Seven signs of high functioning depression

[Attilatheblond]

Gotta figure a lot of people here can relate. To be aware and keeping up with news likely means being depressed too.
Interesting little article might be comforting. It's not just you and not just me. It's what happens.

https://wapo.st/435QS1X]

The seven signs of high-functioning depression highlighted in Meltzer’s video include:

Isolating from friends and family.
No longer finding joy in the activities you loved.
Persistently criticizing yourself.
Frustration with small irritations or setbacks.
Turning to mindless habits for hours on end.
Always feeling low on energy.
Managing day-to-day tasks but feeling empty inside.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. What do I win? NT

[Attilatheblond]

2. Maybe not some pills

They often mess with other parts of people and that isn't always so helpful.

[yagotme]

8. A nice trip, escorted by those nice young men, in their clean white coats,

and a sweater with the arms that tie in the back..

[markodochartaigh]

25. A nice trip, escorted

*subject to insurance approval

[yagotme]

27. Well, you had to bring that up...

But, if it's court-mandated, do I still have to pay??

"They're coming to take me away, ha ha, to the funny farm,..."

[underpants]

31. 😆

No kidding. I checked off quite a few.

[dclarston13]

50. 100% here

what is the prize??

[mahatmakanejeeves]

53. I don't know, but second prize is twice as much of it. NT

[LiberalLoner]

58. Me too

[Attilatheblond]

3. Found the part about depression sometimes manifesting in anger to possibly explain a lot about life in the USA today

Long time ago, I flippantly suggested America needs crop dusters to hose us all off with anti-depressants. Might be time to dust off that old whimsical hare brained scheme.

[grumpyduck]

15. Crop duster drones

directed by the Jewish space lasers? Love it.

[Attilatheblond]

19. OK

[ret5hd]

18. One other thing about anger:

I have read that pre-diabetes and diabetes can cause anger and rage episodes.

Since reading that, i have often wondered about all this road-rage stuff, and how much of it may be caused by undiagnosed diabetes.

Just looking at my friends/neighbors/city-mates, i think almost everyone would be doing themselves a favor by getting their A1C level tested.

[2naSalit]

36. So...

Just what IS A1C?

I hear it mentioned in ads all the time but I have no idea what they are talking about.

[Marthe48]

38. It's a lab test

Shows how your body used glucose the last 3 months. A good A1C is lower than 5. Over 7 is not. The result might not come back as other lab tests. A1C has a longer name, too. I missed it when I looked at my labs on my hospital access last time.
Our daughter is a renal dietitian.

[2naSalit]

44. Thanks...

It has always been a mystery to me.

[keep_left]

60. Glycated (or glycosylated) hemoglobin.

It's also sometimes abbreviated HbA1c on lab tests.

[ScratchCat]

4. I can admit to a solid five of them

I can't say I turn to mindless habits for hours on end, and I don't persistently criticize myself, but the rest are me for sure.

[Attilatheblond]

5. One can reach an age where one realizes persistantly criticizing ones self is pointless

Oddly, I find some of my best insights come while doing mundane chores that don't take a lot of brain waves. Not sure that equals 'mindless habits'. If it does, it might be semi-productive for me.

[Mme. Defarge]

11. That

and I am constantly criticizing myself.

[Mossfern]

6. I've been diagnosed

I don't take pills.
I can force myself to function.

[Marthe48]

39. I have depression and anxiety

I tried meds, decided to take it on the chin.

[Mossfern]

40. Yup

Depression, anxiety, PTSD in the mix.
EMDR didn't work - I have xanax for panic attacks

It sucks

[Unwind Your Mind]

63. Music and walking in nature

Are my meds, maybe the green stuff too

[Martin68]

66. Likewise. Being outdoors, in particular, is a great help.

[twodogsbarking]

48. Be careful it doesn't affect your physical health, especially digestive issues.

There is a tight bond between your gut and brain and one can affect the other and vice versa.
Best to ya.

