Whenever you Hear the word depression or depressed, what picture comes to your mind?

The picture that would come to your mind will be of an isolated lonely guy, who does not want to step out of his/her house, has difficulty getting out of bed, poor hygiene and is essentially sad.

Could you picture a popular guy, who is well-educated professional with a great job, living in a big city, having a long list of friends and awards to his name to be depressed? Yes, he could be, because he wakes up every day with a gripping sense of anxiety and pressure to be “perfect” and a fear of “keeping everything together”.

High-functioning depression creeps in when you have to always be on an “ON” mode because of the pressure of jobs, are sleep deprived and feel like you have to just keep your chin-up. You do not realize that depression is lurking in the background. Although you are in constant motion, still you are unable to live life to the fullest.

What we want to point out is that someone with HFD maybe able to keep up with his demanding job, be in a successful relationship, post good photos on Facebook, attend get-togethers regularly and never look low but inside he may be suffering from a set of symptoms which can go worse if left untreated.

Some of the Symptoms of HFD are:

Problem experiencing  JOY

You would not be able to experience pleasure in things that you used to enjoy earlier. They feel events or get-togethers to be more like a burden.

Criticises others and self

You have a relentless internal dialogue criticizing themselves, others and the world in general. You cannot just turn off this chronic negative thought pattern.

Lack of energy

You feel like you hardly have the energy either physical or mental to get through the day. It feels like you are climbing a hill with a bag of heavy rocks while you go through the day.

Self-doubt

You constantly doubt all your decisions including career, relationship, doubt about your meaning of life and doubts about your ability to handle adult responsibilities.

Excessive anger or irritability

If you blow up small things that your partner says and does or reacts in a way that is disproportionate to the situation.

Guilt and worry about past and future

You tend to worry about almost anything and everything that you did or are about to do. Worrying at things like you are ageing, getting bad grades in college or who is going to take care of your parents when they get older etc. It definitely feels more than normal worrying.

Increase in use of coping mechanisms

If you are spending a lot of time on Netflix, gaming or zoning out very often from engagements or using substances like alcohol, drugs etc. That is you are making a constant effort to escape from your life.

Unable to rest and slow down

If you constantly involve yourself in some kind of work and get uncomfortable if the pace slows down because you fear your own thoughts, it is a sure sign of High Functioning Depression.

There is often a misconception about depression that you can snap out of it with will-power or something bad has to happen in your external world to make you depressed. Whereas when depression does not needs an external reason and is a general and chronic unhappiness with life that is manifested in various symptoms.

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