Here’s What Your Loved Ones With High Functioning Anxiety And Depression Wish You Understood

The scariest part about high functioning anxiety and depression is that it’s not something you can clearly see. Sometimes, even the people you are around all of the time are still able to cover this up and keep it hidden.

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It could be happening to anyone around you. Think of any of the people in your daily life. It could be a mother, a father, a brother, a sister, a friend, a coworker, even someone that you look up to as a role model. The scariest part about high functioning anxiety and depression is that it’s not something you can clearly see. Sometimes, even the people you are around all of the time are still able to cover this up and keep it hidden.

When you’re sick you can go to the doctor, get medicine, and get better, all relatively quickly. Sure, there is medication for these things too, however, it isn’t as simple as that. Especially for a high functioning person battling these demons every day.

It’s not so easy to explain to people. It’s actually really friggen’ hard to try to explain to someone that you suffer from anxiety and depression when you’re a high functioning member of society that gets up every day and goes to work as well as maintaining many close social relationships in your life. This part is really difficult for people to understand.

For most people, it’s almost impossible for them to understand how you could be struggling internally when on the outside your life seems successful and filled with happiness.

1. It’s the feeling of having tons of friends, but some days just not wanting to see them.

How does one of the most social people of the friend group explain why they haven’t come to anything in days? How are you able to explain that some days the pain, depression, and anxiety just drowns you and you can’t get yourself to be around anyone?

2. It’s the feeling of being completely run down, even when you got countless hours of sleep.

You know that feeling when no matter how much sleep you get you will still be exhausted? Well, this comes and hits us out of nowhere. This comes on a random day, sucks the life out of us, and makes it absolutely impossible to do anything except stay in bed.

3. It’s the feeling of constantly thinking you’ve disappointed someone even when you’ve done nothing wrong.

Out of nowhere you will feel that someone is mad at you. The smallest negative gesture from one of your loved ones can send you into an over-thinking spiral of chaos wondering what you could have done wrong, and why this person may be upset with you.

4. It’s the feeling of being terrified to let someone down, even on the days the pain is barricading you.

You are the people pleaser. You want to make everyone happier. Hell, you make plans and obligations so you have to show up. There is no way you can try and explain this kind of “not feeling well” and why you weren’t able to make it. There are people relying on you.

5. It’s the constant self-criticism, overworking, and nothing that you do EVER being enough.

No matter how hard you work you feel that you could do better. No matter what praise or compliments you are receiving, you just don’t see it that way. It doesn’t matter how successful you are, there is always someone doing better and you constantly need to push yourself to that point—even when it exhausts you. Thought Catalog Logo Mark