Do you get depressed in between obsessions?

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Dono, never had it happen. I have enough things that I'm interested in, that I will never live long enough to investigate them all. As long as I have internet access, I'm fine.

Huh. I actually do, and I never realised that before now. I feel very empty when I don't have something to obsess over.

Usually, I get interested in something else that takes me away from my interest.

I just try my hardest to stay on the same interest. I'm writing a sci-fi novel so I need to keep myself interested so I use all my passing interests as research. Once again I find it hard to get back into astronomy, the air force, physics, and most other things I love. Sci-fi however is impossible to stop loving.

What makes me depressed is when I have nothing creative to do so I look for inspiration everywhere and turn every little part of my day into research...except for eating and sitting down while watching TV.

So yes, I stick with my special interest no matter what my wandering mind wants to do. I only like spending time on things that are practical now.

When I have an obsession, I feel like I'm finally going to get out of depression and accomplish something related to that obsession. I wake up early, get really into whatever it is, spend the whole day thinking about it, reading about it, watching videos about it, and then when I lose interest later down the road I feel like dying because I have no reason to live.

Depression between obsessions? Yes, often times yes. There can be a month or so between obsessions with interests for me. Right now I'm wanting to go camping. I want to hike one of those trails that takes several weeks to do. Not sure I could handle a hike that long, but it's on my mind alot to try.

I don't get depressed in between my interests, but I do have a sense of emptiness and feeling lost, as well as mourning my previous interest, wishing for it to return but knowing that it isn't likely to come back full force anytime soon. I do get bored very easily too when my mind isn't occupied by a passion.

I pretty much always have an obsession, or a few obsessions... But sometimes I just lose some interest in those things for a little while and I just feel like... What am I doing with my life? And this feeling of not knowing where to go is weird because much of the time my obsessions aren't very productive. They make me feel extremely happy, though, like watching a show or learning everything about a band is the most important thing ever. I feel inspired when I get into these things, and when I lose interest for a period of time, or for good, it's kind of disorienting... Like I don't know what to do anymore until I get intensely into something else.

I think I get depressed most often when work or other obligations keep me from exploring my current obsession.

I agree with this, too. What I hate the most about the flip-flopping, though, is the fact that after a couple of rounds of switching back and forth on something I start to lose some of the interest for good. The subject always ends up coming back in the end, like a boomerang, but it starts to lose its power over me after two or three cycles of "depression". After that I have to begin the hunt for a new obsession or else I start in with my old destructive habits, like picking at furniture until I shred it like a cat. Hopefully that makes sense? Kinda?

I did ponder this question a while before posting this response, I do get slightly depressed and bereft between interests (particularly when one ceases entirely). I wasn't sure what was the cause and affect, perhaps it's a slight mood problem that results in the drop of the interest. Although only one example, I did feel pretty depressed after I submitted my masters dissertation, it was definitely the cease of interest that caused the depressive mood that lasted quite some time.

This is pretty uniform with me, the mood continues for a while sometimes months, then a new interest takes hold and it clears.

Jason

Yes.

Yes, that does indeed make sense. I like your analogy of the interest coming back like a boomerang. After the countless cycles I've experienced over the past year of going back and forth between obsessing over my interest then not obsessing over it, I find that I am not as passionate about it overall as I once was.

Sometimes I wonder if I keep going back to it just because it's within my comfort zone/convenient to do so and not because I'm actually obsessed with it anymore.

The problem with me trying to find new interests, though, is that it feels like everything else pales in comparison to my interest, like I'll never have another interest quite like it. It also feels like every time I try out a new interest, that I'm being unfaithful/cheating on my main interest. Then I just wind up going back to my main interest, and I feel okay for awhile until my feelings towards it begin to falter, and then the whole cycle starts all over again.

Obsessive interests: like a bad relationship, only much more interesting.

My thoughts exactly!

I've only now seen your reply, so excuse me for that. But yeah, I think the moments when you discover something new you like are the most exciting, and it's hard to control your exposure in a way that you'd know that special thing would still excite you later. I try to not get overexposed, but it's almost like I get a distinct feeling whenever I cross the line and overdo it, and it's like I'm 'keeping' my special interests wrong. It doesn't help I have actual depression I'm trying to self-cure by having interests because I have no other means.

Absolutely. Two years ago I wrote a screenplay ("Wetland"). It took me about 8 months to write. It was my 6th screenplay. When it was finished I went into an extremely deep depression that lasted for months. Last year I decided to write, record & produce a pop album ("Quartermoon"). It took me a year. I sang lead and backup and played all the instruments. Being a loner I also designed the label, CD cover, etc. Since I knew I would fall into another of my deep episodes of depression I decided to continue building on my digital classical album collection. So far I have thousands of albums by 430 composers. (Franz Liszt is the largest. I have 104 albums by him. Can you imagine writing all that much music in one lifetime?!) I guess as long as I'm busy I'm okay.