[Mossfern]

49. Yes,

my therapist suggested I read The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
I highly recommend the book.

I'm considering switching to a neurophysiological therapist....if I can afford it.

[twodogsbarking]

52. The Second Brain. Michael Gershon.

[atreides1]

7. I have 5 of the 7

What do I win if I get all of them?

[Gore1FL]

10. I keep winning the desire to take a nap. nt

[Attilatheblond]

20. Copy that one

Nearly fell asleep making the bed.

[sarisataka]

9. Gin!

[rubbersole]

12. And tequila 🤪!

[littlemissmartypants]

13. ....

[limbicnuminousity]

14. I think

the Covid lockdown literally traumatized many people. Most people are hardwired to respond poorly to isolation, a remnant of times when being kicked out of the tribe was a death sentence. Just a suspicion, but I think PTSD and terror management theory explains a fair bit of some of the more insane behavior witnessed over the last few years in the US. There's a lot of behavior that seems reflexive, not thought out, as if individuals are trying to reassert control over their lives and environ. The policies are similar to what conservatives have always aimed for but there is an urgency to their actions that seems pathological to me.

[Evolve Dammit]

22. The covid pandemic also spawned another epidemic; substance abuse. PTSD as well

[Skittles]

55. I think a sign of real depression

is if the lockdowns didn't really change your life much

[electric_blue68]

59. Very interesting thoughts about isolation. ...

While not the only way I get energy (music, creative pursuits, hanging out w friends f2f, phone) I love walking parts of Manhattan in particular, parts of Downtown Brooklyn when I lived there.

Not in overcrowded areas, but a well walked street w stores, restaurants, interesting architecture, mini parks. I get energy from being around people, as well as enjoying being by myself.

And at 70, near 71 still feeling cautious about being in more peopled areas (where I used to be). I'm all vaxxed, maxxed, and masked.
I might try being out more this later Spring, and the nicer weather of Summer in parts of Mahattan esp where I can sit in a park, too. 👍

[elocs]

16. I'm a schizoid who is retired as opposed to a retired schizoid.

I can do the social sprint but have no interest in the social marathon. I am very friendly, but I have no friends and I'm fine with that. I am depressed because I'm not allowed to see the one person who means the most to me, my adult daughter. But I am high functioning as much as I need to function.

[SunSeeker]

28. Why are you not allowed to see your daughter? nt

[elocs]

35. She is in a mental health care facility with a legal guardian appointed by the state

and the person who hates me the most in the world, her mother, has the ear of her guardian. So I have neither seen nor talked with her for over a year now and I've never been told the reason. (My daughter is 32.)

[SunSeeker]

45. That's must be torture.

I'm so sorry you are going through this.

[elocs]

47. Thanks. It is hard because she is just an hour's drive away.

We can't see each other or talk, but I wonder why they didn't figure out that as soon as she was allowed online and could use the computers that she would email me, which we've done for most of the past 8 or 9 months. I send her packages from Amazon that don't say who they are from so I guess they assume they are from her mother. She is basically isolated from any friends or family. Her mother visited her twice last year when at the same place I used to visit her every week and we went out on a 4 or 5 hour pass.
I never imagined that as bad as things were that they would get worse, but they did.

[progressoid]

17. Been doing that for a couple decades.

[kimbutgar]

21. My older sister is like that

The only joy she has is her cat. If I don’t call her I won’t hear from her. Once a month I set up a hair appointment for us and if I don’t call her and set it up it doesn’t happen.

[Evolve Dammit]

23. I had several friends that I never hear from anymore, even when reaching out. The depression is wide-spread IMHO

[maxsolomon]

24. Mindless habits are comforting.

I've been cataloging my vinyl records. I can turn off the overthinking for a half hour and just do.

It's better than watching MSNBC talk about Trump more.

[Boomerproud]

30. Turned on CNN for literally 30 seconds and almost threw something at the tv.

I knew this election season would be unbearable but I can't take their droning on and on every day any more.

