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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 9 of 9. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Janice on March 21, 2000, at 12:27:19
This is a reoccuring situation for me (over my life) at various times and through various phases of my illnesses:
I've just been in bed for 11 hours. Now the reason I didn't get out was because I liked it there. It's quiet and comfortable…and best of all, it allows me to daydream–-what I enjoy most of all in life.
life in bed is better than life out of bed.
I've never been crazy about reality, and I admit that the more unpleasant the day is to face, the more I would want to stay in bed. But while I am in bed, I'm feeling pretty good.
is this depression?
Thanks for all your wisdom. I appreciate all replies. Janice
Posted by KarenB on March 21, 2000, at 15:24:16
In reply to Is this depression?, posted by Janice on March 21, 2000, at 12:27:19
Janice,
I could have written your post myself, it sounds so much like me. So, this is what I think:
Life in bed is not reality. Wanting to stay there indefinitely is a desire to escape from the harsh realities of being awake, with all it's inherent responsibilities. My (very normal) four year old wakes up in the morning, gets out of bed and wants to know what's next. I have always had an energy deficit, so never being like that myself, it's hard to know what's normal.
But...yes, I am fairly sure you are talking depression here. I know it is for me.
Karen
Posted by Janice on March 21, 2000, at 18:10:28
In reply to Re: Is this depression?, posted by KarenB on March 21, 2000, at 15:24:16
It's almost like the side effects from doing this are depression. and that's too risky a chance to take.
Thank you Karen, I'm glad to know you relate. You are also bipolar. Janice
Posted by CarolAnn on March 21, 2000, at 19:14:42
In reply to Is this depression?, posted by Janice on March 21, 2000, at 12:27:19
Hey Janice, I love my "bed" time too, and have always used daydreaming to escape reality. I would say that this behaviour is not depression, it is they way that we "medicate" our depression, that's why it feels good. "Self medication" is actually a psychological term, and means just what it says. For example, some people might drink in order to escape reality, they are using alcohol to self medicate. A lot of self destructive behaviours are really ways of trying to make the pain of reality go away. Although, I don't think that daydreaming in it's self is destructive, like anything it can be over done. I know that I quite literally "lost" the whole decade of my 20's to daydreams. I was so caught up in "dream" lives, that I had no "real" life at all...I lived reality just barely enough to hold down a job and keep myself housed, clothed, ect.
Now, I still daydream, but thanks to two years of therapy, I have a "real" life too, and though I still need to escape into them(on bad or "bed" days)I don't rely on daydreams for my whole existence. Boy, this got long winded, didn't it?
Anyway, to sum up: Staying in bed with your daydreams is not depression, it is your escape from depression. Does that make sense? CarolAnn
Posted by Janice on March 22, 2000, at 0:39:04
In reply to Re: Is this depression?, posted by CarolAnn on March 21, 2000, at 19:14:42
Thank you CarolAnn for sharing your story with me. It's an escape--and really a fairly harmless one as far as escapism goes. But daydreaming makes reality even harder to deal with. And the time in bed encourages my rapid cycling to increase.
The thing is I've been an incredible daydreamer for my entire life. I believe it's very similar to having a good imagination and being sensitive. Janice
Posted by kate on March 22, 2000, at 8:43:47
In reply to okay, daydreaming is escapism..., posted by Janice on March 22, 2000, at 0:39:04
janice, karenB, carolann,
i have the same problem with daydreaming, where i
have no desire to focus on what is going on in my
immediate surroundings. staying in my nice warm
bed is just so comforting and then being able to
drift of into my own little world and not have to
face the realities of what is in my real environment
is just so easy, distracting, and comfortable for me.
other people get frustrated with me though, like the
people in my family. they don't understand why i
take so much pleasure out of staring at the wall for
hours. what do you daydream about when you do it
if you don't mind me asking?~kate
Posted by grace b on March 22, 2000, at 15:03:01
In reply to Is this depression?, posted by Janice on March 21, 2000, at 12:27:19
I was diagnosed with bipolar and I have had those days where I would stay in bed and cry all day. I have also day dreamed my life away for many years. now that I have been diagnosed I no longer feel that overwhelming desire to spend everyday in bed although I still want to at times. I am on medication and when I feel the overwheming depression coming I ask for help before it does me more harm than good. my doctor said that I am lucky I can do this because this is what is going to save me. it is often an uphill battle but it is worth it if it saves me from suicdal thoughts through my day dreaming
Posted by k.darling on March 23, 2000, at 16:14:51
In reply to Re: Is this depression?, posted by grace b on March 22, 2000, at 15:03:01
i agree with carolann that sleeping all day is not inherently a bad thing--really i am quite certain that if i could not (at times) have slept so easily, i would have acted out so many more of the all too many suicidal thoughts i have had; and it would be none too likely i would be posting this.
however, before i finally started taking meds, i began to drink until i would all but pass out--then i decided that sleeping pills were much more refined for such purposes--neither of which left me in a very good condition to face life--and eventually, i think, life always comes asking for one (at least it does for me). but even today (oh!--i say that as if all that other silliness were so long ago, but really--frightfully--its not) if i am blue & nothing is pressing i will still allow myself to stay in away from it all. it is only if it seems to be becoming (again) a habit that i worry.
as to what i dream (or daydream) of, it's never really the same--but always the colours seems so much brighter.
darling
Posted by Janice on March 27, 2000, at 14:16:16
In reply to Re: Is this depression?, posted by k.darling on March 23, 2000, at 16:14:51
Not from us, but from a scientific/psychological point of view, of course.
I have never read anything about daydreaming anywhere being tied in with mental illness. I know we all seem to think we daydream to escape reality. But I think we daydream because we have to...that we don't really have control over it (kind of like the suicidal thoughts or even like depression itself). I guess it's the chicken and the egg thing.Maybe it's a topic waiting for a researcher with money.
me, I tell stories to myself all the time. I make life more interesting, more glamourous, less mundane, less stupid.
It's good for me to know all you people are out there, Janice
This is the end of the thread.
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