Brighid Gannon is co-founder of Lavender and an award-winning nurse entrepreneur known for building innovative healthcare businesses.
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It’s a fairly common scenario in the startup world: entrepreneurs who are charismatic and successful and seem fine on the outside, are actually struggling with their mental health. Successful entrepreneurs can hide their symptoms and feelings well because they’re in an innately stressful occupation that is known for being exhausting and full of sleep deprivation. But sometimes, those signs can be symptoms of something more, like high-functioning depression.
According to research cited in Harvard Business Review, “entrepreneurs are 30% more likely to experience depression than their non entrepreneurial counterparts.” This is usually caused by an, “increasingly complex and competitive world. Technology and globalization have made startups riskier and more stressful to manage. Failure is common.” This is a lot to shoulder, day in and day out.
The stigma attached to discussing mental health is certainly lessening, but it’s not gone, making those struggling less likely to speak up. Inc. does a fantastic job capturing why founders are hesitant to ask for help: “Entrepreneurs [are] conditioned to forge ahead with a belief, virtue-signaled by a uniquely American ethos, that showing weakness or vulnerability is death to the dream. Customers and shareholders want powerful, decisive, confident leaders, full stop. So it is that generations of business leaders have hidden within themselves, projecting an image of John D. Rockefeller grit while simultaneously pushing down waves of doubt, depression, and anxiety roiling within.”
Take Melissa Bernstein, half of the partnership behind the hugely successful toy company, Melissa & Doug. Though she’d built a $550 million toy conglomerate, the mother of six was dealing with undiagnosed depression. After years of suffering, she finally asked for help. Seeing a therapist, and showing her true self to her family and colleagues were big steps in finding her way back to good mental health.
It’s critical for entrepreneurs to know the signs of depression—and to ask for help when they need it. Trying to push through can result not only affect the company poorly, it can have serious personal repercussions as well. As a board-certified nurse practitioner in psychiatric mental health, I know the signs, and help others recognize when they may be suffering. For those unsure, here are three signs your mental health could use a check up.
1. Significant Loss Of Pleasure From Doing Things You Love (Or Used To Love)
According to the Mayo Clinic, a major symptom of depressions is, “loss of interest or pleasure in most or all normal activities, such as sex, hobbies or sports.” For entrepreneurs, this can show up in many ways at the office. Brainstorming sessions or sales calls that used to be invigorating, can feel overwhelming or even pointless when someone is depressed.
If you find yourself dreading activities you used to enjoy–like leading all hands meetings or hitting the VC tour–then it might be time to take a look inward and see if you’re struggling more than you thought.
2. Sleeping Too Much Or Bouts Of Insomnia
While it’s not uncommon for entrepreneurs to sleep less than non-entrepreneurs, there is a difference between choosing not to sleep and just not being able to sleep. If you find yourself tossing and turning, and staring at the ceiling or clock for hours on end, it might be an issue.
The lack of sleep eventually catches up to founders, and spills over into their business and personal lives. Decisions are made quickly and without thought, many times resulting in unhappy employees, board members or colleagues.
When you’re the head of a company, it’s much harder to hide missteps or mistakes. As Inc. states: “A mid level executive dealing with depression may be able to cover their illness. But the titular head of a company has nowhere to hide. Eventually, the depression wins as its standard effects–low energy, difficulty focusing, unproductivity, indecisiveness, and unresponsiveness–begin to leak out.”
3. Feeling Increasingly Negative, Short-Tempered And Indecisive
In addition to the above symptoms, if you find yourself snapping at your team regularly, forgetting things or having difficulty making decisions, it might be time to talk with someone. If you get stuck in the wrong state of mind, you may inadvertently adversely affect your company. You may hire or fire the wrong people only because you aren’t able to see the whole picture clearly.
Another way this shows up is feeling gloomy or a downer. Many times, if someone is dealing with their mental health, it’s hard to see the bright side of any situation.
If you’re an entrepreneur, remember to take inventory on your own mental health–for the sake of your company and your health. If you have any of the symptoms above, or are just feeling out of sorts or unhappy, take the time to talk to a mental health professional. It’s the best thing you can do for yourself and your business.
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