Finding weekends difficult

[mildlydepressed]

I have a history of depression and anxiety and trauma. I work during the week and function pretty well. I enjoy my job. I think being busy helps me plus I enjoy helping and connecting with people and that is a big part of my job. Lately on the weekends I find myself feeling inexplicably low and tearful. Then by Tuesday I am on form again. We have an 8 month old and I find parenting on the weekends quite draining whereas in the week I have childcare during the day. So that could be part of it. My mood really deteriorated today and DH and I argued. It's almost like the weekends are a trigger for me, as I tend to think negative thoughts about myself and my feelings don't reflect my reality. I feel over sensitive and completely different to how I feel most workdays.

Anyone experience similar or have any advice? I could work 7 days a week but I'm not sure that's a healthy solution!

I should probably add that I've had some suicidal thoughts recently on the weekends too. I'm not going to act on them, they are just thoughts that I tend to dismiss fairly quickly.

Hi OP. Hopefully somebody with more useful things to say will be along soon but I just want you to know that I read your words and feel for you.

I don’t have experience of this specifically but I have experience of mental health issues - and, more similarly, being up and down generally and being in and out of hopelessness from one day to the next. So I do empathise.

Could it be that you’re actually depressed overall but are too busy to realise through the week? Functional depression would lend itself to this.

I think you have a chance to catch this before it has a chance to overwhelm by speaking to a professional now.

Hello op- i feel really similar. Weekends are very hard with a young child, especially at the moment where there’s nothing to do. For me, it’s the lack of routine that triggers me- the week days I can cope with because time is scheduled into chunks. But I struggle with long unstructured time looking after my son. Could you try and put some structure into the weekend? Even if it’s just go to the park/ buy a coffee etc? Sending love, it’s very hard to be a parent at the moment, especially if you suffer from bad mental health x

I agree just give yourself a few things to do over the weekend that bring you a little bit od joy.