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Jul 5, 2022 · Indeed, depression can impact multiple areas of your life, including hygiene habits. Perhaps you want to take a shower, for example, but you have no motivation or feel exhausted.
- Overview
- ‘Why is it so hard to brush my teeth or shower?’
- ‘Can you be too hygienic?’
- What to do when mental illness is affecting your relationship with hygiene
Depression, anxiety, PTSD, and even sensory processing disorders can impact our personal hygiene. Let’s talk about it.
“It’s Not Just You” is a column written by mental health journalist Sian Ferguson, dedicated to exploring the lesser-known, under-discussed symptoms of mental illness. Sian knows firsthand the power of hearing, “Hey, it’s not just you.” While you might be familiar with your run-of-the-mill sadness or anxiety, there’s so much more to mental health than that — so let’s talk about it!
One of the worst things about mental illness is how it seeps into so many parts of your life, affecting even the most mundane things, like showering and brushing your teeth.
And we often struggle to talk about this part of mental health. One of the reasons why we struggle to talk about it is because hygiene is moralized when it shouldn’t be.
Practicing hygiene is a good thing because it can prevent disease and help us care for our bodies. But unfortunately, we often associate a lack of hygiene with poverty, laziness, homelessness — all things we, as a society, discriminate against.
What this means is that there’s a lot of shame around hygiene. This shame can fuel both obsessions with hygiene, and the stigma surrounding mental illnesses that make it hard for us to practice basic hygiene.
Although I have a number of mental illnesses, I haven’t had much of a problem with showering. But one week many years ago, when I was feeling particularly depressed, I struggled to brush my teeth. I must have brushed my teeth only twice that week.
I know what you’re thinking — gross. Yup, I thought that too.
Yet I couldn’t bring myself to brush my teeth. I could wash my body, I could get dressed, I could even leave my house but the thought of brushing my teeth was repulsive to me. And what’s worse is that I couldn’t bring myself to tell my therapist, because I felt so ashamed and disgusting.
A lot of people struggle to do basic hygiene tasks when depressed. This can include showering, washing their hands, brushing their teeth, doing laundry, or brushing their hair.
“They report not having enough energy to do simple self-care tasks, such as brushing their teeth or washing their hair,” says Melissa A. Jones, PhD, HSPP, a clinical psychologist based in Indiana. “Many of them do not take care of their personal hygiene needs unless they are reminded by a family member to do so.”
But why is this? Why does depression make it so hard to shower? Manly says that major depression is often characterized by diminished interest in activities, as well as fatigue. In other words, you probably have little motivation or energy to maintain hygiene while depressed.
You certainly can be too obsessed with hygiene. Certain mental illnesses might cause people to wash too much or obsess about cleanliness.
The mental illness we most commonly associate with cleanliness is obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Pop culture’s depictions of OCD, like in “Monk,” “The Big Bang Theory,” and “Glee” mean we often think of people with OCD as fastidious, super-organized germophobes who are convenient punchlines for thoughtless jokes.
OCD isn’t always about cleanliness — and even when it is, it’s often misunderstood. OCD involves obsessions (distressing thoughts that you can’t stop thinking about) and compulsions (rituals or actions you take to reduce your distress).
The obsessions could be about hygiene, but it could also be a fear like burning down your house, hurting someone or yourself, or angering God. When it does involve hygiene rituals, like washing your hands, the fear (or obsession) might be about germs — but it could also be about something else.
Manly explains that when you have hygiene-related OCD compulsions, you might wash your hands a set number of times or brush your teeth with a certain number of strokes.
“Those who have OCD may have difficulty attending to personal hygiene in a fluid manner, for they may feel the need to perform certain hygiene rituals repeatedly (such as washing hands a certain number of times) before moving to the next task,” Manly says. These compulsions can make it difficult for you to leave the house on time or function throughout the day.
Most people feel a little too lazy to shower once in a while. Most of us sometimes feel a little “gross” and decide to wash ourselves more vigorously than usual. So, how do you know it’s “bad enough” for you to need help?
In general, you should get help if an issue is making it hard for you to function. If you struggle to practice hygiene even when you know you should, or if you feel that you wash yourself excessively, you may need help.
Therapy is a great place to start. You might feel ashamed, as I did, to tell your therapist that you struggle to practice good hygiene. Please remember that this is a fairly common symptom of mental illness, and your therapist has probably helped people in your shoes before — and they’re there to help you, not judge you for your mental state.
As for washing excessively, Manly says that the root of the anxiety must be addressed in order to address the issue. This also often requires therapy.
“To reduce the level of washing in conjunction with therapy, the individual can also strive to reduce anxiety by learning to use calming breathing techniques, short meditations, and positive mantras,” Manly says. “Tools such as these can be used to calm the mind and body as they encourage self-soothing and self-control.”
No matter which self-care tools help you, it’s important to remind yourself that moralizing hygiene helps nobody.
Oct 21, 2024 · This could include getting regular exercise, improving sleep and hygiene habits, limiting or abstaining from substance use, and more. If you are struggling with substance use, contact the SAMHSA National Helpline at (800) 662-4357 to receive support and resources. Support is available 24/7.
Feb 10, 2023 · This is largely because the subject is difficult to talk about — many of us feel the weight of stigma when talking about our bodies and our personal habits. However, indifference to hygiene tasks, including showering, brushing teeth, doing laundry or brushing hair, is a common symptom of mental health conditions (particularly depression).
Mental ailments like depression and anxiety also affect some habits of hygiene. #1. Depression can cause excess alcohol, tobacco, or caffeine use, which makes you lose the will to follow a healthy lifestyle. #2. Self-neglect because of mental stress leads to improper hygiene habits. #3.
This connection between depression and hygiene is significant and can be a telling sign of how deeply the condition affects an individual. This blog explores the link between depression and hygiene , the psychological reasons behind poor hygien e, and provides tips for maintaining health and well-being.
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Sep 6, 2023 · Depression can make it difficult for a person to shower and maintain hygiene. Extreme tiredness and cognitive effects, such as brain fog and negative thinking, can pose a personal hygiene challenge.
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related to: how does depression affect hygiene habits for womenThis Add-On May Help Adults Decrease Depression Symptoms More Than An Antidepressant Alone. Visit The Official Patient Website & Learn More About This Add-On MDD Treatment Option.
