Latest news with #HighFunctioning
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
7 Signs of 'High-Functioning Depression,' According to a Columbia-Trained Psychiatrist
Parade aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission. "You don't seem depressed," is a comment nobody with depression wants to hear. It doesn't change the reality of how you're feeling, and the skepticism doesn't offer any actual support. If anything, this type of statement might make you feel like something else is wrong with you or cause you to self-gaslight. However, you might be experiencing signs of high-functioning depression (HFD), according to a psychiatrist. "Just because someone isn't crying or sad doesn't mean they aren't struggling," Dr. Judith Joseph, MD, MBA, tells Parade. For example, "Anhedonia is a common symptom of HFD," she continues. "It is a lack of pleasure in things that once brought you joy." Not enjoying something that you used to love might be easy to ignore or disregard. You're busy, after all! But it's worth paying attention to and flagging. We live in a world where productivity is prized and staying busy can look like a successful life. However, even if things "look good" from the outside, if you're living out of an abundance of stress, your mental health is likely suffering. Parade aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission. Related: 7 Signs of Depression Most People Miss, According to Mental Health Experts How To Explain Depression to Someone Who Doesn't Have It "Depression results in a sad mood or 'anhedonia,' which is a lack of interest and pleasure in things," explains Dr. Joseph, author of High Functioning (April 8). "Additionally, depression must have at least five of the following symptoms (below), and the symptoms must cause a decrease in functioning or distress." "High-functioning depression is the same," she continues. "However, instead of losing functioning or being in distress, people tend to over-function." Related: This Is the #1 Early Depression Sign Most People Miss 7 Signs of High-Functioning Depression (HFD) 1. Fatigue "High-functioning depression often brings with it unrelenting fatigue," Dr. Joseph shares. "It's not the kind of tiredness that a good night's sleep can fix. Even when you've rested, you still feel physically and mentally drained. This exhaustion can affect your performance at work or your ability to enjoy your hobbies and time with loved ones." 2. Difficulty Concentrating "Concentrating on tasks or making decisions can become unexpectedly challenging," Dr. Joseph tells Parade. "You might find it harder to focus at work or even choose what to have for dinner. This cognitive fog can be frustrating and lead to feelings of inadequacy." 3. Irritability "High-functioning depression can make you more irritable than usual," she explains. "You might find yourself easily annoyed or agitated by small things that wouldn't have bothered you in the past. This change in your emotional responses can affect your relationships and work life." 4. Changes in Appetite "Pay attention to your eating habits—high-functioning depression can lead to significant changes in appetite," Dr. Joseph warns. "Some people may lose interest in food, leading to weight loss, while others may turn to food for comfort, resulting in weight gain. These changes are often linked to emotional distress." 5. Sleep Disturbances "Your sleep patterns may also be disrupted," she shares. "You might struggle with insomnia, making it difficult to fall asleep or stay asleep throughout the night. Conversely, you might find yourself oversleeping, unable to muster the energy to get out of bed." 6. Physical Symptoms "High-functioning depression can manifest as physical symptoms, such as unexplained headaches, digestive problems, or various aches and pains," Dr. Joseph says. "These symptoms can sometimes be the body's way of expressing the emotional distress you're experiencing." 7. Social Withdrawal "One of the telltale signs of high-functioning depression is social withdrawal," she explains. "You might begin to isolate yourself from friends and family, even if you were once outgoing and sociable. The effort required to engage in social activities can feel overwhelming." Related: Psychologists Are Begging People To Pay Attention to These 11 Early Signs of Loneliness The Difference Between Depression and HFD "Our current healthcare system requires physicians, therapists and insurance companies to require a significant loss in functioning or emotional distress before you can code and bill for depression," Dr. Joseph explains. "You need to have symptoms of depression like changes in sleep, mood, energy and a significant loss of functioning (or significant distress) to meet criteria for clinical depression." Unfortunately, this can make it more difficult for individuals to get the help