Episode 248

Depression affects everyone, regardless of gender or age. By hiding our depression, we make it harder to accept and express ourselves and increase the struggle to live as our authentic selves. We adopt destructive perfectionism behaviors that make it more difficult to show vulnerability in an attempt to present a flawless image to the world.

Dr. Margaret Rutherford is here to talk about her book, Perfectly Hidden Depression: How to Break Free From the Perfectionism That Masks Your Depression.

Dr. Margaret Rutherford is a clinical psychologist with thirty years of experience as well as an author and podcaster. Her highly popular podcast, The SelfWork Podcast, has been continuously rated as one of the best for mental health and depression, earning 1.3 M downloads in 2022 alone (total near 4 M, IAB stats).

Dr. Margaret shares her journey to acceptance, the link between depression and destructive perfectionism, and the signs of Perfectly Hidden Depression.

This episode shares information about the ideations of suicide. Please listen with care.

What you'll hear in this episode:

• An Explanation of Perfectly Hidden Depression
• The Types of Perfectionism and 10 Traits of Perfectly Hidden Depression
• Ideations of suicide and their relation to destructive perfectionism
• How Alcohol and substance abuse play a role in hidden depression
• How to recognize and get support to help you overcome depression

To read this episode's full show notes, go here.