Hello, steemians, and welcome to my page, eh!
Today, I'd like to write a bit about a subject that I have to deal with on a regular basis, winter depression.
In 2006, I was diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety by a psychologist at the local V.A. hospital. That was just the start of discovering why I had been feeling the way that I had for so many years before that. After years of treatment at the V.A. my depression is a lot more manageable than it was before I started treatment and counseling for it. In the summer, I don't have nearly as much trouble with it as I used to have. The anxiety comes and goes depending on the situation, but I've learned a lot about how to deal with that as it happens.
In the winter, however, I have a lot more problems with managing my depression. I have seasonal affected disorder as well as the clinical depression, I just don't deal with winter very well. I usually manage to do ok until after the holiday season is over but it keeps creaping up on me and sneaking into my frame of mind until I find myself no longer interested in doing anything except sleep. This depression gets better and worse in cycles of various duration. It seems that the further into winter I get, the longer the duration of depression is for me. This kind of depression is not the kind where you feel self hatred or worthlessness, I've dealt with my share of that in the past and through therapy have come to terms with much of that. This winter depression is the kind of thing that robs you of any and all motivation to do anything. I feel listless, with no energy and no desire to do much at all. My brain keeps trying to get me to sleep, but the sleep I get is of low quality.
If there are a few days in a row that are sunny, my mood almost always improves. When the days are overcast and cold, my mood always suffers. I have several ways of trying to deal with these moods, I have a lightbox that is designed for use by people with winter depression, it is helpful to some extent. I take vitamin D3, I try to use positive self talk, all these things help, but sometimes it's just not enough.
This week was one of those weeks, I had no motivation to do anything except stare at the computer. I didn't even have the ambition to interact on discord very much this week, I just didn't feel up to it. Today is the first day this week that I've felt like doing much of anything. There was a few things I had to do anyway, such as going to my weekly shrink appointment at the V.A. on Wednesday, and I had enough ambition yesterday to move some stuff around in the basement, but that was about it. This is the first post that I've written in about 5 day, I just didn't have the ambition to write a post, and nothing appealed to me to write about. Hopefully, I'll continue to be in a better mood for the next few days, I might manage to get a few things done around here.
If you've read to the bottom of this, thanks for reading, and I hope I didn't bore you with my subject.
That's all I have for this post, thanks for reading!
Thanks for stopping by and checking out my post, eh!
As always, feel free to leave a comment or a question if you would like.
May the Steem Force be with you!
Hey @amberyooper! Glad to see you back! I'm just going to say it. Sell all your shit and move to a warmer climate for awhile. Seriously. Hawaii, Arizona, Colorado (300 sunny days per year!). See if it makes a difference. What do you have to lose? Yeah, it won't fix everything, but at least the season changes will be minimal and entirely tolerable. I'm giving it consideration myself.
We have 300+ sunny days per year but that doesn't make the days longer, eh? SAD still happens here. Latitude is what counts for SAD. The sun setting at 16:30 still sucks. 😉
Oh man , it that ever the truth. Gone to work in the dark and home form work in the dark is REALLY hard to handle. I did try a tanning bed once a week from Nov to Feb. It really helped.
Really, I wouldn't have thought of a tanning bed!
Oh, believe me, I've thought a lot about moving to a better climate. I don't know if I could afford to live out there on my social security income, it's not all that much.
I hear ya...
same feelings here also for me buddy... but not for the winter but for the low price and also crypto crush. this 2 weeks are too bad that i almost absent from the steemit and also from the community...
I empathize: I also have the one-two punch of major clinical depression + SAD making things worse. I've been trying to get myself to accomplish at least some things so I don't feel like a useless lump, but some days it just doesn't happen.
Yesterday and today it's snowing, and my pedestrian arse has been staying inside.
I certainly understand about snow days. :-)
I think the ability to get outside without the air hurting my face helps my mood in a positive way also. When it's 10 degrees, I really don't want to leave the house, but when it's closer to freezing, or above, I'm a bit more willing to go out of the house. If we get an above freezing sunny day this time of the year, I'll go out to the greenhouse to see how warm it is and to just wander around a bit. It seems to help my mood.
So sorry to hear that you suffer from winter depression. I get the same problem and often feel low during the winter months and it's pretty much as you describe it - a lack of mental energy. I just want to sleep all the time and I have no inclination to do the things I usually like doing.
I lived in Sweden for a while and it was even worse there with the northern location resulting in shorter days and less sunlight. Now I live in the south of Austria and it's better for most of the year. I highly recommend moving south if you're able, but I know it's super hard when there's money to worry about. Glad to hear that you're getting treatment nowadays.
I recently wrote a post with my top tips for beating depression. I'd love it if you'd leave a comment - if you have time and if you feel like you have something to add to the list.
https://steemit.com/depression/@victoria-kelly/my-top-5-depression-busters
Sending love and strength!
The VA hasn't helped me much in a long time. I deal with many of these same problems and the cycle is hard to break. Currently I am on an upswing and am able to interact with people, post, comment, etc. I'm taking between 5,000 and 10,000 iu of Vit D a day and it is seeming to help. The length of the down has been a bit shorter and the sunny days have made me come up farther than they were before. It's no cure but it has helped me noticeably.
It's crazy you writing this, it's literally taking the words from my mind.
Thank you so much for sharing this. I am so happy to see that there are people who are comfortable talking about mental illness on this platform. I also have seasonal affective disorder as well as mixed anxiety and depression disorder (MADD and SAD, what a combination, right?) Living in the northwest I really start to long for springtime about this time of year. Soon, right? Anyway, hang in there and best wishes!
Yeah, anxiety combined with clinical depression and SAD, lots of fun, right?
At least we're half way through February now...
hey I can relate....depression is brutal!!!!! I deal with it. It is also not known about by others and tends to play right in the strike zone for making it worse as others interact 'normally'.
Ain't that the truth though!
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