There’s something new for mental health professionals to identify these days. Social media has been ripe with posts about “high-functioning depression.”

During this Mental Health Awareness Month, Birmingham Maple Clinic psychotherapist Lori Edelson says it’s important to treat such a condition before it gets worse.

“It can transition into a more severe depression,” Edelson said. “I think that it is important to notice is that there’s not one size of high functioning depression that fits every person. There are myriad of symptoms that can range anywhere from shame or guilt about something that only they know about. IT can be a history of trauma.”

Those with high-functioning depression go about their days like normal, often hiding their condition from others. However, high-functioning depression still is not a clinical diagnosis nor recognized as a clinical disorder.