Bad mental health day

[Lookingforpeace]

Hi all

I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. As I was getting ready for work, a feeling of sadness came over me which unfortunately didn't go away all day. I spent most of the day being unproductive and generally keeping to myself. I don't know why I have these (what seem like random) bad days. Then when I have them, I panic about them lasting longer than a day and me falling back into depression.

Any advice/words would be greatly appreciated.

[Zeal]

Hi looking for peace,

I too have those days, and I haven’t had depression since I was in my mid-teens. Even then, it was only mild to moderate at most. I have struggled with anxiety in various forms since I was 13. I’m now 22, and live with manageable OCD.

As long as these days don’t last for over a week, and don’t prevent you from living a normal life, I wouldn’t be overly concerned. Having said this, always see your GP if you are unsure. If these periods of feeling sad haven’t lasted for more than a day at a time, and are outnumbered by good or neutral days, I personally don’t think you are at risk of developing depression again. I am not a psychologist though, so this is only my opinion.

I have days where I feel particularly down (sometimes it’s just for an afternoon or an evening). Many people’s moods do fluctuate, and unfortunately this includes sadness. If you haven’t been in contact with loved ones or have been feeling uninspired by your job or lifestyle, for instance, this could be enough to make you feel down.

I hope you are able to feel happy for more of the time 🙂

Best wishes,

SM

[Neil_1]

Hi there LFP,

Like both you and SM, I used to have these days/problems where I’d get out of bed on the wrong side - so I moved my bed next to a wall and that fixed that problem!

Ok, seriously though, as SM mentioned when you say about random bad days, as long as they aren’t becoming more frequent and building to be one after the other after the other.

The other thing that strikes me with your post is where you’ve said “… and me falling back into depression”;   so that suggests to me that you’ve had it before, and beaten it, have been “ok” for a while, but now feel like something is sneaking up on you again?   If that is the case, then I’d be definitely trying to seek out some professional advice sooner rather than later – better to be proactive about this and if possible, knock that mongrel dog on the head before he wakes from his slumber – keep him knocked out.

One last thing is that if you’ve been through this before AND beaten it, then please think back to what mechanisms you put in place last time that helped you out?

Would love to hear back from you.

Neil

[Lookingforpeace]

Thanks SM and Neil. Coming on to these forums always makes me feel better. Ha! I might try that trick Neil!

I was feeling a lot better yesterday but unfortunately it's crept back again today. I get so tired of these ups and downs. Part of the problem is that I'm an over thinker. So if I wake up in a bad mood I think "why am I feeling this way?" "How long will this last?" "What can I do to make it go away?" "Am I going to have depression again?" Etc and then it only makes matters worse! 

[Neil_1]

Hi there LFP

Great to hear back from you and what you’ve described is part of the constant battle that so many of us can relate to.

So when these questions come up or these thoughts come up it’s where we’ve got to use our strength to push them to the back of our mind – it’s bloody hard to do, and it’s not something that comes easily.

People who don’t live with a mental illness have no idea what it’s like to suffer and battle the way we do day in – day out;  it’s an exhausting process.

But those thoughts that plague you and the fact that you are an over-thinker are major battles within themselves – I too over-think things and whether I look into situations or people’s reactions more than I should to the point that it sways my thought processes a lot, is something that is again hard to deal/to live with.

I’m sorry I’m not making possibly much sense here, but I’m trying to say, that yes, you aren’t on your own with these thoughts and that one suggestion I can make is to try for as much as you can, to occupy your mind – be it through work, or playing with a pet, perhaps even going for a drive – things where we can try to switch “on” our minds, so we don’t go over and over again with those thoughts/questions.

I hope I helped here in someway.

Kind regards

Neil