and support they need. "There are millions of us who don't meet criteria for clinical depression, despite having symptoms of depression, because we are still functioning," she continues. "We push through pain, and instead of breaking down and losing functioning, we are pathologically productive. We overwork and overproduce to distract from negative emotions." Just because HFD looks different than "typical" depression doesn't mean it doesn't need to be addressed. "We know from evidence-based science that constant mental stress leads to poor physical and mental health outcomes," Dr. Joseph explains. "We have a choice: we can wait and react when people break down, or we can proactively prevent these negative outcomes from happening." Related: 11 Phrases That Signal a Person's Lonely, According to Psychologists Risk Factors of HFD "Since publishing the research, I have had several people from academic institutions around the world reach out to inquire about the risk factors of HFD," Dr. Joseph shares. "What I have found in my study that trauma is a risk factor. A prestigious trauma institute in Europe was curious about the types of traumas that makes people prone to HFD. While we need more research in this area, it is likely that people use overworking and staying busy as a trauma response to avoid coping with past emotional pain." The trauma may lead to people-pleasing tendencies in individuals with HFD as well. "People pleasers tend to bend over backwards and put other people's joy ahead of themselves," Dr. Joseph says. "They may experience anhedonia, because they do not prioritize their own joy and put other people's interests ahead of themselves." "People with HFD tend to overwork in all areas of their lives," she continues. "This tendency to overwork and people please may stem from unprocessed trauma. Feeling unlovable and unworthy are trauma responses, and perhaps unresolved trauma leads these people to busy themselves to feel worthy of acceptance and love as well as approval." Up Next: Related: The Unexpected Depression Sign a Geriatrician Is Begging People Over 50 to Pay Attention To Source: Dr. Judith Joseph, MD, MBACourtesy Dr. Judith Joseph
CNBC
29-04-2025
- Health
- CNBC
Psychiatrist: The surprising dark side of being highly successful—and 5 tools that can help
Depression doesn't look the same for everyone. In fact, even some of the most productive people, who always achieve their goals can still suffer from the mood disorder. Symptoms of depression can include feeling hopeless, losing interest in things that used to be exciting, tiredness, and reduced appetite. Although it's not a clinical diagnosis, "high-functioning depression" is a term used to describe "anyone who is grappling with mental health issues while accomplishing their day-to-day tasks and upholding their responsibilities," according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. "People with high-functioning depression, they're overly functioning. When they sit still, they feel empty. When they're not busy, they feel restless," says Dr. Judith Joseph, a board-certified psychiatrist and author of "High Functioning." Experiencing trauma like financial woes or a painful childhood can cause certain people to experience high-functioning depression by channeling their emotions through productivity, she explains in her book. If you're experiencing symptoms of depression, it's important to consult with your doctor or a mental health professional. Still, there are small things you can do day-to-day to help cope. Joseph created a framework to combat high-functioning depression that she derived from treating patients across age groups. She calls it "the five V's." "The five V's remind you of the five fingers, because joy is within our hands. We just need to know how to grasp it," she tells CNBC Make It. Joseph doesn't advise attempting all five V's at once because they should provide relief not additional stress. "I think high-functioning people like to do a lot," she says. Instead, she encourages this more measured approach: "Tap into one or two every day with the intention of 'I'm going to try to get one point of joy today.'" "Validation is acknowledging and accepting how you feel, which is very difficult for people who are high-functioning to do," Joseph says. Although it may be uncomfortable, identifying and coming to terms with how you're feeling can be therapeutic and lead to joy. "When we can't identify our emotions, we get confused," Joseph says. "Some of us confuse anxiety for anger, so we act irritable when we're actually worried. So it's important to be able to name your emotion and accept it." Being able to express your feelings authentically and in a healthy way is necessary to process your emotions. Joseph suggests venting with intention, which means asking for feedback that can help you come up with a