[maxsolomon]

34. Sign No. 4, I believe.

Frustration with small irritations.

Rather than friends and family, I'm avoiding the news lately.

[Orrex]

26. Meh. You're describing any day with an "A" in it

Hey, wait a minute!

[Hope22]

37. I hear that..

…I have some stuff that didn’t make the list! I wonder what comes after high functioning? 😁

[SunSeeker]

29. Pretty much me since Trump was elected.

I lost contact with a lot of Trumper relatives. And lost faith in humanity.

And I spend way too much time on DU.

[mobeau69]

41. That sick fuck has caused a lot of damage.

A lot.

[BunnyMcGee]

32. Yay

Me on all counts. Back to bed.

[Hekate]

33. No kidding

[et tu]

42. and he has plans

for more 'downtime' for us- ugh!

[Martin68]

43. I don't understand how "separation from friends and family" qualify as a characteristic of high-functioning depression.

That is a clear sign of disfunction. I've suffered from high-functioning depression, but without friends and family I would have been lost.

[limbicnuminousity]

62. Sometimes

the healthiest option to pursue is to separate from friends and family. Especially for the young raised in conservative areas.

[Martin68]

64. I understand that situation, but without that clarification, it would not pity be

considered "a sign of high functioning depression." Quite the opposite, in fact.

[twodogsbarking]

46. I think they call it depression because to other people you looked depressed.

Actually, being depressed is a feeling and many who suffer from depression feel nearly nothing.
You know how you should feel but you don't. Eventually not much if anything matters. It is all the same.
Your brain betrays you. When you realize it you end up battling yourself because it is all so fucked up.
You once had good and bad days but now only bad days, even when things are actually great.
It happens not unlike other common illnesses.

[Skittles]

57. an aunt told me

"I have bad days when I feel bad, and I have good days when I feel nothing"......that's chronic depression

[Farmer-Rick]

61. Good point

I felt invincible, but not in a good way, when my spouse died.

It's that I felt that nothing but my loss had any meaning, so I could do anything. The one person in the world I wanted to see, I would never see, so I just didn't care

I didn't care if I lived or died....not that I went out of my way to try to die. It was just that I had no fear of anything because nothing mattered. Nothing mattered because I felt nothing.

That TV series "After Life" with Ricky Gervais touched on it when he stood up to the mugger. He wasn't afraid of dying or getting hurt. He felt nothing, so he fought the would be thief off.

You have to feel nothing in order to fear nothing, unless your a psychopath.

[Martin68]

65. I'm not sure I understand your point. I've suffered from high-functioning depression - I suffered

classic symptoms of depression but was able to function well in a job and social situations. It did occasionally cause problems in those areas, however.

[twodogsbarking]

68. From your replies to others I can see that you don't understand.

[Martin68]

69. Please tell me what it is I misunderstand. If the situation assumed for not having relationships with

friends and family is confined to those living in politically extreme families or social situations, shouldn't that be stated? Are there other situations where someone is considered high functioning even if they are isolated from family and friends? You are coming very close to gaslighting me by simply dismissing me with "you don't understand." I've lived with depression and know what I'm talking about.

[twodogsbarking]

70. You stated more than once in comments that you didn't understand.

[Martin68]

71. Meaning you did not provide enough information, or the right kind of information, to be understood. I

have been politely asking for a clarification or an answer to my question regarding your assumptions and your only reply was "you don't understand." That's just rude.

[twodogsbarking]

72. My apologies.

[RandySF]

51. This is me on a bad day.

Getting better, though.

[chowder66]

54. Weird. I just looked into this yesterday reading about the dancer Stephen "Twitch" Boss.

[TexasBushwhacker]

56. 45 years and counting

At least I didn't have kids and spread it to the next generation.

[Polybius]

67. "Turning to mindless habits for hours on end"

Define mindless. I'm online sometimes 10 hours a day, but to me it's fine and not mindless.