Is there such a thing as functional depression?

Question

Can a person be majorly depressed and still function (out of necessity to support the family)?
Has anyone experienced this?

Answer 1

Absolutely - some people experience a situational depression. While they are busy (usually out in the workplace, or in school) they do not have strong symptoms, but once they are in a setting that does not offer them structure or deadlines, they become passive and barely functional ('couch potatoes').

Quite common. Adrenaline is a wonder drug for the depressed - it substitutes for a multitude of missing neurochemicals - if you can't feel good, at least you can get busy.

People like this should endeavor to always be busy with things that impose structure and deadlines. Vacations should likewise have some structure - especially if they are in one's normal surroundings.

The bright side - people like this often tend to be achievers - because keeping busy and setting goals is their way of staving off negative and depressed feelings (almost the same way that other people hit the bottle or smoke cigarrettes or pot).

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Answer 2

Functional Depression

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Is there such a thing as functional depression?
Can a person be majorly depressed and still function (out of necessity to support the family)?
Has anyone experienced this?

Answer 4

I experienced functional depression as you call it for about 13 years and then the stress of just living became waywayway too much for me to handle.

All I wanted to do was get creamed to smithereens by a meteor
like a snail underfoot.

Now that I have had this nervous breakdown I don't think about death so much anymore, but don't I participate in society that much either. "Twas the wreck of me! You Society!"

Answer 5

Depression is not functional. It is a dysfunction. But - it is not a disability. It's no excuse for the government to pay you to do nothing. That's embarrassing. If you are able to work, holding a job will help you beat your depression. Surrendering to your depression and letting it keep you at home will only make it worse.

Answer 6

Yes. I have experienced this. It is difficult but with professional assistance, I have found that a combination of pharmacological intervention, stress reduction, and the support of my family and other loved ones is effective.

P.S. Prescription medicine for depression is not necessarily required for the duration of your life. After other supports are established a gradual reduction in anti-depressants may be appropriate.

Answer 7

Yes, I have experienced shock and extreme depression. yet I continued to work. I was suicidal, I couldn't concentrate, my brain was not functioning right.I felt like my life was in extreme slow motion.But you do what you have to do--I continued to work. I have been diagnosed with major depressive depression and will probably take meds the rest of my life.

Answer 8

It is possible. There are lots of depressed people out there doing what they have to do to survive. It is just not much of a life. My husband work like that for years.

Answer 9

i have seasonal depression, similar to seasonal affective disorder.
i'm currently in my last year of college and it is so hard for me to get out of bed and go to class. but i always always always make it to work. because the immediate reward of work (paycheck), and the necessity for money to survive, there's more of an incentive to go. granted, i'm not as productive at work and luckily my supervisors know what i'm struggling with so give me projects that aren't as difficult to complete.
with stronger depression, without medication it is near impossible. depressed people have feelings of futility and see no benefit in even waking up.

Answer 10

umm, ya, it is possible, maybe the person who is depressed is still supporting the family bcuz he is bound to, or he is responsible to do it,. my mom is clinicaly depressed but still she works hard so she can support us.