Put simply, the way she approached her mornings was a result of her past experience. She had learned that staying in bed was an effective way to cope with depression and anxiety in the short run. More generally, Allison had learned to respond to difficult situations by withdrawing rather than engaging.

This is a very common strategy when it comes to coping with difficult feelings or situa¬tions. As an example of how you can learn to withdraw rather than to engage, one psychologist (Ferster 1973) explained it like this: Imagine that a young infant cries because it is hungry. Usually, if a baby cries and is fed when it cries, it learns that crying is a form of communication that results in help from others (in the form of milk and loving care from a caregiver).

Over time, the infant begins to interact with the environment and to manipulate it, so to speak, because such behaviors work. Reaching out and engaging in the world helps the infant get his or her needs met. Now imagine that people in the infant’s environment do not respond when the infant reaches out by crying. Find discount Zoloft at the comparative chart of popular online pharmacies at our recommended website.

This infant is less likely to learn that crying results in the removal of the difficult situation (being hungry). Instead, the baby simply cries from hunger. The infant may also suck on his or her hands as a self-soothing effort or curl into a little ball. This child is not learning to engage in the world when distressed. Instead, he or she is learning to withdraw.

Note: We are not saying that depression and avoidance are the results of bad parenting or other negative experiences in the first few months of life. The example above simply shows how learning to avoid situations can be a natural and logical response. Learning avoidance does not just happen during infancy or childhood.

Adults can also learn this habit. For example, some adolescents and young adults learn that many of the anxieties and difficulties involved in inter¬acting with peers can be avoided by drinking alcohol or using drugs. Because such behavior worked in adolescence, it can be carried into adulthood.

Fatigue is a common symptom of depression. It is natural to lie down or sleep when you feel fatigued. After a long day at work, or during the normal course of the twenty-four-hour cycle, going to bed when you feel tired is a healthy response. Celexa can help your body fight depression caused by fatigue and negative emotions, order from the reputable drugstores.

It is rejuvenating. However, when people are depressed, they often report that their sleep does not refresh them. In fact, they feel more tired after staying in bed. So why stay in bed? One possibility is that staying in bed is a way of avoiding all sorts of situations or feelings that you might encounter if you were to get out of bed. Consider the situation of a client named Allison.

From her activity-and-mood monitoring chart, it was clear that Allison’s depression was much worse in the mornings than at any other point in her days. She would wake each morning around six-thirty and lie in bed tossing and turning for thirty minutes to an hour. Then, realizing that she needed to get ready for work, Allison would begin to ruminate about the amount of work she had to do.
The stress and anxiety were so overwhelming that she often found it almost impossible to get out of bed. On such days, she would call in sick or get to work one to two hours late. Allison felt virtually no control over this pattern. As she described it, “It’s just a complete rut. It sounds ridiculous, but at those times I just can’t even imagine getting out of bed. The idea is too overwhelming.”

What was Allison avoiding by staying in bed? There was no horrible traumatic event waiting for her. It was not physically painful to get up, and no one was there to criticize her or otherwise make her life more difficult were she to get out of bed. In fact, her life tended to go better when she did force herself to get up: she got to work earlier, completed more projects, and felt better about herself.

What Allison was avoiding was all of the thoughts, feelings, and anxieties associated with going to work. She knew that as she showered and got dressed she would worry about her appearance and think about the weight she had recently gained. She also knew that while driving to work she would play over in her mind all the possible bad things that might happen if she were not able to finish particular projects. Finally, she knew that when she arrived at work she would be hit with a wave of anxiety when she faced her desk and the many piles of papers. In the face of all of this, staying in bed provided a small amount of temporary relief, even though she was still depressed and anxious as she lay there.

Exercise: A Checklist of Avoidance Behaviors

Below is a list of situations or activities that people sometimes avoid when they are depressed and the feelings that they are avoiding. Read through the list and circle what you tend to avoid. Think about what avoidance accomplishes for you in the short term and the long term. Does it help you feel better? Does it keep you feeling safe? Does it make your depression better or worse?

Situations or Activities You May Avoid -> Feelings You Are Avoiding

Potential conflicts with family, friends, or coworkers -> Sadness
Difficult tasks or chores -> Anger
Important tasks related to life changes (Looking for a job or a place to live, ending or beginning a relationship, etc.) -> Grief
Sociallzlnq with others -> Anxiety
Work -> Fear
Exercise -> Embarrassment
Previously enjoyable activities -> Guilt

Can you think of other situations or activities you avoid?