Watch Out for Smiling Depression!

The Suicide Risk Is Higher

Robin Williams was one of the famous comedians who made us laugh through his touches of humour. He suffered from depression for decades. To be precise, he went through ‘Smiling Depression.”

What is Smiling Depression

When we talk about depression, we tend to think that people suffering from depression must display sadness, lethargy, and despair. They could not smile, not be energetic, let alone laugh. They do not look happy. WRONG!

Someone with “Smiling Depression”, looks happy externally in public. To break the myth of what the general public thinks, people experiencing Smiling Depression still perform well.

• They are active, high-functioning, and may be high performers
• They have a steady job, healthy family, and social life
• They appear to be cheerful, optimistic, and generally happy

Smiling Depression would likely be diagnosed as a Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) with atypical features. People in this category, have been struggling for a period. They have persistently low or depressed moods, decreased interest in pleasurable activities, appetite changes, sleep disturbances, and suicidal thoughts.        

Instead of showing normal depressed characters, they show the opposite nature of depressed characters. They are not weak. Contrarily, they are too strong for too long by putting on facemasks.

Another term is ‘fake it until make it.’ Nobody will ever know what they have been going through. It is because of the following reasons:

• They feel ashamed
• They do not want to burden anyone else
• They do not want to be labelled as weak
• They do not want to be judged
• They are not self-pity
• They do not seek attention
• They think the world would be better off without them

The Danger of Smiling Depression

It is hard to pick up the depression symptoms from smiling depression, as they hide it well in public and do not talk about their feelings. However, if you are a close family and live together, below are their subtle symptoms:

• Sleep disturbance especially at night
• Low mood in the morning
• Quiet than usual at home
• Social withdrawal
• High consumption of alcohol
• Talk about suicide
• Go to suicide websites
• Having constant physical pains such as muscle pains and headache

To pick up their symptoms, we need to be observant and increase our empathy levels for these people. When we observe more, we can pick up their inconsistent behaviours, such as laughing and being cheerful at one time, and the next second they go into a withdrawal mood.

Also, they will make thousands of excuses to withdraw from people. People in this category are genuinely strong and kind people. They like to make people happy. Quite often they make fun of themselves and make suicidal jokes.

Watch out for suicidal words/jokes. When they include suicidal themes in their jokes, actually they are not joking. The suicidal thoughts are already in their conscious minds.

The suicide risk of smiling depression may be higher. Although many don’t have the energy to act on suicidal thoughts, a few of them might have the energy and motivation to follow through. Then it would surprise everyone surrounding them because of no apparent depression symptoms.

The Red Flags

Watch the sign of red flags. When their behaviours are out-of-normal, it means major red flags and they are on the edge of the breaking point. Please be sensitive, and watch their behaviours and statements.

Physical Red Flags

• The outfit — long sleeves, long pants to cover bruises
• Body weight — apparent weight loss or weight gain
• Dark eyes — lack of sleep
• Social withdrawal

Behaviour Red Flags

• Generally, they do not ask for help. One day, not only do they request help; but also they demand immediate assistance and attention.
• They are usually gentle to others. One day, they could not care if their words were hurting others.
• They are also very considerate and compliant. One day, they break all the rules and are defiant.

Their out-of-normal characters/behaviours are the keyword showing that they are on the edge of the breaking point. At this moment, please do not argue and do not judge them, instead give immediate support, attention and help

Please do not let them go through the breaking point. You will never know what they could do next. Prevention is better than a tragedy.

Please be gentle and kind to others as you never know what other people are going through. Also please do not exercise your perceived judgment to others.

If you need to increase your empathy levels and help others, positive culture are willing to help you closing the gap.

Please add some comments if you know more other symptoms of smiling depression. Prevention is better than a tragedy.

With Gratitude and Blessings

Yuliana Gunawan