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Dr. Judith Joseph, MD, MBA, a Manhattan-based board-certified psychiatrist and researcher, released her first book, “High Functioning: Overcome Your Hidden Depression and Reclaim Your Joy,” on April 8th, 2025. Dr. Joseph is on a national book tour, reaching out to not only readers but also her millions of Instagram followers who enjoy Dr. Judith’s skits on her Instagram page.

Dr. Joseph is one of the chairs of the Women in Medicine Initiative at Columbia and a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at NYU. She has six NAACP Mental Health Champion Awards.

On April 14th, she came out to the petite Afro-Latin-owned bookshop, Café Con Libros, on Prospect Place in Brooklyn.  The sold-out event was moderated by social media singer/songwriter Mandy Brooke. The intimate event covered a wide range of topics in her new book tackling high-functioning depression, her journey from her humble beginning in Trinidad, and how she stumbled into content creation.

“I want people to have access to information,” said Dr. Joseph. “The book makes you take a hard look in the mirror,” she said.

Her new novel is a book that has done years of research on the topic of high-functioning depression. High-functioning depression is described as individuals who experience symptoms of depression, but are still able to maintain a relatively normal level of function in their daily lives.  High-functioning depression knows no boundaries when it comes to age, gender, or relationship status.

Dr. Judith Joseph signing her novel.

During her years as a psychiatrist, Dr. Joseph discusses the many cases she has seen from the 30-year-old woman working a high-stress software engineering job for 70 hours a week to the 16-year-old rebelling because of their parent’s divorce. She discusses how high-functioning depression displays different symptoms and looks differently than other cases of depression like major depressive disorder and clinical depression.

“High-functioning depression is a lot like being the Joker,” said Dr. Judith. She uses the comparison of regular depression Vs. Functioning depression to Batman Vs. Joker.

“They are both very passionate, One is having fun and once clearly isn’t. Batman wants to lock up the bad guy stays super busy and never gets a break, but doesn’t process his childhood trauma. The Joker was high energy and was excited to do very bad things” said Dr. Joseph.

Dr. Joseph next discusses how to apply the book to your daily life. She discusses the Five 5 VS, which are Validate, Venting, Values, Vitals, and Vision. ” The V is validation. When we leave here tonight, we feel happy we learned something or post on social media a picture of the book and discuss it you learn is a form of validation. ” said Dr. Joseph. She also practices a breathing exercise that can be practiced daily when leaving work or school. The breathing exercise is a form of validation with a mantra of letting go of any mistakes made on your behalf.

She moved on to the topic of battling high-functioning depression also depends on taking care of your physical health such as low-thyroid, neurodegenerative disorders, and overall poor health. “One example is a woman entering the stage of menopause,” said Dr. Joseph.

According to the book, Hormone fluctuation can have a big impact on your vitals. There is a link between mental health and the end of your periods. The book breaks down four ways to tackle depression and menopause. There is a feeling of feeling useless. There are suggestions to focus your shift on life and to celebrate the small wins. “You can get only one body and brain, take care of it,” said Dr. Joseph.

“In our healthcare system, we wait for things to break down,” said Dr. Joseph. “Like with cancer, you don’t wait until you get Stage 4, you try to prevent the cancer. You don’t wait until you have until someone has a heart attack to get help, you try to prevent it. That’s not how it works with mental health. “she said.

Next, Dr. Joseph hinted at an upcoming app. The details of the app are limited, but it will be a self-help app using daily tactics to combat the symptoms of depression and practice healthy points of happiness in our daily lives. “Stay tuned!” said  Dr. Joseph.  “To be happy, you have to understand the science of what is making you unhappy.”

 

Photo Credit: Sherica Daley