Subtle Signs of Mental Health Conditions
Have you been feeling down recently? While it's normal to have an off day or two, it's not typical for these emotions to persist and disrupt your everyday life. But how can you tell if you're simply feeling sad or if it's a sign of something more serious? From a constant low appetite to emotional numbness, here are 20 subtle symptoms of mental health conditions you might not immediately recognize.
1. Low Appetite
Having a low appetite doesn't mean just not wanting to eat once in a while, or skipping a meal every now and then. While that can also be a cause for concern, especially when it becomes habitual, those with an underlying mental health condition may find food distasteful or triggering.
2. Chronic Fatigue
We don't just mean the kind of physical fatigue you may experience walking up a flight of stairs. Chronic fatigue is when, even after a full eight-hour night's sleep, you wake up groggy and mentally exhausted. You may then continue to have low energy throughout the day, where even getting up to grab a cup of water seems like a chore.
3. Isolation
When you have an undiagnosed mental health condition, such as anxiety, depression, or something more specific like agoraphobia, you may initially think your social battery is just always depleted and you'd rather rest up at home. But when you go on long periods of isolation, it may signal something else beyond introversion.
Joshua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash
4. Zoning Out
Are you always zoning out? We don't just mean at work or when listening to a boring, one-sided conversation, but all the time. You might even zone out watching your favorite TV show. If you find this happens often, it may be a sign to reach out to a mental health professional.
5. Memory Lapses
Certain mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, and chronic stress can affect your cognitive functioning, causing memory lapses. You may miss deadlines and important dates because you simply forgot which day of the week it is.
6. Cluttered Space or Home
You may ask: how cluttered does a space have to be, to be deemed cluttered? When you're tripping over things or tossing items on the floor and in random spaces and corners, that may indicate a messy home. But clutter and disorganization don't always indicate laziness—it can also mean you're too low on energy to even put things back to the way they were, which may be a sign of depression.
7. Lack of Emotions
Do you feel numb? You don't have the strength to argue back; you don't feel the need to smile back when greeting others; you find it a waste of energy—and breath—to laugh. When you're dealing with an underlying mental health condition such as anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), you might feel detached from your surroundings, which is then reflected in your lack of emotional reactions.
8. Frequent Nightmares or Insomnia
Constant stress can cause frequent nightmares. More than that, it may lead to insomnia, when you're unable to catch a wink of sleep at night due to recurring anxious thoughts or overthinking. If you've recently experienced something traumatic, such as the death of a loved one, you may also find it difficult to fall asleep.
9. Perfectionism
It's one thing to want to push yourself to the best of your abilities, but it's another thing to always nitpick and put yourself down for the smallest mistakes. You might not think perfectionism is a symptom of an underlying mental health disorder, but it could indicate obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
10. Constantly Seeking Validation
This symptom may present with perfectionism. It's great to want feedback and to adopt a growth mindset, but seeking validation means you hang on to every word others say. Your mood fluctuates, influenced entirely by whether you get negative or positive comments.
11. Indecisive
Whether it's a minor decision, such as choosing what to eat for dinner, or a major one, such as a career shift, indecisiveness may indicate anxiety, depression, PTSD, or ADHD, among others. It can also be caused by several factors, like fear of failure.
12. Unable to Say "No"
If you constantly bend over backwards to please others and find it hard to create boundaries, you might have anxiety, OCD, or depression. People pleasing is a very real symptom linked to mental health conditions, and it's often more than just having low self-esteem.
13. Loss of Interest in Hobbies
Are you no longer finding joy in doing the things you once enjoyed doing? It could be more than just losing interest in specific hobbies because you grew out of them. Sometimes, it might not be that you've lost interest, but you've simply lost the energy to engage in them.
14. Impulsive or Compulsive Spending
Impulsive spending and compulsive spending may sound similar, but they're distinctly different. Impulsive spending means you buy things you hadn't planned to buy beforehand, which can range from small items (a pack of gum at checkout) or expensive ones (the latest smartphone). Compulsive spending on the other hand is feeling the constant need to buy things in bulk, to the point where it causes financial issues.
15. Overeating
We mentioned low appetite as a potential symptom of an undiagnosed mental health condition, but on the other end of the extreme, you may find that you have an insatiable appetite. You may overeat to compensate for your shifting emotions and feelings of stress, or it may indicate a binge eating disorder.
16. Avoiding Mirrors
This might surprise you, but refusing to look at yourself in mirrors may be a sign of borderline personality disorder. It's also a common symptom in those struggling with body dysmorphia, where the image reflected back to them appears distorted, hindering their confidence.
RachelleChristensen on Pixabay
17. Unenthusiastic About Future Plans
If you're dealing with an underlying mental health condition, you may also feel unenthusiastic about upcoming plans or the future in general. Everything might suddenly seem bleak or unimportant, and simply getting through the present feels challenging.
18. Putting Off Plans or Vacation Trips
Not only are you unenthusiastic about the upcoming plans, you might even want to put them off. For example, those with anxiety may feel uncertain about changing factors, and those with depression might feel the process isn't worth the effort.
19. Disorganized Thoughts
Having racing thoughts is a common thing we all experience, but if it happens constantly and disrupts your everyday life, it could indicate something else. For one, it may be a sign of ADHD, which may translate to trouble focusing or forgetfulness.
20. Constantly Feeling Overwhelmed or Overstimulated
No matter if it's just catching up with a friend or an upcoming deadline, you feel constantly overwhelmed by your daily life. You wish more than anything that you could hit pause and just curl up in bed. If this sounds like you, it could be a sign of anxiety, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, or something else.
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