From the outside, my guest today had it all.

Dr. Judith Joseph was a straight-A student turned Duke and Columbia grad.

She later went on to become a board-certified psychiatrist and researcher, opening up the first

female-run clinical research institute in New York City. But beneath her success, Dr. Judith

felt a void. She was, as she describes, pathologically productive in an effort to mask

feelings of inadequacy. Dr. Judith identified what she refers to as

high functioning depression or HFD. She was experiencing symptoms of depression like fatigue or

poor concentration, gill, restlessness without experiencing significant distress. And when Dr. Judith took out her phone and spoke openly on social media about what she was feeling,

her video hit millions of views.

People everywhere could relate.

Well, since that moment, nearly five years ago, Dr. Judith has made it her mission to help other people struggling with HFD.

And now she's got a new book out. It's called High Functioning, Overcome Your Hidden Depression,

and Reclaim Your Joy. And she's here to talk to me about that today, what she's found,

and how she's approaching life. This episode is for anyone who feels like they're constantly

running on a hamster wheel, but never quite fulfilled. Dr. Judith is insightful, introspective,

and she's got some great tips on how to reach for points of joy throughout your day. I hope you

find this conversation as helpful as I did. I'm Hoda Kotb. Welcome to my podcast, Making Space.

First of all, I'm so happy that you're here. And I'm happy that you're here because you are speaking to women in a way that we feel understood and heard. And there's a word that you're using, which I like. And it's sort of unhurried is the word. Women are sprinting through life. We are blindly running and then collapsing

at the end of the day and waking up and doing it again and again and again. This was you,

wasn't it? This was me. Tell me, I want to hear about the old you. What were you like before you had all

these beautiful epiphanies? Wow. Well, on the outside, I looked perfect, really. Perfect husband,

perfect kid, perfect home, perfect business, just the perfect career. But no one knew that on

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