How to Treat High-Functioning Depression

Treatment Options for High-Functioning Depression Clients

A client who once lived with high functioning depression once described their depressive symptoms as floating through their day as if they were behind a thin veil. On the surface, they kept up their outward appearances and daily responsibilities.

But behind the sheer fabric, they struggled with feelings of sadness and hopelessness. They hoped that someone, someday, would life the veil and offer support. But nobody lifted the veil to peek behind it, leaving them without any encouragement to see a mental health professional.

Icarus Behavioral Health Nevada does acknowledge high-functioning depression as a colloquial term that points out the existence of people whose depression is very real but who still manage to sleepwalk through life under a cloud of depressive symptoms. Despite starting as milder symptoms, their persistent feelings and low mood can have a dangerous impact.

Please continue reading to learn more about the symptoms of high-functioning depression and how we can address it to improve your overall well-being.

How Icarus Nevada Treats High-Functioning Depression

When you start your mental health recovery journey with the Icarus Nevada team, you can rest assured that you are in capable hands. We perform an in-depth analysis and ensure we have an accurate diagnosis. Then, we devise a custom treatment plan that balances behavioral therapies to help change your thought patterns and lifestyle changes.

The Role of a Mental Health Professional in Treating High-Functioning Depression

Clients receive psychotherapies individually and within peer support groups. We use techniques such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which helps challenge and change negative thought patterns. This technique can calm internal struggles and help clients live more fulfilling lives.

While CBT is one of the most common therapies, it’s just one example of the many techniques we offer at our mental health treatment center. Your healthcare provider will work to deliver a strategy that addresses the most common symptoms of high-functioning depression.

Antidepressant Medications for Managing High-functioning Depression

In addition to talk therapy, your mental health professional may also prescribe certain FDA-approved antidepressants. Although these words may sound a bit like medical jargon, it’s good to at least give you some familiarity with these FDA-approved medications:

• Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
• Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors
• Tricyclic antidepressants
• Monoamine oxidase inhibitors

These help stabilize and regulate mood and generally help with managing high-functioning depression.

Professional Support Means Learning Coping Strategies

To combat feelings of sadness associated with either high-functioning depression or the more severe form of depression, major depressive disorder, takes mastering coping mechanisms. Once you master these coping strategies, you will have a tool whenever life starts to feel overwhelming. We love these tools:

Relaxation Techniques

Certain techniques, such as deep breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, or gentle yoga stretches, have been proven by multiple studies to reduce stress and anxiety. These practices help you have a sense of calm and peace to keep your functioning depression under control.

Practicing Mindfulness

Mindfulness training teaches you to stay present in the “now,” and observe your feelings and thoughts without judging yourself. Mindfulness techniques include mindful meditation or mindful breathing exercises. These ground you and help lower the presence of negativity that can worsen high-functioning depression and other mental health conditions.

Visualization Activities

With visualization, you learn to build mental images to calm your mind. You’ll learn guided imagery, which helps you imagine a peaceful place that offers a brief retreat away from stress when high-functioning depression starts challenging your peace.

Self-Care Practices for High-Functioning Depression

Many people come for professional help without a clear understanding of the importance of self-care is for depression management. They confuse the idea of caring for themselves with selfishness. But that is far from true; in fact, you become a better, more compassionate caretaker of others when you know how to take care of your needs. Here are some self-care practices we encourage:

• Getting regular exercise daily
• Eating a well-balanced diet (whatever healthy diet works best for you)
• Managing your well-being despite what family members or friends have going on in their day-to-day lives
• Setting boundaries so you don’t overextend yourself or take on an unfair share of responsibilities
• Seeking professional help when your well-being is at risk
• Pursuing new goals or trying new hobbies
• Getting enough sleep every night
• Attending local depression support groups
• Taking 10 minutes a day to meditate or sit quietly (alone, if you prefer)
• Pursuing healthy relationships and leaving behind those that no longer fit your lifestyle

Doing any of these things helps you acknowledge that you are a person of value. This recognition can be a vital step in working on overcoming a mental illness like high-functioning depression. With regular practice makes you feel worthy, leading to better overall well-being.

Robyn Reclaimed Her Freedom from High-functioning Depression

A past client, ‘Robyn,’ has struggled with high-functioning depression since early adolescence. For almost two decades, she managed to hide the pain of the symptoms despite feeling like the pain of depression. Her parents were old school and believed that mental illnesses were not to be discussed, so she learned to hide her reality from others.

She graduated high school, then college, landed a teaching job, married the love of her life, and earned a Master’s Degree. While her family members and spouse knew about her depression, not a single other person had ever picked up on it. Not once. Not ever.

