High Achievers & Depression

High achievers function on high energy and adrenaline during their peak times. As such, they often feel extreme lows during their down times. Additionally, all of the pressure they place on themselves can sometimes make them feel depressed if they do not meet their own expectations.

Perfectionism

• High achievers are often perfectionists who have extremely high standards for themselves or others. This perfectionism often becomes paired with feelings of extreme stress, according to sciencedaily.com. In other words, perfectionists can become very depressed when they put pressure on themselves to reach high standards and cannot achieve them.

Insecurity

• Even people who achieve well most of the time can become subject to self-esteem issues. According to pittsburghlive.com, "even the kids most peers look up to -- the ones who seem perfect -- often feel terribly insecure about themselves and feel they aren't good enough." This low self-esteem often leads to feelings of depression.

Balance

• One reason for the depression that high achievers feel is that they do not balance work and play enough; they focus so much on their achievements that they forget to take time for leisure activities and free time.

Intervention

• Parents can help their high achieving children by putting emphasis on the child's individual talents rather than on achieving specific goals. This way the child can work on improving himself, rather than reaching for the highest level every time he does something.

Stress Connections

• The stress of having too many interests or too many tasks to perform can add to feelings of depression because high achievers can become overwhelmed by all of their activities. High achievers can combat this depression by paring down the number of activities they participate in on a daily basis.