Lockdown depression

[Hellin301]

Anyone care to join me in saying how utterly fed up they are of lockdown & this entire situation.

Cannot believe what life has become

Yes I'm fed up, but I can believe what life has become because we were warned back in March and April that there would be no quick solution, and as feared, winter approaching is no help at all is it?

I've coped pretty well until now spending time gardening and taking walks with my dog but as gardening has ended for a few months and my dog isn't mad keen on going out in wet and windy weather I'm noticing a sense of gloom edging in.
Its the thought of the vaccine being available soon which has turned on the light at the end of the tunnel that's keeping me focussed.

Its a pretty rubbish outlook otherwise

Same, I managed ok up until now but we are in tier 3, had our pre Xmas break and new year break both cancelled, very limited on what we can do in our local area in terms of festive fun and we aren’t meant to go elsewhere so it’s all just utterly shit and depressing just months of work and school and nothing to look forward to. December is my favourite time of year and there’s just nothing to do it’s so bleak.

I feel so low. Am eating and drinking to fill the hole.
My son has been in four lots of self isolation, my other son tow. They are in ky exam years. This means we haven't been able to go out anywhere for weeks together. We have forgotten what going to school feels like. My sons shine at school.

Now one son has Covid just after he finally went back and we are all thrown back into SI again, wondering if we'll catch it and then have another 10 days SI.

It's a perpetual cycle. I feel like I'm living in a parallel universe seeing people out as a family or hearing off relatives whose children have continued to go to school.

I'm trying to hold it together, but not giving work my all and unable to be close to family. I am sliding. I know it.

I find it extremely frustrating, not depressing.

The travel restrictions in particular.

OP, your title says Lockdown Depression but the content just says you are utterly fed up of the lockdown situation. Are you actually depressed, and if so, are you being treated?

I"m only asking because being utterly fed up of something and being depressed aren't the same thing at all. I imagine many are utterly fed up of this situation.

I'm really fed up too and the situation hasn't really even affected me that much. But I can just feel all the low morale of people around me even strangers and that does make me feel down. Then I heard of someone we know totally out of the blue commit suicide last week leaving children behind. This has really got me down and I'm feeling less and less motivated. Like PP said I feel the sliding sensation too. I used to constantly build myself up everh day and try and give my all but things really are getting wearing now and to see others lose jobs and people suffering is making me feel helpless.

I was doing well I felt and much more stable in mood than friends or work colleagues but my mood has sunk with the enduring nature of this pandemic and I'm starting to wander whether I have low level depression or whether this is a normal reaction to the situation?

For me I feel emotionally numb or just sad. I'm also zoning out and on autopilot a lot and definitely emotionally eating and drinking too much alcohol. I cannot concentrate for long and I have lost motivation with work and housework. We have not even had it bad- I'm a HCP but haven't been dealing directly with covid +'ve patients ( although the normally tough job is more stressful than normal)

I imagine many are feeling this low level feeling....

@middleager that sounds really crap, sorry that your family are struggling at the moment

I have seasonal Affective Disorder, so depression always rears its head at this time of the year. But basically it's never lifted since last winter.

I am literally clinging on by my fingertips, waking each day with a sense of despair and trying to figure out how to get through it. Having a toddler means I'm also beyond exhausted.

Stupidly I allowed myself a little hope when the vaccines news started to break. I can't believe how stupid I was to do that, the announcement that we are in tier 3 (and let's be honest, it's not changing any time soon) has meant I'm now in far more of a mess again. I need to just get my focus back to surviving the next day as that's my only chance of getting through this.

Agree with PP that feeling down and being depressed are not the same thing.

Actually quite insulting and minimizing to those who do suffer from depression. I'm not saying you were trying to do that OP. I'm just pointing it out.

Can I join?

I’m so depressed most days and upset about what life is like!
We got a sense of normality over summer when I was allowed back in to office for MH reasons and now they’ve gone and shut that again until who knows when.
Trying to get my head around being stuck in this house to work and live until - when - Easter??

I agree feeling down and depression are different but it's not as black and white as that. I grew up with a parent with significant mental health issues and see how their experiences shaped that path.

From my experiences with many friends and close family who have had depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder the environment and situation that have found themselves in have often been the trigger of mental health crisis. Yes there are suseptabilities and genetics involved, but In particular I've seen lack of social support, lack of routine, financial difficulties, bereavement and stress have all been triggers. All things people are experiencing now in far higher numbers.

