This Is What It's Like to Live With High-Functioning Depression

Depression is a disease.  It is not something you can just ‘snap out of.’  There are various forms of depression and some require more serious treatment than others.  Treatment can involve therapy or counselling and it can involve medication.  A mild depression can be solved with a bit of exercise and a change of diet, but a bad depression can be debilitating.

Unless you have suffered from debilitating depression, you will never know how awful it is.  Depression can mean that you struggle to get out of bed.  You cannot get menial tasks done.  You cannot function.  The only good side of this depression is that you are forced to get help.  Somebody, you hope, notices you are severely depressed.   Or you drag yourself to the doctor.

There is another kind of depression that is in a way, even worse.  It is when you do continue to function, but inside you feel like you are dying.  This is high-functioning depression.  You go to work, you fetch the kids from school, you go to your gym class and you even get a work promotion.  But each outing is hard and each outing becomes harder and harder.  You are what is known as an ‘extroverted introvert.’  And the day comes when you cannot get out of bed.   There comes a point when you cannot continue with the charade and your collapse is epic.

Depression should be treated.  Anyone who says ‘get over it’ is making a mistake.  Sure, you may have a depression that is connected to a small event.  That depression is easier to get over.  But if it is connected to something chemical going on in your brain, or connected to a traumatic event, you need to get help.  There is no shame in going to see your doctor and asking for help.  Depression is an illness and should be treated as such.

https://tonic.vice.com/en_us/article/9k3eb7/high-functioning-depression-is-the-easiest-to-miss