solution to the problem — whatever it may be. "If you're going to vent to someone who's not a therapist, ask for emotional consent," she says. For example, you could preface the conversation by saying, "I really need to vent right now. Would that be okay with you?" "You want to check in and make sure the person has the capacity to hear you out, because you don't want to feel rejected. And you don't want to overwhelm someone." Journaling, singing, praying or even crying are also forms of venting. Joseph suggests you choose a healthy way of expression that best aligns with you. In her research, Joseph has found that people with high-functioning depression can fall into patterns of chasing things like clout, money, accolades and achievements. Instead, she suggests focusing on finding your values, the things that bring you joy and give your life meaning. Ask yourself, "What are the things that actually give you meaning and purpose in life?" she says. "Tap into those every day." Prioritizing your physical health can lead to positive effects on your mental health. When you're not feeling like yourself, Joseph says to focus on answering this question: "What are some ways I can support my mind-body connection?" You can start by paying closer attention to the foods you eat, how often you're moving your body and whether you're getting enough good sleep. "There are these non-traditional vitals that we often neglect like the quality of our relationships, whether or not we have a healthy relationship with technology, whether or not we have a good work-life balance," she says. If you're aware of gaps in these areas, you can work to improve them. The final V is all about leaving the past behind and moving forward in life. "This is a reminder to practice joy, and plan joy in the future because many of us get so busy we forget to do this," Joseph says. Your vision of the future may also include what you plan to do after daily tasks like dropping your kids off to school on time. Joseph recommends celebrating those moments in small, meaningful ways like having a cup of coffee or putting your feet up during a free pocket of time.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The Women's Health Initiative Is the Latest DOGE Victim—What This Means for Midlife Women's Health
In a country where women were essentially left out of major health research and clinical trials until the 1990s, we can't afford to widen the women's health research gap any further. However this week, the Trump administration's 'Department of Government Efficiency' majorly slashed research budgets for the National Institutes of Health-funded Women's Health Initiative (WHI), which is the largest and longest running project of its kind devoted to women's health, from researching menopause treatments and mental health to more. Ongoing research with the WHI has supported more than 42,000 female study participants, ranging from ages 78 to 108; some people have even been involved in the large-scale study since the early 1990s, during which over 160,000 women participated. The initiative has been responsible for diagnosing 38,000 cancer cases and documenting 38,000 cardiovascular events, according to the WHI. More from Flow Space I Tried an Under-$25 Skincare Line Created Especially for Menopausal Skin The irony is that cutting funding for decades worth of research in progress isn't by any means efficient, as the DOGE claims. 'When you think about cutting waste and fraud, it's actually creating more waste if you're not allowing people to finish the projects that they started,' says Dr. Judith Joseph, chair of the Women in Medicine Initiative at Columbia University, assistant clinical professor at NYU Langone Medical Center, psychiatrist, researcher, and author of the book High Functioning. Joseph, who has worked on both her own clinical research in a New York City-based lab that she leads and NIH-funded research throughout her career, emphasizes that cutting research short does not allow researchers to reach the essential conclusions they need to about health conditions. What else do you need to know about the implications of these research budget cuts, and is there anything that can be done about it? The answer is yes, but it needs to be an all-hands-on-deck situation. The landmark WHI study has been so monumental for understanding risk factors for certain outcomes, including heart disease in women, dementia in women, osteoporosis in women, fibroids, postpartum depression and mental health conditions related to perimenopause and menopause, says Joseph. And the point it to use this data for preventative healthcare—not just being reactive to a dementia diagnosis or a heart attack once it happens. Because women were not studied in major research trials until the early 1990s, there's still a gap in understanding everything we need to know about these conditions. So much funding is allocated to treat certain conditions, but more needs to continue to be allocated toward research to better understand the preventative side of medicine and relieve so much strain on the healthcare system. 