The Masks We Wear: A Major Cause of Misdiagnosis and Lack of Support
Recognizing a common reason for confusion and misdiagnosis related to grief and depression.
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I first became a published author in the 1990s. I’d written a book about my battle with chronic depression. It was my first book, and I hadn’t yet developed my skills as a writer, but the message was on point. I had overcome a clinical depression that persisted for five years, so I wrote the book to give hope to patients and families suffering from the same issue.
After a publisher released the book in 1999, I was invited to speak at hospital support groups around New England, including the prestigious McLean Hospital in Boston.
After these talks, people would approach me privately to explain that none of their family or friends knew about their diagnosis or that they were taking medication to treat their disorder. I was surprised how many people repeated this same story. Due to stigma and fear of being negatively judged, people were choosing to suffer alone rather than risk asking for support from their loved ones.