The secret battle of high-functioning depression

While it can be considered a mild form of depression, it’s no less debilitating or serious. According to Yapko, if and when life circumstances change, those experiencing mild depression may be at greater risk for moderate to severe depression. Plus, it can affect children too. “As you raise your kids, you’re passing along the risk factors [for depression],” he says. “Rates of depression from parent to child increase by nearly a factor of three.” It’s not surprising that the idea of high-functioning depression has struck a chord with many. “Our current culture isn’t helping us build healthy coping, stress management, and decision-making skills. It’s fracturing it, creating the conditions where high-functioning depression can thrive,” says Yapko. Yapko points to our preference for burying our noses in phones and screens, our short attention span and low threshold for frustration, our inability to stick with things when it gets hard, and our highly curated Instagram perfect worlds. “People are less likely to spend time in good places like nature or socializing with friends. They don’t have the support networks that people had in past generations,” he says. “There are a lot of factors converging. It isn’t caused by any one thing.” In fact, some of the traits that lead people to be successful, such as perfectionism and being goal-oriented, may contribute to depression, according to Stubits. “People who appear to be functioning well don’t think they should feel depressed and may be embarrassed by it.” It can easily fly under the radar and hide behind your put-together lifestyle.

For me, I was bullied by the high expectations in my head, the yellow brick road of where I thought I should be in work and life. I didn’t want to admit something might be wrong because I didn’t know what that would mean. I didn’t want to go to therapy or take antidepressants. I assumed I could plow through my feelings like I have in every other aspect of my life. I realized I could continue to let the void grow inside me, hoping one day I would wake up and the sun would shine brighter, my inner motivation would hum smoothly and I would start to feel all the emotions again. Or I could start talking to someone. Some may say that high-functioning depression is just a buzzword for mild depression, but it has started a conversation about mental health, and among many (raises hand!) who probably wouldn’t have talked about it in the past. For me, the talk of high-functioning depression has gotten me back into therapy to work on the coping skills I need to deal with stress and anxiety.