'Half the population is understudied, and we're missing opportunities to cut waste to the healthcare system,' adds Joseph. It's crucial for research to be done, specifically in women as opposed to just in men and the data estimated or adapted for women, as it had been for decades. Certain health conditions, especially as women age, have different symptoms and effects in women than in men. 'We know that women experience more frailty than men, have more cognitive loss, present with cardiovascular disease differently than men and make up more of nursing home populations,' says Dr. Mindy Goldman, a San Francisco-based OB-GYN and chief clinical officer at Midi Health. 'Cutting off funding for critical women's health research means less understanding of cardiovascular disease in women, osteoporosis in women and cognitive loss in women.' These cuts to 30 years worth of key data are not only harmful to women's health but also diminish women's role in society, Goldman adds. But there are a few things we can do to potentially make a difference. Contact Your State Legislators 'It's true that the NIH is the largest funder of medical research in the country—but that doesn't mean that there aren't other avenues to pursue,' explains Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, an attorney, author, executive director of the Birnbaum Women's Leadership Center at NYU School of Law and Flow Space Advisory Council member. 'States are really a ripe place for these opportunities and changes, too.' It's never a waste of time to make your voice heard by your state senators and representatives. There are already 21 bills about women's midlife and menopausal health that have been introduced in 13 states, Weiss-Wolf says. The bills involve access to menopause care, the affordability of menopause care coverage and menopause education for clinical professionals and menopause awareness for the general public. Another huge goal is funding more research through state governments and state university systems so that they can still continue research outside of the NIH, shares Weiss-Wolf. Along with Let's Talk Menopause and Dr. Mary Claire Haver, Weiss-Wolf created a Citizen's Guide to Menopause Advocacy that you can follow with links to to write to or call your senators, representatives and governor about how this research and healthcare impacts your life and is necessary to your well-being. Get Involved in Research and Health Organizations on a Grassroots Basis Patients are crucial to research initiatives, especially when it comes to clinical trials, which act as treatments for diseases like cancer, for example, emphasizes Joseph. 'If we didn't have clinical research, people would not be surviving cancer,' she says. That said, patients play an important role and have a voice in the research landscape. You can go to to get involved in a study pertinent to your condition, and you can even get involved in research at local universities, suggests Joseph. So many organizations advocate for women's health too, from the American Heart Association to the Menopause Society, Joseph points out. You can get involved with any one of these organizations on a grassroots level and make sure your or your loved one's story is heard. 'Your condition matters, and there are human stories behind these conditions,' Joseph says. Talk to Your Own Healthcare Providers For anyone who receives healthcare through a university hospital system, your provider could be involved in key research. Joseph recommends asking your clinician how their work, if they also do research, may be impacted and what changes might affect patients. It's important to know whether or not you'll still be able to see this practitioner who already has been working with you. Some details about the research budget cuts remain unknown, so it's important to do some digging about how this can impact you on a local level. Know That Individual Companies Can Still Fund Private Research Along with university systems, individual pharmaceutical and supplement companies need to continue crucial women's health research, says Dr. Alyssa Dweck, chief medical officer of Bonafide Health and Menopause Society-certified practitioner. Her company, Bonafide, runs privately-funded research in conjunction with academic institutions about the safety and efficacy of women's health and menopausal wellness products. Because the academic institutions and state and federal governments are not funding the research, it can still continue, according to Dweck. 'It opens up a huge opportunity to fill what might turn out to be a void in the study of hormonal health.'
