How does depression cause fatigue?
In: Other
The other answers in this thread sound right enough to me, but there’s another angle that hasn’t been raised yet. From my experience of being depressed for about half my life and thinking about it a lot to try to understand myself. I’m actually doing pretty well right now – less depressed than I’ve been for about a decade and actually functioning, so woop!
The psychology of being depressed (at least in my case – YMMV) involves a significant thread of avoidance. I dislike my circumstances, don’t feel confident in succeeding with whatever I want to do etc. and so want to avoid attempting and “inevitably” failing. The result of this is a crushing apathy that is felt as deeply physical. The easiest way to avoid doing or thinking (both painful when depression is fucking your brain up) is to sleep. I’m not sure how this works on a physiological / chemical level, but I’ve certainly felt the sudden extreme need for a nap when I almost face my fears and just can’t.
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