hey there everybody and welcome to ten signs
of high-functioning depression I am your host dr. dawn elise 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 need
all the criteria for a major depressive disorder you may still be going to work and doing your
day to day things but a lot of times it 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 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 no 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 start 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 gonna 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 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're carrying around a hundred pound rucksack on your back every step you take feels
like your muscles are having to work ten 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 at best 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 one o'clock in the morning and you can't get back to sleep so a combination of
both this is a 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 thirty 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 ten 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 but typically are high in fat and carbohydrates
why because high fat high carbohydrate foods prompt the release of feel-good chemicals in
our brain including endorphins and serotonin if you feel like you're 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 neuro
chemicals 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 nearest emergency room