CNBC
24-04-2025
- Health
- CNBC
1 of the most common reasons you feel numb to your wins—and how to fix it: 'Joy is an experience, happiness is an idea'
Graduating from college or receiving an award at work typically leaves people feeling proud of what they've accomplished and excited about what's to come. But, some people can feel numb after achieving major goals in life. "One of the most common reasons that people feel numb to wins is something called anhedonia," says Dr. Judith Joseph, board-certified psychiatrist and author of "High Functioning," a book about overcoming high-functioning depression. "Anhedonia is when people lack feeling and pleasure in the things that they used to enjoy. For example, you used to enjoy going outside and being in nature, but now you don't get the same excitement. Or you used to enjoy your favorite music, and when it plays it doesn't light you up anymore." Experiencing anhedonia, which is a symptom not a condition, is typically a sign of a mood disorder like depression. And, Joseph says, it is possible to combat that symptom and start experiencing more positive feelings after a big win. In most cases, Joseph finds that people who feel numb to their wins have a philosophy of "I will be happy when..." before they set out to accomplish something. "'I'll be happy when I get that job. I'll be happy when I have the partner. I'll be happy when I finish school or get into school,"' she says. "We know from the research that the mentality of 'I will be happy when...' is a setup for complete unhappiness. It's counterintuitive." Waiting for a major life event to make you happy delays your ability to experience the emotion now because it puts too much pressure on the future and doesn't allow you to live in the present. This way of thinking can also lead to what experts call the hedonic treadmill, which involves looking for your next big accomplishment immediately after you achieve something. To combat anhedonia, Joseph suggests experiencing joy daily. "Joy is an experience. Happiness is an idea," she says. You can incorporate bits of joy throughout your day by asking yourself questions like: If any area feels like it's lacking, take one step to improve it. If you usually eat lunch at your desk and don't savor your food, head outside instead or don't look at any screens until you've finished your meal. And when you're with your loved ones, make eye contact when you talk and be present in the conversation. "We take those small things for granted, and then we end up feeling 'meh' or 'blah,'" Joseph says. "It's the experience of these human sensations that make up joy. And when you add them up, that's what happiness really is."
New York Post
23-04-2025
- Health
- New York Post
The dos and don'ts of venting — avoiding ‘chop-a-dump' behavior is key
Full steam ahead? Venting tends to get a bad rap, given that it's associated with anger and negative energy. But mental health experts believe it's also necessary — as long as it's done right. 'Venting is what I call letting out the steam, because, by definition, it's a physics term where you have pressure in a system, so you let it out,' psychiatrist Dr. Judith Jones told The Post. Advertisement 3 Psychiatrist Dr. Judith shares her etiquette manual for letting it all out. Carla Torres / Floh Studio Corp 'The problem with just venting alone is that, yeah, it feels good immediately, but it doesn't create solutions. And also, when you vent to the wrong person, you're just transferring the stress onto another individual.' That's why, in her new book 'High Functioning,' she provides a simple cheat sheet — a venting etiquette manual, if you will — that outlines the 'do's and don'ts' of venting. Do ask first Advertisement 'When you do vent, you want to ask for consent,' she said. That means no ambush-ranting to your barista, your dog walker or the coworker who made the mistake of asking, 'How's it going?' 3 Try to avoid 'chop-a-dump' behavior — unloading your emotional baggage without checking if the other person can cope. Getty Images/iStockphoto Don't emotionally dump Advertisement Dr. Judith warns against what she calls 'chop-a-dump' behavior — unloading your emotional baggage without checking if the other person can actually handle it. Don't burden your kids 'You want to be mindful of the power hierarchy, so you don't want to necessarily vent to people who are considered in a lower power dynamic than you,' she said. That includes your children, even if they say they want to help. 'Your kids will listen to you, but they're going to be worried about you when you leave the room,' she said. Advertisement 'Even if they say, 'Oh, I want to hear you,' they may want to feel close to you,' she added, 'but what you're doing is you're creating stress for them because they worry about you.' 3 'When you do vent, you want to ask for consent,' Dr. Judith said. Getty Images/iStockphoto Or your employees… Even if you're friends, it's important to keep in mind that there's a power hierarchy there too. 'You don't necessarily want to traumatize employees because they have to answer to you. They don't want to be fired by the boss,' she pointed out. Do check yourself before you wreck someone else 'You want to make sure that you're in a state where you're not just unloading and telling everyone your business,' Dr. Judith advised. 'You want to consider whether or not, in that moment, you're regulated.' Do try settling down first In other words, take a beat. Breathe. Go for a walk. Scream into a pillow. Whatever helps. Advertisement 'You may want to do some of the grounding techniques in my book before you choose one or two people that you can trust,' she said. So yes, complaining can be cathartic, but like a good spa day, venting needs to come with safety protocols. Your stress isn't toxic — until you pass it on.
