One of the key markers of mental health issues such as depression is often being extremely tired. A lot of clients who come to see me in therapy express a level of frustration that no amount of sleep seems to make them feel better. Often, the tiredness compounds the depression, making it worse as clients are disappointed with themselves. They regularly draw the conclusion that they are just being lazy or unmotivated which is part of the spiral of depression. So why are they so tired?

Being healthy

Imagine you start every day off with a set amount of energy. Most things cost you money. Getting out of bed? Showering? Going to work? Everything costs you some of the funds you started the day with. Then you have the activities that might not cost you anything or add something to your funds. This can be things like seeing family and friends, yoga, or spending time in nature. Anything that might make you feel a little refreshed. The most common way of recovering funds is of course through sleep. As long as we balance our costing activities with the ones that return energy we wake up the next day with a workable amount of energy.

Depression means we get less energy.

Low mental health and depression in particular means that every activity that beforehand has helped recover energy now gives less, doesn’t give anything or costs something. Clients in therapy often talk about not being able to do activities anymore that were helpful before. They are regularly too tired or feel the benefits are so minimal that they cannot motivate themselves. Finding a balance between working with the additional need for rest and not succumbing to its demands.

Depression means everything costs more energy.

To add to the already existing problem, there is an additional shift. The price for any and every action that we take now costs us more. Every action we take is now more difficult than before, even the smallest ones. Additionally, it means doing things become so challenging that they can feel impossible. This is often one of the most frustrating areas for clients to discuss in therapy as they struggle to understand why everything is more difficult.

Part of working on depression in therapy is gaining an understanding of what is happening to us. This means in part exploring the past and the source of depression but also the cycles that keep us in them, such as the negative headspace we find ourselves in because of the low energy/high cost problem we are facing.

If you are ready to explore your depression in therapy you can reach me by using the link here. I work both in person from Shoreditch, London and online depending on your needs.