I'm sorry that happened with your friend. That's hurtful when a friend doesn't understand. I've had that happen many times.

As for presenting well, I know what that's like, too. It's a double-edged sword. When I get hammered because I "present well", I usually ask myself silently "Well...would you want to look sicker?" I always have to say "No, not really."

I'm going to give you a link to an explanation of the "spoon theory". I don't know if you've heard of it before. It's more commonly associated with people who have lupus or other "invisible" illnesses to try to explain why they can't do as much as a healthy person.

I have both medical and psych problems, and I find that the spoon theory applies to my depression just as much as it does to my other health problems.

I try to remind myself that people just really have no clue what it's like. They have no clue how much energy depression saps from us, how much energy it can take sometimes just to take a shower and get dressed.

When my depression is better, I even find myself sometimes looking back in my memory with a sort of amazement at how hard things were just a few months ago.

I don't know if the spoon theory will be of any help to you. The first time I read it, I thought it was kind of dumb. The image of a handful of spoons stuck in my mind, though, and sometimes now I'll find myself considering how many spoons I feel like I have on a particular day and what I want to use them for.

You sound like you're in a good place. Trust yourself and keep doing what you're doing at your own pace.