We hear a lot about high functioning depression but it feels like attention towards low functioning depression is a little lacking.
Sometimes just getting out of bed is a massive achievement that requires all of our effort and motivation. I’ve lived with low functioning depression and I understand how impossible it can sometimes seem to perform even the most basic of tasks. Not being able to achieve much then plays on our minds, and we tell ourselves that we are useless or lazy and our minds just make us feel worse about our situation.
If you are reading this then you have achieved something, so well done to you. You should be proud that you are seeking help and advice for your low functioning depression. Hopefully this post helps you to feel like you are not alone in fighting it, and I also hope that you find something useful in these words.
Warning Signs Of Low Functioning Depression
Is it requiring all of your effort just to get out of bed?
Has it been days since you last showered?
Do you find yourself exhausted from the simplest of tasks?
If this sounds like you, then it is likely you have low functioning depression.
People with high functioning depression can be harder to recognize, as they are often able to successfully carry out their day to day tasks. On the other hand, people with low functioning depression have great difficulty carrying out even the most simplest of tasks. Like I mentioned earlier, sometimes just getting out of bed can be a huge task in itself.
The level of functioning for someone with low functioning depression will vary from person to person. Some are able to get through some basic tasks and even attend work. Others are unable to work. I found myself in that exact situation as I was no longer able to attend work and ended up losing my job because of it.
By definition, low functioning depression indicates that you are functioning at a level lower than your usual standard. How low that is depends on each individual.
How To Treat Low Functioning Depression
Treating low functioning depression is the same as treating depression, however there is often a limit to how much the person with low functioning depression can do to help themselves.
A good example of this is exercise. We all know that exercising daily is great for both mental and physical health, but if you find it difficult enough to get out of bed then it is hard to simply just go for a walk. You often need a small amount of relief from your symptoms in order to be able to do more to help yourself. I know I felt so alone and got totally sick of people telling me to just do this and this and you’ll get some relief from your depression symptoms, when doing this and this was just an impossible task for me when I could barely do the basics.
Eating the right foods and following a good mental health diet was also difficult, as meals would often be skipped and taking the time to prepare and cook a meal was often too much to handle. Often meals would consist of a simple sandwich as it was all I was capable of doing at the time.
Medication can be a good option as it doesn’t require any great level of effort. Usually, medication on its own won’t make you better, but given time to work medication can be effective at reducing the severity of your depression symptoms. Once the severity of your symptoms is reduced, your level of functionality can improve to the point where you can do more for yourself, such as diet and exercise.
Mindful meditation can be helpful as it doesn’t require you to do much physically. You don’t even need to get out of bed for it. In fact, most of my meditation time is spent in bed. Being present and aware of your thoughts and feelings can help you to function at a higher level and may be enough to enable you to get up and tick a few tasks off your daily list, or even go for a walk or prepare a healthy meal.
This Is What Worked For My Low Functioning Depression
Despite my level of functionality being low, I was able to spend a little time on the internet and read up on various ways to help myself. Because you are reading this, I believe that you are able to do this too.
During my reading time, I came across a product called Destroy Depression. They offered a money back guarantee for 60 days and the course was pretty inexpensive (especially compared to a lot of other depression treatments) so I decided to buy it. That was the beginning of me finally coming out of my low functioning depression funk.
The course consists of a 7 step system to beat depression. Due to where I was at, I couldn’t actually do a lot of the steps. But just reading and learning about them meant that when I was feeling up to it, I knew what I should be doing. There is also a large part of the course that is devoted to cognitive behavior therapy, or CBT for short. This was something that I was able to do, as it required no physical effort whatsoever.
It took me several sittings to read through the whole course as my concentration levels were quite low, but it was definitely easy to follow along and written in a way that was simple to understand. I began to put what I learned into practice and apply it to my own way of thinking and feeling. I committed to repeating the process as much as I could, and I would also go back and read the course again every few weeks to keep the information fresh in my mind and also to help motivate me.
It didn’t take long to see improvements, and I found that as my motivation level went up, my energy levels went up too. Once that happened, I was somewhat able to break the chains of my low functioning depression and do things to help myself. I was then able to go back to the first 7 steps of the course and implement that. They were the usual things, such as diet and exercise, but written in a way that gave me extra motivation to do them.
Being able to achieve those things meant that I could feel better about myself and my achievements. I often felt lazy and useless when I wasn’t able to do much, so being able to achieve something gave me a sense of accomplishment.
You can purchase the course via the link below. Don’t worry if you can’t implement all of it, just do what you can. Hopefully that momentum carries you forward so you can do more each day. Definitely give a lot of attention to the CBT part of the course, as that is a great starting point especially when you are not up to doing the other parts of it.
Nowadays, I no longer consider myself to be low functioning. I still have depression and I still have some bad days, but my symptoms are nothing like what they used to be. This course was a life saver for me. I hope that it works for you as well as it works for me.
Click here to learn more about Destroy Depression
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