What is High Functioning Depression and How Do We Cope with it?
High functioning depression is a term that has surfaced more and more with the coming years. It is a non-clinical label for a certain form of depression; one with less debilitating characteristics and symptoms, and therefore it is not necessarily severe enough to be considered as a clinical diagnosis of depression. Maybe you are finding yourself tired all the time, almost as if you are just forcing a smile through most social situations. Outwardly, when seen by your friends and family, you may seem perfectly fine and normal – and yet, within you may feel very unhappy with yourself for no foreseeable reason. The effects of high functioning depression can come out in bursts or episodes, or they can gradually seep in until it gets to a point in which you realize that there is in fact a problem. And while there is no clinical treatment as there is no clinical diagnosis – there are many a step that you and others can take with regards to preventing further triggers and/or weights on an already weighted down shoulders.
What is High Functioning Depression?
When one has high functioning depression they can typically be characterised as being able to function well in their various aspects of life such as their relationships and work life, despite having symptoms of a depressive disorder. They may also mask their depressed feelings, so that others would never notice that something is out of rotation or that they are living with lesser debilitating symptoms of depression. This can make it hard for ourselves and even those around us to notice that something has gone wrong, let along that there is high functioning depression in the midst.
People at any age can be depressed, but yet depression of the high functioning variety – sometimes called “the smiling depression” – can be seen in various ways. Below are listed but a few:
Sleepless nights or the opposite – sleeping to much, difficulty waking up. Low energy despite enough sleep
A lack of self esteem or feeling of worthlessness
Difficulty in make decisions or lack of energy to do so with lower productivity levels
A feeling of hopelessness accompanied by frequent tearfulness/crying
Self-critical comments as well as the feeling of anger or irritability quite frequently
Having difficulty concentrating on activities as well as having less passion about what was a once previously enjoyed activity
There are also more physical ailments which include:
Changes in appetite, referring to the gain or lack of such
Fatigue or insomnia – as mentioned above, even when the recommended amount of sleep is obtained
Body pains: such as headaches, digestive, and high blood pressure issues
A lowered immune system
Another word for high functioning depression includes a name so called “imposter syndrome.” This is the literal embodiment of “fake it till you make it” because you are – you are dismissing the symptoms of which clearly display a viable high functioning depressive disorder because you or ones around you deem them as something other than urgent. And the fact that you have overcome each and every one of these obstacles merely proves to that side of you that you can in fact, “fake it” until you make it.
Faking it can only do so much – and while depression can feel like an obstacle that you cannot conquer both mentally and/or physically there are certain steps one can take in order to prevent such depressive episodes.
What can I do to Cope with High Functioning Depression?
Be honest with yourself and what you’re struggling with instead of avoiding your feelings by distracting yourself or keeping busy
Do not judge yourself for feeling sad. Sadness isn’t a bad feeling, and there is nothing wrong with being sad. It is there to tell you that something is off and we have to learn to be curious about it so that we can understand what we need to do to help ourselves.
Make time for what helps you. It could be as simple as cleaning your room, getting outside for a walk, making yourself a healthy meal, talking to a trusted friend or doing something you find joy/used to find joy in.
Creating a waking and sleeping routine. By softly signalling to the body when it is time to sleep and when it is time to wake it can help the body overall to ease the regulation into daytime and nighttime.
Talking about it – although often said, does not get accredited enough. It could be something as simple as telling a few people around you so you can get some outside support, or monthly counselling sessions so that you can voice your thoughts and ideas – to whatever frequency you desire or find helpful. It is often better to voice your thoughts than to keep them stewing in your head for periods of time.
Psychotherapy Approaches that help High Functioning Depression
At Resting Tree Counselling, we are able to offer these few evidence based techniques to help you with your High Functioning Depression.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: This approach helps you to understand your negative thought patterns, understand and correct them as well as find healthy ways to change behaviours and day to day routine so as to help increase sense of well-being.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Using mindfulness strategies and by understanding and appreciating your own core values and difficult feelings, this approach helps you to let go of what you cannot control and commit to what’s meaningful for you.
Trauma Informed Interventions: Sometimes there may be underlying traumatic events that have yet to be processed and these might be contributing to the depression. Approaches like EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing) and Internal Family Systems (IFS) may be able to help the client heal from these episodes.
Combatting high functioning depression can be tricky sometimes, and it might feel scary so appreciate yourself as you take small steps to help yourself get better. At times, it might also be helpful to try and identify what exactly is causing or triggering these depressive episodes. Sometimes it can be something as common with one another as financial problems or major life changes. But it can also be more personal and have to do with the loss of a loved one or feelings of loneliness or stress. By identifying these “triggers” or “contributing factors” you can have a pre-emptive strike - as it were - on your depressive symptoms in order to help keep them from happening to such extremes again.
If you have found out that you or any of those around you are experiencing any of the above listed symptoms or that you are using the term “high functioning depression”, it may be time to speak with a mental health professional. Let us help with the stigma that surrounds seeing a mental health care practitioner. By taking the opposing position from which society tells us, we can not only help our own mental health – but also those around us.
At Resting Tree, we recognise how difficult it can be to work through these big feelings alone. We are here to offer you support as you embark on your healing journey. Find out more by contacting us at info@restingtree.ca or book your free consultation today