high-functioning depression

Y'all, I want to understand High functioning Depression so that I can understand my friend better. I do wish she would try to understand my inability to function at the level she can. She doesn't get it at all and tends to seem judgemental towards me. However, my perception may be off, since she is very high-strung and boisterous in the way she communicates.

In the meantime I have been depressed for more than 9 months. During that time, it's all I could do was just get out of bed. Almost everything came to a halt ...personal hygiene, cleaning my apartment, talking to family members, etc..all out the window. Now, my mood has lifted but I still struggle with daily tasks. I have no motivation. My friend tells me she just does it anyway. Sigh...I would love for it to be that way for me. I know her struggle is real..
Just different from mine..but the low mood, not wanting to eat, tiredness, and anxiety are what we share. #Depression #Anxiety

I try my best to understand how she.manages to get everything that needs doing done. It's hard. But I keep reminding myself, she is struggling too and that she's not any better than me.

Can any of you share your insight, experiences etc? Thank you in advance.
#Depression #Anxiety #insecurity #Friendship #Understanding

Im at the start of a depressive episode and idk what to do, all I’m doing is sleeping and kinda eating and I haven’t showered since Wednesday. No one would really know tho, I’ve been putting on makeup, going to work, changing my clothes so I don’t smell. But I’m breaking down. #HighfunctioningDepression

I believe high functioning in regards to mental illness can mean different things for each person, for me it’s meant things such as holding down a job, maintaining my own money, keeping track of my health and booking my own appointments and just generally taking care of myself.
This has easily made some people think that it cancels out how severe my mental illness is, but obviously that’s not the case. In fact it’s really frustrating trying to explain how bad my depressive or manic episodes can get when people see that I can still manage my life.
It’s been both a blessing and a curse for me to be high functioning, so much so that I rarely label myself as it anymore. I’ve had psychiatrists not believe me when I say I’ve been suicidal simply because I haven’t hit their version of what my lowest point should be, I’ve had people look at me puzzled when I say I’ve been depressed for the last couple of months simply because I’ve still shown up for work or I’ve been posting on social media that I’ve been going out etc. In fact, there’s been more times than I can count when someone’s said to me that I look happy and well when in fact I’ve been far from it.
Depression doesn’t always come off in the form of breaking someone down to the point where they aren’t able to do anything, it can linger in the back of someone’s mind, come in the form of intrusive thoughts or even just a heavy feeling in the pit of their stomach that won’t go away. Or all of the above.
I’ve always felt this kind of pressure to maintain my high functioning appearance because it’s how people know me, and if I break down than people will just assume I’ll bounce back as I always do and leave me alone.
There’s nothing worse than opening up and getting the feeling no one believes you, which fuels the stigma around mental illness as well. It shouldn’t take a massive breakdown from someone for them to be taken seriously, any time someone’s decided to open up they should be heard and not have people dismiss their feelings based on how they’ve seen them acting. Only in a perfect world though huh. #MentalHealth #HighfunctioningDepression #Depression #BipolarDepression #BipolarDisorder #Anxiety

I’m new here this is my first post. I would like to say a few things, I’m 25 and I am married and I have a beautiful little girl, I’m working 4 days doing construction work a week. For some reason, I can’t put a pin where it started somewhere when it was, probably 18 ish my depression started. Depression is weird for me because I have my old self to compare myself to that wasn’t depressed that was not 10 years ago. It’s not living in the past like I’m reliving memories , it’s analyzing my actions and words to who I am now. That’s just the beginning, throw failed attempts at finding religion, politics and hobbies and relationships and add time and poor decisions, you hve a new me, with many other factors. I seem to be living in this, space between not wanting to live and not wanting to die. I get up every day and do my duty and be this and be that, my mind is slipping into blank emptiness but at the same time I am able to feel a low vibrating sadness throughout me all the time, everyday. At the end of the day or beginning I should say, I smile and act like society has trained me but inside, is longing for a place or state of mind somewhere something different but my mind gets dark and convinces myself that the solution is death, but it is not. Some of us have made that choice. But I will not. I can’t do that to my daughter. So I survive and struggle for a tiny human being whom I love.

#HighfunctioningDepression

My depression is so high functioning that it functions better than me. #HighfunctioningDepression #Dissociation