Show Notes
What happens when being capable becomes the very thing that keeps people from seeing you’re struggling?
In this episode of Notes From the Edge, Lisa Lacy sits down with Nigerian-American physician, novelist, and storyteller Dr. Nneka Oluoha for a conversation about high-functioning depression, cultural expectations, motherhood, immigrant identity, and the roles we perform to survive.
Dr. Nneka explores why the person who appears strongest may be carrying the most, why “I’m fine” can become a practiced performance, and how competence, strength, and responsibility can eventually become a prison when we never allow ourselves to put them down.
She also shares her experience moving from Nigeria to the United States, navigating multiple identities as a physician, mother, wife, immigrant, and writer, and finally reclaiming the part of herself that had always wanted to write.
Her novel, Live For Me Nkem, uses fiction to take readers inside depression not only through the person experiencing it, but through the family living beside her.
In this episode:
• High-functioning depression and performing “fine”
• Competence and strength as survival roles
• Immigrant identity and navigating two cultures
• Motherhood, responsibility, and mom guilt
• Why successful people struggle to ask for help
• Depression’s impact on the entire family
• Listening instead of trying to fix someone
• Reclaiming parts of yourself buried beneath responsibility
• The power of storytelling to create empathy around mental health
Sometimes support is not having the perfect advice. Sometimes it is simply being willing to sit beside someone in the dark.
Connect with Dr. Nneka Oluoha:
LinkedIn-Nneka Oluoha
Connect with Lisa Lacy:
What did you perform in order to survive?
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