I’ve been spacing out more often. days seem to blend together when i try to remember them but in the moment everything happens in slow motion. i dont know if im sad or not though. its really hard to describe how i feel about everything. ptsd has been sucky recently. couldnt sleep at all last night.bad thoughts and memories torment me whenever i try to relax
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Hi @d4nyy87 ,
It sounds like to me, you’re experiencing what’s known as apathy. Here is a great resource explaining what the term means in a mental health setting: Understanding Apathy | JED
I’m not sure if you’re looking for advice or not, but my personal opinion would be to seek therapy or another form of professional and explain to them the feelings you’ve been having. I understand that times right now are stressful. Would you like to share more about what thoughts are haunting you at night?
i have a therapist, it sucks cus i feek like i need to talk through my feelings more than once a week but i already feel like a burden on people. ive never known about apathy. that definitely describes how im feeling.
i was sa’d as a child multiple times and im still pretty young (17) but just flashbacks and nightmares of what happened haunt me i suppose
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im tired of bothering people but im tired of not being heard i just want someone to actually just let me talk and ramble and it be real. i dont feel real
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You are always welcome to share as much or as little as you feel comfortable with. I’m really sorry things have been weighing heavy on you x
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Oh friend, yeah, the spacing out, days just sliding by, not sleeping thing is real. When you sleep cycle gets really disrupted by ptsd and rough thoughts and memories, it can be hard to get it back on track. I see that you have a therapist to talk to and that is good. Keep going. The one thing that helps me with sleep is having a set of things I do starting an hour or so before bed that put my brain into that idea of sleep. I turn off my screens, maybe take a warm shower, and then I’ll listen to some very monotone type pod casts on a topic that I like but doesn’t excite me (if that makes sense). I know that if I can get my thinking part of my brain to quiet down, I can get better sleep. Perhaps talk with your therapist about what strategies would work for you. And please know that you can come back and talk more here anytime. We’re here to listen.
Hey Friend,
There are several layers to this otherwise short post.
Firstly, I went through a period in my life where the moment I laid down and closed my eyes for sleep, my mind would go into negative thought / self talk hyperdrive.
It got to the point to where I would have near panic / anxiety attacks from the mounting intrusive thoughts. I would eventually go to bed, but only out of sheer exhaustion, which bled through into the next day.
It created a negative feedback loop that had me constantly tired and fatigued.
So I decided to change one little thing…
Instead of suffering in my own thoughts and trying to go to bed that way, I started reading ANYTHING that I found interesting because it seemed that If I were doing that, my mind had no space to dive into the negative deep end.
I would force myself to continue reading until I literally fell asleep without knowing it.
I did this for several weeks and eventually I stopped have intrusive thoughts at bedtime and my sleep hygiene started to significantly improve.
I think what happened is I started conditioning my brain to fill itself with interesting, positive and useful information instead of allowing it to spiral out of control with negativity.
In short - see if there’s something you can do that can distract your mind from bad thoughts at night and replace those thoughts with something ‘productive.’
This is honestly anecdotal and I’m not sure if any research is out there that backs this, but I think it’s worth pursuing.
In general, though, when it comes to always being tired, that’s a side effect of PTSD, Depression, etc. It’s important to know this so you can get ahead of it with actions that help keep your sleep hygiene consistent. This just strengthens your fortitude and your ability to function with a clear mind through the day.
I hope this information helps a little. Stay strong friend. You got this.