Introversion and Mental Health

Warning: This covers sensitive topics such as mental illness and suicide.

I was blessed with a family, a middle-class lifestyle, and friends who cared about me. Despite that, there were times I had no energy or passion to do anything. Even after I slept for eight hours or more, I still felt exhausted. I switched between eating little or gorging myself with food. I was plagued with negative thoughts that pushed me to self-harm — or worse. Still, I refused to believe I had a problem. There were people in worse situations, and I shouldn’t be feeling this way.

Two years ago, I had a meltdown. I panicked about school, wondered what was my future, asked myself why any of my actions mattered, and felt I was a burden to my friends and family. I wrote a note and thought out a method to end it all. I was able to snap myself out of it and realized I desperately needed help. I couldn’t deny it anymore. I was diagnosed with depression, and recommended medication and therapy.

Why am I mentioning this in a blog series about introversion?

In the past, “introverted personality” and “introverted disorder of childhood" were part of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s manual of classified diseases. In 2010, the American Psychiatric Association considered adding “introversion” to their next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical manual. Some have fought against this saying it would create a stigma towards introversion.

Introversion itself is not and should not be classified as a mental illness, but introverts do make up 74% of the depression population. In comparison, those who felt or acted more extroverted were happier in daily situations. That isn’t to say extroverts can’t have mental illnesses or being an introvert automatically means you are depressed, but the chances of having depression or a mental illness are stronger if you’re an introvert.

I created a blog about introversion and college so I can help fellow introverts who are in similar situations. This includes mental health, and as more people started to speak up about mental health, I decided to add my input.

I recently shut down and had no drive to do my schoolwork or entertain anymore. While I was getting better at dealing with social situations and being more outgoing, I still found my stress and anxiety levels increasing. I had those existential thoughts of “Why am I doing this?” and “Should I just…go away?”

I tell myself — and to anyone, introvert or extrovert — to just hang in there. Tomorrow will be a better day.

If you’re having the same thoughts and considering plans to hurt yourself — or worse — contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1–800–273–8255.