Thankyou Geoff, so nice always to be on the receiving end of a compliment.
DWR, my wife's need to just sleep when in a depressive cycle is, sadly, not "breakable". I sympathise with her a lot. I worked 12 hour shift work in security for many years. We all know that those with mental illness cannot withstand shift work as easily as someone without not to mention the need for sleep is more important for us. I have vivid memories of working midnight to noon and standing up to serve persons on arrival. Zombie is the word.
That is no different for my wife when she is tired. So best I let her be, to sleep and sleep.
Mind control for me is limited but what I do have is remarkable to me when I try something different. "Cycles of sadness" in the past when I'd willingly fall into this period of sadness so I could write my poetry, reminisce about my younger RAAF days or return to grieve for my dad (dec 1992) is like self punishment and it doesnt make much sense. But my medication has stopped me from going there as often. Where it was once a month or so now its once every 4 months. And when that time comes I can willingly "switch" to another activity in my mind. This happened in November last year. I was sitting under our entertainment area falling into that "place". I got up and mowed the lawns. By the time I'd finished my mind had been so focussed on the lawns the falling had stopped.
Anyway, to answer your question DWR, it isnt for everyone....but worth a crack.
Tony WK