To the rest of the world, Robyn was a wonderful community member and the best teacher. The kids called her “chill.” But her low energy level, which actually helped the kids stay super calm, was truly part of her PDD. After delivering her first baby, the combination of post-partum and high-functioning depression led Robyn to an emotional breaking point.

She was so tired – both from the demands of new motherhood and the years of untreated depression – that she could barely get out of bed. She would rise enough to care for the infant and get right back under the covers.

She no longer showered, brushed her hair, or got dressed. Her concerned spouse suggested that since the end of her maternity leave would align with school closing for the summer, perhaps Robyn should seek professional care. Because of growing up in a family that stigmatized her mental health condition, the thought had not occurred to her.

Choosing Icarus for Support to Overcome PPD and Depressive Disorders

While researching treatment centers, she learned about the outpatient depression treatment program at Icarus, which was close to her home. She reserved herself a spot to coincide with the upcoming summer break. Icarus accepted her insurance plan, which cost her $0 out-of-pocket.

Robyn learned that she could manage her depression through a combination of psychotherapy, prescription medications and regular exercise to release her stress. She also received family therapy, where she learned to communicate her needs to her spouse, including asking for more hands-on help looking after their new baby.

Robyn did great after she completed her depression treatment. She returned to school an even stronger teacher. She’s still low-key by nature but has enough energy left each day to return home to her baby and has a more positive outlook about her future.

Robyn always teaches the children in her classroom how it’s okay to be honest about their feelings, even the ‘bad’ ones. Also, she found a community-based depression support group and has committed to weekly attendance as part of her self-care plan and apart from her care of their new baby.

Living With Persistent Depressive Disorder

High-functioning depression is not an official diagnosis included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5). That doesn’t make it any less painful to those experiencing high-functioning depression in daily life.

The symptoms of this mental illness can refer to mild depressive symptoms and share significant overlap with Persistent Depressive Disorder, or dysthymia. To a lesser degree, it also shares an overlap with premenstrual dysphoric disorder symptoms.

Persistent Depressive Disorder (PDD) Differs from Major Depressive Disorder

Unlike major depressive disorder, with more obvious and debilitating symptoms, high-functioning depression often goes unnoticed by others.

Those with PDD go to school or work, maintain relationships, and make it through everyday life. Nobody notices the depression. As mentioned in the veil analogy earlier, they recognize their symptoms but others walk by and take no notice of their struggles.

They have learned to mask their declining mental health and look fine to others. Meanwhile, they are experiencing depression on the inside. This situation has earned high-functioning depression a similar secondary name – functional depression.

Symptoms of High-functioning Depression

What are the signs of high-functioning depression? Here are some things to help you recognize it:

• Persistent low mood (this often looks like a low-key person)
• Persistent sadness
• Loss of interest in once pleasurable hobbies or activities
• Low energy levels; fatigued or drained feeling
• Low self-esteem or feelings of worthlessness
• Difficulty concentrating or lacking focus on tasks
• Sleep disturbances: can’t fall asleep or get enough sleep
• “Checking out,” or avoiding stressful life events altogether
• Changes in appetite
• Hopelessness
• Irritability or moodiness

With high-functioning depression, these are usually mild to moderate. However, you may notice occasional moments when the person lifts the veil and offers you a fleeting glimpse of the ever-developing depression.

Untreated High-functioning Depression May Lead to Mental Health Challenges

If the person does not start managing depression symptoms, the depressive symptoms can continue to worsen. Some develop other mental health conditions, including anxiety or substance use challenges. In worst-case scenarios, someone can plunge into deeper depressive disorders or even have suicidal ideation.

A lack of tools for managing high-functioning depression can also cause physical symptoms. It can lead to chronic pain, headaches, stress-induced high blood pressure, or stomach issues.

People with high functioning often have the symptoms of their mental disorders “missed” by those who know them. Still, they deserve relief from this mild form of clinical depression.

What Causes High-functioning Depression?

Science has not yet pinpointed the exact causes of high-functioning depression. Most believe that it comes from a combination of several life factors:

• Family history of severe depression or poor mental health
• Brain chemistry or abnormal connections in how the brain signals
• Certain personality traits
• Trauma or adverse childhood experiences
• Chronic illness, which leads to a cycle of negative thought patterns that become hard to break

Although the exact cause might not be known, high-functioning depression symptoms often have significant improvements after treatment by a mental health professional. It’s also interesting to note that studies reveal that women are almost twice as likely to develop PDD than males.

Get Effective Treatment for High-functioning Depression at Icarus Nevada

Are you ready for relief from high-functioning depression? We’d love to hear from you and learn more about how we can help you manage your high-functioning depression and lead a happier life. Call us today.

All calls are confidential, so please reach out now to get proven, accredited support for yourself or your loved one with our caring, expert staff.