In a city that often celebrates your achievements and resilience, it’s easy to miss the silent battles you face behind closed doors. High-functioning depression is one such struggle that frequently goes unnoticed in NYC because of the deceptive mask of success and apparent well-being you wear. Unlike traditional depression, where you might find it challenging to even get out of bed, you manage to maintain a facade of normalcy while silently grappling with your inner demons at work and in relationships. In this blog, we explore this intricate phenomenon and uncover the underlying causes.
The Deceptive Facade: High Functioning Depression
High functioning depression defines your ability to outwardly perform daily tasks and fulfill responsibilities, often to an impressive extent, all the while internally contending with overwhelming sadness, emptiness, and despair. When you’re experiencing this type of depression in NYC, the stark contrast between your outward appearance and inner reality can lead to misunderstandings and disbelief when you choose to open up about your struggles.
Causes of High Functioning Depression
Perfectionism and Self-Criticism:
If you often find yourself setting exceptionally high standards and striving for perfection across different aspects of your life, it’s possible that you’re unintentionally adding to your challenges with high-functioning depression. Your unwavering pursuit of flawlessness could be fostering a persistent fear of failure and intense self-critique. Depression causes this internal pressure you’ve cultivated to intensify into feelings of inadequacy, ultimately propelling you towards symptoms of high functioning depression.
Emotional Suppression:
Perhaps you’re skilled at appearing composed and in control even when you’re dealing with intense emotional turmoil. This skill might have become a way to protect your outward image, but it’s preventing you from truly processing and addressing your feelings. Depression causes eventual emotional suppression. Over time, bottling up these emotions can lead to a sense of isolation and disconnection from your own emotions and needs, but depression therapy can help.
Chronic Stress and Overexertion:
If you find yourself constantly taking on more responsibilities and pushing yourself to meet demanding goals, it’s possible that chronic stress is taking a toll on your mental health. Even though you might excel in your endeavors, the unrelenting stress can deplete your emotional and mental resources, leaving you vulnerable to depressive symptoms. Juggling numerous tasks while dealing with internal struggles can eventually lead to burnout and worsen your depression.
Social Expectations and Pressures:
You might feel the weight of societal expectations keenly – the pressure to succeed, achieve, and maintain a positive image. This pressure can be particularly overwhelming for you, compelling you to uphold a facade of happiness and competence, even when you’re struggling inside. This constant need to meet external expectations can create a profound sense of isolation as you fear that opening up about your struggles might shatter the image you’ve worked so hard to build. Depression therapy can address the societal pressures and expectations that you struggle with as it exacerbates high functioning depression.
Unresolved Trauma or Grief:
If you carry unresolved traumatic experiences or have experienced significant losses in your past, they may be influencing your high-functioning depression. These encounters could be casting a shadow over your emotional well-being, giving rise to emotions like hopelessness, sadness, and despair. Even though you’ve become skilled at compartmentalizing these feelings, it’s important to acknowledge that they could resurface and play a part in your high functioning depression symptoms as time passes.
Biological Factors:
Just like everyone else, your genetic makeup could make you more susceptible to high-functioning depression. Elements like neurochemical imbalances and hormonal changes can impact the regulation of your mood and contribute to the development of depressive symptoms.
Lack of Self-Care:
If you often prioritize external accomplishments over your own well-being, you might be neglecting your basic needs like proper sleep, nutrition, and exercise. This neglect could be intensifying your depressive symptoms. Additionally, not taking care of yourself robs you of potential coping mechanisms that could help alleviate your emotional distress. Depression causes neglect in self-care, but lacking this initially can worsen the growing signs of high functioning depression.
Seek depression therapy in NYC today!
Depression in NYC can be rough. If you’re struggling with high functioning depression, reach out to Uncover Mental Health Counseling and try depression therapy. Our NYC depression therapist can help. Follow these simple steps to get started:
- Contact us at Uncover Mental Health Counseling to schedule a free consultation call.
- Meet with a depression therapist in NYC for your first session.
- Start receiving the support you need to cope with depression in NYC!