So yes, feeling down is not the same as depression but, this crisis is creating the right conditions for a mental health time bomb.

It's good that people are noticing that their mental health does not feel right and seeking help/ support.

Same here and I think it perfectly acceptable to use the word depression in this vernacular context.
I am so lucky to have a house and garden, a job I love and friends who are not obsessive about da Roolz, but my resileyus being massively tested and feel so sorry for others less fortunate. I am a teacher and love my job and lucky enough to be in a school with light touch on restrictions and where only one teacher dnd a couple of pupils have tested positive and none of the nonsense of mass year groups isolations that done schools have, but free massively for the mental health of young people who are not having the chance to do the ‘entry level’ jobs like waitressing etc, and those people stuck working at home who are not allowed into their workplace 😥😥 and even more rude trying to work while their kids are being forced out of school by needless panicking by school leaders.

[quote psychomath]@middleager that sounds really crap, sorry that your family are struggling at the moment [/quote]
Thank you.
Sadly, so many posts to see we are not alone.

Let's keep talking and posting, as somebody's 'feeling down' might be classed as somebody else's depression.

Is anyone else really struggling not being able to socialise as w family? We're family of 5. Basically other than July (?) not been able to have friends over for dinner or go anywhere as a 5 with another family since March.

Makes weekends so hard. Basically don't really see anyone other than at local playground.

Can't socialise after wfh as it's dark and usually raining and have to look after kids etc in house

Feel so lonely. All my good friends have 1-2 kids and generally live a drive away so not seen most of them at all this year.

Can't even arrange Xmas meals as be outside , hardly any outside eating space in London end prob b freezing or raining. And as 5 of us don't know any '1 person' to see with 5 of us.

I've suffered from medically diagnosed depression and anxiety for over 20 years and I don't feel offended when people use the terms to describe feelings or situations which aren't medically diagnosed. To do so would just be pedantic. People who are already struggling mentally don't need to be told off by language purists.

Language police on this thread: Please piss off. You are not helping anyone here.

Yes.
I came off citalopram 18 months ago and was doing great, but now back to square one, textbook depression symptoms
I would go and see GP but well they're not actually accessible atm, so feel all I can do is struggle on.

@Iremembertheelderlykoreanlady

Agree with PP that feeling down and being depressed are not the same thing.

Actually quite insulting and minimizing to those who do suffer from depression. I'm not saying you were trying to do that OP. I'm just pointing it out.

Just because someone isn't clinically depressed, it doesn't mean they are not depressed. Your comment is useless and unwelcome.

Ignore the language police OP.

I have been up and down on the Coronacoaster since March. One day I'll feell content and upbeat, another totally down in the dumps. Today is one of the latter days.

It's not so much my daily life, which actually isn't so very different to how it would normally be this time of year. And I'm actually quite optimistic that the vaccination programme will be underway quite soon and things may be 'back to normal' in many ways this side of Easter. Problem is, it may be too late for me. I have two jobs, both of which I love and through which I meet many wonderful people, and both of which I fear that may not survive Covid. So even when things 'get back to normal', I may have lost some of the things which were important to me.

Obviously I know many people are much worse off than me. But that doesn't neccessarily make it easier.

Feel fine through the week generally as prefer WFH. Weekends are just dire though.

When working in the office normally the prospect of the weekend would get me through the week. Now I don't get that Friday feeling and Saturdays and Sundays are just a waste of time.

Yes I am fed up. Spend a lot of time (when not at work) lying on my bed not doing the things I should be doing in my home.

I dread the end of the day and having to leave work to go home.

It definitely hit me today. I’ve been so lucky to be WFH since March, and have no children so it’s just me and my husband. We’ve had lots of lovely long walks and enjoyed the summer. But now it’s just so much harder, I hate the colder darker weather anyway but I’m so bored and fed up. My husband tried to get me into the Christmas spirit today and put the decorations up and I had a little cry. I don’t know what to do over Christmas as I don’t think we should just suddenly go from being tier 3 to mixing under the Christmas rules but I do want to see my parents who are in their 70’s. It just feels like a never ending cycle of misery.

Compared to lots of people I’ve had it easy and am so fortunate. So I just keep thinking if I feel this down now there must be so many people who feel a million times worse.

I wish I could go to sleep and wake up in April when it’s lighter and warmer, and hopefully we have some sort of life back.