Depression is a very common mental health disorder, one of the most common. And yet most people don’t realize that depression comes with varying degrees of severity, including high functioning depression (HFD). High-functioning depression means that an individual has a depressive disorder but is still able to function on a daily basis and often to a high level, which makes it difficult to diagnose.
What is High-Functioning Depression?
As the name suggests, high-functioning depression is where an individual struggles with depression, but it might be slightly less obvious since they are able to maintain a high-functioning daily life.
For example:
John is a CEO with high-functioning depression. He is under a great deal of pressure from his job, and he is responsible for hundreds of people under him. While he goes to work each day and does his job, he also drinks copiously when he gets home and brings work home with him to avoid having to face his feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness.
Margaret owns her own company. She works long hours and still finds time to volunteer for a community organization, a local orchestra, and maintain her small garden. She never stops to rest because if she does, she is overwhelmed by thoughts of inadequacy, depression, and hopelessness. Instead of admitting those emotions or dealing with them, Margaret avoids being alone with her thoughts or without anything to do.
In both of these cases, and many others, the individuals might not appear to have visible signs of depression, and they seem like high-performing adults with a lot of activities and achievements. However, the key difference is that while they have the same symptoms of depression as others, their symptoms do not necessarily stop them from doing daily tasks.
Symptoms of High-Functioning Depression
High-functioning depression symptoms, as mentioned, are very similar to regular depressive disorders, but despite the cognitive or emotional indicators, the individuals like John or Margaret will continue about their daily tasks.
Emotional Signs
The emotional signs include persistent feelings of emptiness or sadness. Someone who has high-functioning depression will still experience the same type of emptiness, but they’ll try to fill that emptiness or avoid the feelings of sadness by overworking themselves or participating in more volunteer activities. But no matter how much they fill their plates with activities and work, those feelings will persist.
Similarly, people with high-functioning depression tend to lose interest or pleasure in activities they once enjoyed, so they’ll typically pull away from something new that is no longer filling the same role, only to find that the sadness and emptiness are still there.
People with high-functioning depression will feel hopeless the majority of the time, but they try to take action over this by volunteering more, keeping themselves busy, or working harder so they don’t have to face their emotions.
Cognitive Signs
Cognitive signs include a lot of negative self-talk and self-criticism. Someone like Margaret might continually criticize themselves for not being able to focus, for working too much, for feeling hopeless, or for procrastinating.
It’s not uncommon to struggle with difficulty concentrating and feeling overwhelmed by worthlessness or guilt. Someone like John might feel so worthless that he isolates himself from friends or family or brings extra work home so that he can try to build his self-worth by working more than everyone else. and yet this will never fix the problem.
Behavioral Signs
Behavioral signs include procrastination and avoidance behaviors. Feelings of worthlessness or emptiness tend to influence behaviors of avoiding things that an individual knows they need to do.
It’s not uncommon for high-functioning depression to manifest as isolation from friends and family, like the example of John above. More than that, one of the biggest behavioral signs is staying excessively busy so as to avoid any and all negative emotions. Even though an individual might know that they don’t have time already to deal with their current obligations, they will still accept additional obligations so that they can avoid feelings of hopelessness or emptiness.
Physical Signs
The physical symptoms of high-functioning depression include sleep issues like sleeping too much or sleeping too little, changes in appetite in either direction, and low energy levels that persist despite how much an individual has accomplished.
Getting Help for High-Functioning Depression
People with high-functioning depression might displace slightly different symptoms based on their stage in life, but no matter what the symptoms are, it’s important that you speak with a mental health professional so that you can get a diagnosis and proper treatment.
Aligned Living can help you with life skills coaching and aftercare programs that are designed to offer continual support in recovery. If you, like John or Margaret, are learning to live with a diagnosis of high-functioning depression, Aligned Living can give you the personalized coaching and virtual mental health services you need.
Contact our team to learn more today. Get the help you deserve.