What we misunderstand about people with depression
How appearances sway our judgements of others' mental health | The tyranny of "beach body dissatisfaction"
Hello,
Welcome to another 60-Second Psychology. This week’s edition explores some of our assumptions about depression.
First, however, I wanted to flag my latest column in New Scientist, which examines the consequences of the societal pressure to become “beach-body ready” with a “summer shred”. A host of recent studies have documented a seasonal rise in body dissatisfaction over the summer, as we see billboard ads, Instagram posts, and newspaper articles all promoting unrealistic beauty standards. It can be hard to escape these reminders of our own perceived deficiencies, but psychological research offers us some defences.
As I write in the piece:
You might draw on research into mindful self-compassion. In the literature, this admittedly woolly concept is characterised by three things: responding to oneself with kindness rather than judgement; recognising one’s experiences are common and shared; and cultivating mindful awareness of the present rather than over-identification with thoughts and feelings.
Personally, I hope that we will see more of the “body-neutrality movement” on social media. Unlike the “body-positivity movement”, which aims to celebrate our imperfections, body neutrality encourages a focus on body functionality rather than its appearance – the kind of non-judgemental approach so important for self-compassion.
Forthcoming research from Raeanna Kilby and Kristin Mickelson at Arizona State University suggests that body-neutrality posts are more effective at reducing self-objectification than those focused on body positivity. As actor and body-neutrality advocate Jameela Jamil puts it: “[My body] is not an advertising billboard for other people. It is not there for them to judge. It’s not there for me to judge… I would rather be thinking about all the fun that I can have before I die.”
If you are a subscriber, you can read the full piece here (paywall).
So you think you know what depression looks like
Now, onto the main topic of today’s newsletter: the false assumptions we carry about who has depression, and who doesn’t, according to a series of studies conducted in the US, UK and France.
The researchers first asked their participants to read a concise description of a 38-year-old working as a bank clerk at LMS, a bank in New Orleans, Louisiana. Some were then told: “This person is clinically depressed. They often have insomnia and are in a state of a really bad mood”. Others were given the opposite message: “This person is not depressed. They have their up and downs like everyone but are overall quite OK psychologically speaking.”
They were then asked to answer a series of questions about the traits they associated with that person – and some common perceptions emerged across all three countries. Simply labelling someone as “depressed” led people to imagine that they would be less successful, less attractive, worse dressed, more overweight and more introverted.
The researchers next turned the task on its head to see whether cues about these traits would influence people’s perceptions of someone’s mental health. Some saw the following descriptions, for example:
S.K. is successful in her job, takes care of her looks, is in good physical shape, is physically attractive, and is quite extroverted. For the past 4 weeks or so, this person has felt quite sadder than normal and could not get to sleep as well as they would have in the past.
Others saw this:
S.K. is not successful in her job, does not take care of her looks, is quite overweight, is physically unattractive, and is quite introverted. For the past 4 weeks or so, this person has felt quite sadder than normal and could not get to sleep as well as they would have in the past.
Despite the description of the symptoms remaining precisely the same, participants were considerably less likely to describe SK’s symptoms as depression if they were told that she was successful, physically fit, attractive, and extroverted, compared to when they heard she was unsuccessful, overweight, unattractive and introverted. When they were asked to guess how much emotional pain she was in, they also gave lower ratings, and they were considerably less likely to recommend that she seek mental health care – simply because she did not conform to their preconceptions of what it means to be depressed.
It may be something of a cliché that someone who appears to be outwardly thriving may be struggling inside, but this research should remind us just how quickly and easily we fall into the trap of making these superficial judgements.
Just consider Michael Phelps’s story. At the 2012 Olympics, he swept up four gold medals and two silver, making him the most successful athlete at the Games for the third time in a row. On the podium he looks the picture of health and happiness. Yet his success was swiftly followed by a profound depression. “I didn't want to be in the sport anymore. I didn't want to be alive,” he told CNN. He now campaigns for more people to open up about the pain that they are experiencing and to seek help to deal with their mental health crises.
Please do contact a medical professional if you are struggling: there is always support out there if you need it. And now may be as good a moment as any to check in on your loved ones – even if you think they’re doing fine.
That’s all for this week! Please do share this with anyone who might find it interesting.
David x
PS: If you want to read more about mental health, here are five posts that may interest you:
