Sleep

Hello, I think, and it's only my opinion that anti depressents only address the symptoms of depression and not the cause. What came over loud and clear in your post is your unhappiness in general and like you have said sleep in a form of escapism. Have you tried counselling, EFT or any other kind of talking therapy, I feel this cycle will only be broken when you get to the root cause of your depression and that sleep is not the issue here but a by product of the issue.

Addressing the underlying reasons for depression is a long and painful road sometimes but it has to start somewhere, with baby steps i.e asking yourself why are you depressed and what would make you happy? Once you have established what might make you happy then ask yourself what, if anything is stopping you working towards it?
Good luck and try to stop being so hard on yourself, practice being kinder to yourself for a month and see how that goes.

Love

Rebecca xx

Hi icecreamdream,

Mindfulness is clinically proven to work for depression. This book is a good place to start: Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) reduces the likelihoods of relapse of in chronic depression by 50%. In a recent trial, the eight week course (two hour group sessions once a week plus home practice) was as effective as long term use of antidepressants to prevent relapse. MBCT for depression is now NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence) approved.

MBCT combines the 8 week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course developed by Joh Kabat-Zinn and combines it with CBT. Mindfulness in a variety of forms is being adapted for nearly every kind of psychological suffering. It is based on Buddhist meditation techniques.

Wishing you well,

Norbu

Be gentle with yourself. Through all my suffering, I was very thankful that sleep for me was a welcome escape from the emotional pain I was experiencing.

When things got too bad, I went to sleep and that was respite for a few hours.

Of course, addressing the root of the depression is key to healing it.

But in the interim, don't give yourself such a hard time.

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your replies. It means a lot! For the past two weeks I've probably had about 3 days where I've got up at a reasonable time and gone about my day productively, going to bed at a reasonable time too. The majority of the time though I've slipped up, breaking the good work by sleeping in which means staying up later because I've not been tired, and then sleeping in again, and on it goes. When I DO get myself out of bed and get to bed early I feel so good. Seeing daylight, breathing fresh air (a lot of the time I'll wake up so late that it seems pointless even leaving the house because the day is gone, which of course makes me feel worse!) seeing people and just generally being active feels amazing, and I feel I've made a positive turn when I do this. So much so that I think to myself - why am I denying myself these good feelings by sleeping in and missing my own life?! I feel any other person would have the motivation and willpower to just STOP. But I don't, and it makes me feel powerless.

Re: Beckyboop - I tried numerous counsellors when I was younger, around 16-18yrs old (I'm 23 now) which I felt didn't help much. Only over the past 2 years I've tried hypnotherapy, which helped more than the counselling did. I was seeing a hypnotherapist who also specialised in NLP for quite a few months. I felt though that the hypnotherapy wasn't what helped the most but the talking - I made a big breakthrough in talking about what I feel is the reason for my depression. Anyway, he helped a lot, but I stopped seeing him earlier this year. I do sometimes consider going back, but I often think about how long I'll end up having therapy if I do? I'm a lot happier than I used to be and I feel I've dealt with a lot of issues which I'd buried.
I guess I came to the conclusion that I'd come a long way since having therapy and so I was ready to face whatever came my way as best as anyone else and come off my tablets gradually. Right now though, I'm really unsure of what to do.

Norbu - thank you for the advice. CBT seems extremely helpful, and although I've never tried it properly I have experienced some of the benefits on the Mood Gym website which I sometimes go on. I'll have a proper look at the book you suggested. Thank you very much!

Rosi1 - This is one of the things I find hardest - being gentler on myself. I feel as though I'm in a constant battle with myself. Especially as I am doing something (oversleeping) which I don't want to do, yet no matter what I feel as though I can't physically stop myself. At times it's as though I'm two people, as crazy as that sounds. But I will try my best to give myself as much of a break as possible...!

Thank you once again for all your help. Also, sorry for the lengthy message once again xxx

Hi Icecreamdream,

Just to point out that I was suggesting MBCT (Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy) which icludes some CBT but the major component is learning mindfulness meditation practices.

"Self compassion" is the most important factor in recovery, which Ros1 encourages. MBCT teaches people to bring a non-judgmental awareness to there thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations. Learning to be non-judgmental is learning to be gentle.

Wishing you well,

Norbu

Hello!

I don't know MCBT but I also agree that CBT can be very helpful for depression! Hypnotherapy and NLP are very good as well. These three types of therapies are great because they are not intended to go on and on for years. They are short-term, solution-focussed, and CBT is also quite practical.

I agree that sleep cam be helpful to recover from stressful situations and trauma but everytime I let myself sleep too much, and therefore don't have a productive day and feel sluggish all day, I feel depressed, so it is possible you might be feeding your depression by sleeping too much, in my opinion!

Hope you get better soon!

xx

Norbu - the book looks really interesting and the reviews are really good - think i may go to waterstones to have a proper flick through and then possible get a copy on amazon seeing as it's so cheap on there! Thanks so much for the recommendation. I've never really bought a book which is dedicated to depression. It seems weird that i haven't, considering i've had it for such a long time.

Claire - you're definitely right, it kind of works as a vicious circle, sleeping because i'm depressed and feeling depressed because i'm sleeping!

Both yesterday and today i've woken up at a really good hour. Yesterday I had a really full day and went to bed at a good hour also. So I'm currently feeling positive about that. The main concern right now is my tiredness, and I don't know whether it's the withdrawal symptoms from my tablets or that my body simply isn't used to my new routine or what, but I woke up today and yesterday feeling as though I'd not slept a wink (I had 8-9 hours sleep). Also on average I get around 10+ hours sleep. So I'm wondering whether it's just that i'm not used to less sleep?! But this tiredness I don't seem to be able to shake off - yesterday I just felt awful, but went to uni regardless although my concentration really suffered and I felt really out of it.

Would it make sense that this tiredness is from several of these factors? Right now all I want to do is go back to bed and just sleep forever but I really don't want to undo the good work I've done so far! The thing is - in the past when I have fixed my sleeping pattern temporarily I've never felt like this, and I'm aware that this was before I started reducing my tablet dose. I guess I'm just feeling slightly worried because I don't know for sure why on earth i'm feeling like this, or for how long it will last. And being in my last year of uni I don't want to feel exhausted every day - but at the same time I don't want to sleep all day either.

Thanks so much for listening once again, sorry my posts are always so long..
xxx

Norbu - the book looks really interesting and the reviews are really good

Glad you think so... I've done one 8 week MBCT course as a participant and one as an intern. It is really remarkable and wonderful to see the way people's lives are changed. It sounds as if you have chronic depression and you are on antidepressants as to prevent relapse. This approach only seems to work with people who have had three or more bouts of depression. This is because people really need to commit to doing the practice themselves. People who have had three bouts or more don't want to be condemned to a life of chronic depression and those who can bring themselves to doing the practices do well. And even if depression returns people report that it is less severe or easier to deal with.

Would it make sense that this tiredness is from several of these factors?

Probably! One of the things with depression and many mental health problems is the way we think about the experiences we are having. Thinking too much is a trap if we can't actually do anything about it because we just end up getting ourselves more and more stressed. It is worth asking your GP about any effects of reducing your AD dose.

One common symptom of depression is general tiredness and lethargy. Getting more energy comes from doing more exercise. This is counter to the general tendency in depression so it does need to be worked at.

Remeber, the most important factor is learning to nourish yourself - learning to be gentle with yourself and not judging yourself. That doesn't mean avoidance and procrastination. It means trying to do things that need to be done so that you can relax and it means not trying too hard to work out what's going on and coming up with self critical thinking as a conclusion. It's about taking care of yourself!

Mindfulness really does help you to do this. MBCT helps you recognise the triggers. Mindfulness gives you a tool to intervene when the negative mood comes so it prevents the negative mood triggering the negative thoughts.

Wishing you well,

Norbu