that they cannot show negative emotions.
“Currently, we live in a society in which being happy is an imperative. Along with this dictatorship of happiness, an individualism has been growing from whose point of view there is a tendency to underestimate the personal, social and structural circumstances of a determined system, to convince us that health and illness are linked almost exclusively to personal psychological deficiencies; where self-determination and our own abilities are the backbone of our well-being. Thus, it is assumed that being well or not being well depends exclusively on oneself, ”says the expert.
As the collaborating professor at the UOC explains, this message has permeated society so much that there are people who feel guilty for experiencing discomfort. “To the fact of suffering from depression, the guilt for suffering it would be added, assuming that we ourselves are responsible, and, in a double twist, it would go from depression to guilt, and from guilt to shame”, indicates.
Consequently, he considers that depression would represent for these patients “The very inability to deal with something that we should know how to handle and reveals itself as a signifier of our own weakness”. The result that this can have is precisely that of not showing true emotions and appearing happy in the face of others.
Despite trying to cover up the discomfort, it is possible that external signs that can alert the closest environment. As Ferran Marsà Sambola explains: “Some studies say that people who experience atypical or smiling depression tend to have more appetite, sleep excessively and have a greater feeling of heaviness in their arms and legs, as well as rejection of criticism from people around them”. They can even show loss of interest in activities that were previously satisfying to them“, adds Rodríguez Pousada.
Social media and “smiling” depression
As for the type of people who can suffer from ‘smiling depression’, there is no established profile, since a complex reality of bio-psycho-social factors intervenes in it.
Nevertheless, perfectionists, who are often less tolerant of failure, may be among those who suffer if they perceive depression as a personal weakness and lack.
Regarding whether it is more prevalent in men or women, there are no specific data. “If we take into account that we live in a society with a heteropatriarchal sign, where the demonstration of emotional world and of one’s own weaknesses is more stigmatized in menlos masculine stereotypes might intervene as a vulnerability factor in the case of ‘smiling depression’ for this population“, details the collaborating professor at the UOC.
What the group of experts agrees on is that social networks do not help to show real emotions. “We live in a society where we constantly have to prove to others that we have a perfect life. In my opinion, this is reinforced through social networks”says Marsà Sambola.
It is also the opinion of Vanessa Rodríguez Pousada, who recalls that in social networks there is a tendency to show the successful part of oneself, magnifying and exalting it considerably.
“At the same time, the comparison between one’s own life and the supposed life of others emerges like a game of deceitful mirrors, in which reality is blurred. Social networks can appear here as highways to travel under the concealment of discomfort. In this case, they might appear as the ideal travel companion of the ‘smiling depression’“, rivets.