It’s not always the loud breakdown; sometimes, it’s a quiet, everyday battle.

I’m Surviving Functional Depression and Here’s Why It’s Not Just About ‘Being Fine’

Functional depression affects me daily and it’s harder to recognize than you think.

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I smile at work. I hold the door for people. I make a joke in meetings. I remember to email clients back before lunch.

And then I come home, lock the door, and disappear.

There’s no dramatic breakdown, just silence. No tears, no broken plates, no yelling into pillows. Just silence.

A silence that is eerie, haunting, and louder than any chaos I’ve ever experienced.

That is functional depression. Showing up while you evaporate. It’s a life where you do everything right, the work, the bills, the hygiene, and inside you’re still rotting.

I have lived with functional depression long enough to know it well, the cyclical nature, the repeated ideas, and the ghosts that take over your identity.

In the terrible world we all live in, that is only willing to acknowledge suffering when it is loud, messy, and evident in public, it is a special brand of hell to be the dude who…