There is growing recognition of mental health needs within entrepreneurs, with research revealing that founders are 50% more likely to report having a mental health condition, specifically depression, substance misuse, ADHD or bipolar disorder. Entrepreneurial burnout has become a somewhat accepted side-effect of working in a competitive and fast paced industry. But this doesn’t have to be the case. It’s important to listen to the first signs if your mental health is suffering. This may be communicated through irritability, procrastination, or fatigue; or later, as symptoms progress - through panic attacks, racing thoughts, or reckless decision-making. Understanding your emotional life traps will enable you to preempt and navigate personal and business challenges differently.

Instability in mood and self-esteem is particularly prominent in entrepreneurs. In my experience, both aspiring early career entrepreneurs and established founder CEOs frequently present for therapy with cyclothymia - a milder version of mood instability, which if untreated can, in some cases, develop into bipolar disorder. Importantly, fluctuations in mood and energy don’t necessarily signal cyclothymia, as many of these experiences will be felt within normal limits or at sub-clinical levels. If you are worried by the instability of your mood, it will be helpful to explore how the variations in your mood and energy are triggered so that you can return to a healthier baseline more quickly and smoothly.

Mental health needs may develop in response to the relentless stress and risks in the early seed stage of establishing a business, be it financial or relational stressors. For others, their tenacious, ambitious and energy-defying entrepreneurialism is masking deeper longer-standing emotional or relationship problems which pre-date their business pursuits. At some point, however, upsetting memories or destructive impulses cut through even the busiest of schedules and the individual is faced with the feelings they’ve been working so hard to avoid.

It’s completely understandable to want to block out upsetting feelings and thoughts. Work itself or perfectionism can become forms of coping, fuelled by an addictive need for stimulation and success, or a need for recognition and approval. As unhealthy coping mechanisms go, working hard is not at the top of the list, but if self-esteem hangs precariously on success, the stakes will only get higher and the real issues underlying the need to be seen or valued by significant others is not acknowledged.

A fear of failure or status anxiety may drive other coping behaviours, with some entrepreneurs taking stimulant drugs to heighten thinking speed and confidence, and others using alcohol or sex to numb negative feelings and stress. This is self-sabotage in its full painful glory - with coping responses only taking one further from the connectedness that is so often craved. Sometimes we need to name our inner saboteur and look at it directly in order to conquer an underlying propensity to attach to substances or sex over real connections.