10 Signs of High Functioning Depression

Hey there everybody, and welcome to 10 Signs of High Functioning Depression. I am your host, Dr. Donnelly Snipes. There are a lot of different symptoms of depression. What we're talking about today are signs that you may have what we call high functioning depression. That is, you may not meet all the criteria for major depressive disorder. You may still be going to work and doing your day to day things, but a lot of times it feels feels like it takes everything you've got. So let's talk about some of these signs because when you start noticing them, then you can start figuring out what you need to do to address them before it becomes something more serious. The first sign, you have difficulty finding pleasure in, well, anything. And you may feel gloomy more often than not for a period of satisfaction several weeks. This isn't just you're having a bad day or you're having a bad few days. This goes on and on. And one of the analogies I make is if you think back to the Winnie the Pooh cartoons, if you feel kind of like Eeyore and just nothing is really making you happy, there aren't really very many highs and you just keep going along. Could you live like that? Certainly. Is it how most of us really want to experience our day on a day to day basis? No. So that's the first sign. The next sign is that the bad days, when they happen, are unbearable. You go from being kind of flat, not really happy, but not really sad, just kind of there, to feeling excruciating depression. This doesn't happen for everybody, but it is one of those signs that you might have high functioning depression. Third sign, you have low motivation. All of us have low motivation at one time or another. But if you find you just have difficulty getting off the couch or getting out of bed in the morning, you may be starting to experience signs of high functioning depression. Number four, you feel bad about yourself. Well, if you have difficulty finding pleasure in anything, you have some of these bad days where sometimes you can't even get out of the house. You have really low motivation. You may be telling yourself that you shouldn't be feeling this way or you shouldn't be acting this way. And that can make you feel even worse about yourself. You may be telling yourself that you're not the person that you should be or that you want to be again. That is going to make you feel bad about yourself. Fifth sign is that you're very sensitive and may cry easily. People who are experiencing depression are often feeling hopeless and helpless and have a lot of guilt and Usually it is unfounded guilt, but they, they experience a lot of very powerful unpleasant emotions. They're already sort of stressed out, if you will, so anything can make them feel overwhelmed. Number six is that you get fatigued easily. You get up in the morning and you make your coffee and you take your shower and you get dressed for work and you're ready to go back to bed. That is a sign that you might have high functioning depression. There are a lot of causes for fatigue and we're going to talk about that in another video. But do be aware, if you get fatigued really easily, it could be a sign that you're having issues with depression. Some days your body feels super heavy and this is different than getting fatigued. This is different than feeling tired and wanting to go back to bed. This is, you feel like you are carrying around 100 pound rucksack on your back. Every step you take feels like your muscles are having to work 10 times as hard as usual. This is not uncommon in depression. So if you're feeling this, recognize that it's a symptom. It doesn't necessarily mean that you're lazy or you're a bad person or anything like that. It means that something is going awry in your body and it is causing you to be more fatigued and have more difficulty mobilizing the blood sugar and the energy necessary to fuel your muscles. That's it. If you have difficulty sleeping, either you're sleeping too much, which can throw your circadian rhythms off so you're not getting quality sleep, or you can't sleep at all, you've got insomnia, or worse, you go to sleep and then you wake up at 1 o' clock in the morning and you can't get back to sleep. So a combination of both, this is one of those telltale signs that something is going on in your brain chemical system. Typically we're talking about serotonin here, but not always. And that is a key indicator that you may be experiencing depression. Number nine, if you have difficulty concentrating for long periods, that's abnormal for you. Some people have difficulty concentrating for long periods since they're knee high to a grasshopper. And if that's you, then this one may not be applicable. But if normally you can focus for an entire television show, 30 minutes an hour, and you find that suddenly you can't even make it through till the first commercial break, you might be experiencing high functioning depression. And number 10, if you have appetite changes, that might be an indicator that you're developing or you have high functioning Depression Some people when they're depressed just don't have an appetite at all. They don't have any motivation to get up and make food. They don't have motivation to eat. Other people when we're depressed tend to want to eat more and we gravitate towards those comfort foods that typically are high in fat and carbohydrates. Why? Because high fat, high carbohydrate foods are prompt the release of feel good chemicals in our brain, including endorphins and serotonin. If you feel like you are experiencing depression, it's important to go see a mental health or medical provider and get it evaluated. There are a lot of different causes of depression. It may not be that you need to take an antidepressant. You may. It may be due to a whole plethora of other reasons and a medical doctor can help you rule out some of those things like thyroid imbalances or sex hormone imbalances or inadequate sleep sleep apnea There are a lot of physical conditions that can be relatively easily addressed that may contribute to depression. If it is something that has more to do with your thinking style or your brain neurochemicals, then you can start addressing those too. You don't have to go through every single day feeling apathetic and feeling like you just have no motivation. I hope this was helpful. And remember, if you're experiencing a crisis right now, by all means call 911 or go to your nearest emergency.