Background <p>Mood disorders are characterized by considerable cognitive heterogeneity. However, little is known about <i>high</i> cognitive performance and its associations with relevant clinical outcomes. High cognitive performance in persons with mood disorders and high-risk unaffected relatives (UR) may be an expression of resilience to illness-related neuropathology.</p> Methods <p>Cross-sectional data from persons with mood disorders (<i>n</i> = 212), unaffected relatives (UR) (<i>n</i> = 96), and healthy controls (HC) (<i>n</i> = 152) were pooled from two cohort studies, during which participants completed neuropsychological test batteries comprising both non-emotional and emotional cognition. Participants were grouped into ‘high’ or ‘normal cognitive performance’ subgroups based on their global cognitive performance. Groups were compared to investigate high-performing persons with mood disorders and relatives, respectively, in demographic and clinical variables and emotional cognition.</p> Results <p>Resulting subgroups were persons with mood disorders with high (P-HP = 67) and normal cognitive performance (P-NP = 135), UR with high (UR-HP = 41) and normal cognitive performance (UR-NP = 52) and HC with high (HC-HP = 86) and normal cognitive performance (HC-NP = 66). P-HP were characterized by fewer experiences of physical abuse, fewer mood episodes and improved functioning compared to P-NP. Both P-HP and UR-HP experienced more overall childhood trauma, compared to HC-HP. All cognitively high-performing subgroups exhibited faster recognition of emotional faces compared to their corresponding normally performing group.</p> Conclusion <p>High cognitive performance was associated with favorable clinical outcomes and improved functioning in persons with mood disorders and high-risk UR. Given this association, above-average enhancement of cognition beyond normalization may aid functional recovery.</p>