Could be staying with a high-functioning depression human?
In the winter of 2019, I felt less than I would ever felt. Not suicidal, per se, but I did not see the purpose in living, either. During this point, I slept through the night and had an appetite. I cried tons, but I did so within the bathroom at work. It took months before I saw a psychologist, who, surprised by my ignorance, informed me I used to be during a major depressive state. Depression is usually illustrated as someone unable to go away from a dark room, but mine has always manifested differently: I socialized and sporadically posted on social media. I tricked everyone around me so well that once I told one among my closest friends I needed help, she said I could not possibly be depressed because I “seemed happy on Instagram”.
I have since recovered from that episode, but I still live with a milder depressive strain. To the outside world, I present as though I am functioning normally even successfully but internally, I am in a constant battle with my mind. I doubt everything: my intelligence, my wit, my ability to write down. I worry I contribute nothing to conversations, and on bad days, I feel as if I contribute nothing to the planet. I am constantly running at seventy per cent capacity. I can socialise with friends, but I am not the lifetime of the party. I can work, but I am not doing the maximum amount or also as I could. Emails compile because I find the littlest task too overwhelming and that I then cancel plans with friends at the eleventh hour to undertake to catch up. I am panicked easily and bite off those closest to me. I fight thoughts of passive suicidal ideation almost daily, but you won’t ever find me locked in a dark room. Instead, I attend reformer Pilates classes. The negative thoughts are always worse within the morning (a phenomenon dubbed diurnal variation), and once I can not pinpoint why, I try a couple of things for size. Perhaps I am unhappy in my relationship. Perhaps I hate this city. Maybe if I stop drinking, reduce, work more, work less. I can not figure out what is wrong so I mostly do not tell anyone that anything is.
Many psychologists have a reputation for this phenomenon: “high-functioning depression”. The term applies to those that “maintain everyday activities and sometimes are incredibly successful professionally yet are battling depression symptoms”, explains psychotherapist Dr Victoria Bell. One of the most important problems both sufferers and professionals face is that high-functioning depression is not a politician diagnosis, meaning there is little to no research on the signs, symptoms or amount of people affected. “There may be a lack of clarity around these disorders,” Dr Ndidi Boakye, clinical director of The Psych Practice, says. “How the term ‘high-functioning depression is used differs between individuals, but in a lot of places, it is seen as an episode of depression without those very clear symptoms. It can often be perceived as less debilitating than other forms because you are seen to be living a comparatively normal life.”
The tendency to become depressed is genetic in nearly half of all cases. In others, trauma, circumstances and environment are responsible (one in five United Kingdom adults have had depressive symptoms during the widespread). Sometimes, it is a mixture of both, and altogether research, women are found to be more susceptible than men. But despite how common it is, many folks still simply do not understand what depression seems like. Media portrayals typically only cover people exhibiting textbook major clinical depression symptoms: insomnia, loss of appetite, an inability to urge out of bed within the morning. But this only accounts for one of the nine recognised kinds of depression and ignores people who are high-functioning. This common misrepresentation contributes to depression often going untreated: people miss warning signs in loved ones, and sufferers often can’t spot them in themselves, either. “You can have depression and be good at hiding it, otherwise you may convince yourself you are ‘doing too well’ to possess it,” Dr Bell says. “Clients frequently say they believed their symptoms weren’t severe enough to hunt professional help.”
Depression impacts cognitive function, and so, at its height, most find themselves unable to focus or their ability to form decisions impaired. But this will appear as if someone missing the odd deadline at work and making up sporadic excuses to cancel plans with friends, while still managing to stay up the overall façade of being “okay”. Being productive gives me a purpose, which helps mitigate a variety of my depression, but others have no choice but to remain going. “Unfortunately, we do not live in a bubble. There are contextual factors to require under consideration for why people would be described as being high-functioning depressives, like cultural, family and socioeconomic pressures,” Dr Boakye says. Furthermore, the way society is about up making people desire a failure and subsequently more depressed – if they do not continue their routine lives: capitalism wants us to push through and keep working. It is succeeding at its job if we still do ours.
It is easy to downplay symptoms of depression as a by product of the widespread and to minimise your experience when there are such concrete samples of others in worse situations. Government-enforced lockdowns that leave people isolated and stop from support networks don’t help matters, nor do the increasingly digital lives we lead. But Dr Bell recommends consulting your GP or seeking assessment with a professional therapist if you think you’re affected by any sort of depression albeit you seem happy on Instagram.
SOURCE
https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/high-functioning-depression