Relaxation induced depression (for lack of a better word)?

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ashketchum
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25 Apr 2014, 8:53 pm

Every so often, when I finally get the time to relax, I become extremely listless and bored. I start getting this spiraling mindset of contradictions, such as: I want to be alone, but I'm lonely; I just want to sleep, but sleep is a waste of time; I want eat, but I don't enjoy it and I never feel full; I want to watch a movie, but everything is too boring; I don't want to move, but I'm restless; etc etc. After a few hours of that, I'll call my mom up and try to get her get me out of this state, but I'll always end up starting a fight with her by talking continually speaking in contradictions. Like I won't want to talk to her, but at the same time I'll resent her when she hangs up. At that point, I usually start having existential crises and questioning the purpose of life, realizing how insignificant humans are in the span of the galaxy, you know existential stuff. Then I'll just get so tired that I have to go to bed, but it'll still take me hours to fall asleep because my brain will just refuse to shut down. Nothing I do satiates the boredom, at best I can momentarily distract myself from until, eventually I just stop experiencing it.
I don't feel depressed, just ambiguously disinterested in life..
Also I notice that I'm much more likely to have a meltdown when I'm in one of these moods..
So is this normal for Aspies (I have ADD too)? Or does anyone have any tips on what I can do?



mr_bigmouth_502
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26 Apr 2014, 12:33 am

I sort of know what you're talking about. I find that whenever I don't have something to work towards, like a personal project or something, I get bored really easily, and when I get bored, I tend to get really depressed and I even start losing interest in my favorite things, which further exacerbates my depression and boredom. Usually the only thing that snaps me out of this is when I find something "new" to do.



em_tsuj
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26 Apr 2014, 12:59 am

I can definitely relate. I was in that state of mind a couple of days ago. I realized my depression was brought on by boredom (being understimulated).



namesalltaken
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26 Apr 2014, 2:42 am

I get this, feel like relaxing, yet somehow feel this is missing out. Then I get in a cycle of negative self-talk (" look, you just wasted a whole day doing nothing! You actually had a rare day off and simply wasted it" ) which can then spill over into my attitude for the rest of the week. Often I can get trapped in a loop of 'running down the clock' during the week to the weekend, but then wasting the weekend doing nothing.

I have found a great description of this here http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procr ... inate.html which the author describes as being in the "dark playground" (even though this is about procrastination, it seems to apply to this situation).

Actually I am in one of those moods right now - this is the reason i am posting on WP.
In my case it is a combination of being aware of life passing me by, and that without anyone to share the experience with, even activities I normally enjoy like walking, riding, PC/console gaming lose their appeal.
Often I end up going for a long walk, or exploring new areas of the city, in order to at least feel I have done something. In fact I am about to embark on such right now as I have two & a half hours left to kill.



binaryodes
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26 Apr 2014, 7:33 am

inertia is a mood killer for me too. Im much happier when I have some immediate objective. Best thing to do is to constantly keep your mind occupied constructively. Relaxation doesn't necessarily equate to total mental silence.

Audiobooks. Audiobooks have saved my life and I mean that sincerely. Theyre constant companions. I can slip into another richly textured science fiction world wherever I am whatever im doing. Sometimes lying back closing one's eyes and just being carried away on the literary tide is exactly what you need. The best thing is that even with ADD and the attention difficulties if you find a book related to your special interest you'll be engaged.

Interstingly (and i'll make a thread on this) meditation actually induces neuroplasticity. It enlarges the working memory/attention areas of the brain. It does this because the act of meditation is basically sustained deepening attention. Listening to an audiobook for me at least is very similar to meditation insofar as I have to continually bring my wandering attention back to task. I find that my attention has vastly improved through doing this sometimes for an hour or more.


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Marky9
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26 Apr 2014, 8:33 am

Yep, I've been in that place for the last week of so. I'm just now getting out of it by gently guiding myself into picking up one of my interests into which I can zone out.



jrjones9933
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26 Apr 2014, 9:48 am

I relate very strongly to this. Understimulated sounds so strange, but true at the same time.

I have had a ton of work to do every day for a long time now, but after I take my final exams week after next, I'll have a break for a while. I really need it, but I probably need to start thinking about some other kind of project to start, completely unrelated to the work I've done in college. I don't want to get into the negative boredom and frustration cycle that other posters have described.

Maybe I'll have an easier time avoiding this than I have had breaking out of it in the past.