Zero choice. Everything is on me to keep us off the street, so failing is not an option. I have to keep at least some degree of a front to keep a job. No job = homeless as I have no other support. Can only manage part time (and have minimum wage) so we're always close to the edge. Severe depression is the worst, and there comes a point I cannot fake it, but that is one reason I don't work with the public. I can't "really turn it on", but I can *usually* swing "subdued" at least. People *have* noticed, but I keep to myself as it is, so usually they don't. Or they don't say anything anyway, lol.

I try not to fake it in therapy. That took some work.

Edited to add, yeah, like Christina, I was raised that you NEVER let on. So, decades of practice...Also, I have a morbid fear of having to explain myself.