Anti depressants?

[melonrubena]

Name changed but been here nearly ten years. Any input be hugely appreciated.

For context,
I'm a primary school teacher of late 30's. I'm obese but not hugely. I teach 5 year olds and there's no social distancing etc etc. Obviously I've not been vaccinated.

I've coped ok so far with it all but recently started to feel overwhelmed with the fear of dying of covid. Seeing other people get vaccinated and knowing mine is ages away makes it worse somehow.

I feel anxious all the time but also strangely numb and cut off. I'm finding myself withdrawing from my children and partner who need me. I can't sleep. I just stare into nothing.

It's started to worry me. Any advice appreciated. Is it worth considering sleeping tablets? Could I be depressed?

Thank you

Anxiety makes it difficult to sleep - lack of sleep makes you more anxious. Both anxiety and lack of sleep can cause depression or make it worse. The withdrawal is because you've run out of emotional energy to deal with stuff. It's all kind of connected.

The biggest problem you have at the moment is that you're focused on covid and what you perceive as your risk from it. You need to stop that! The golden rule with anxiety is avoid anything that makes you anxious! Stop reading/listening to stuff about it and tell your partner so that they won't talk to you about it either!

The other thing you do need to do is start sleeping properly and yes, sleeping pills can help. When you worry about stuff, your body's emotional level rises - you go from being logical, to instinctive - the fight/flight impulse starts to take over. When you sleep, your emotional level decreases. There's a lot of research in this area, but it's sometimes a chicken and egg thing - people don't know if anxiety/depression causes insomnia, or if insomnia causes depression. Personally I think both occur - regardless it's fixable and better sleep will make everything else easier.

Thank you so much for your reply. What you've said makes great sense.