Why am i so depressed in the morning

SAMHSA’s National Helpline | SAMHSA

Your browser is not supported

Switch to Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari

Main page content

SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders.
Also visit the online treatment locator.

SAMHSA’s National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357) (also known as the Treatment Referral Routing Service), or TTY: 1-800-487-4889 is a confidential, free, 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year, information service, in English and Spanish, for individuals and family members facing mental and/or substance use disorders. This service provides referrals to local treatment facilities, support groups, and community-based organizations.

Also visit the online treatment locator, or send your zip code via text message: 435748 (HELP4U) to find help near you. Read more about the HELP4U text messaging service.

The service is open 24/7, 365 days a year.

English and Spanish are available if you select the option to speak with a national representative. Currently, the 435748 (HELP4U) text messaging service is only available in English.

In 2020, the Helpline received 833,598 calls. This is a 27 percent increase from 2019, when the Helpline received a total of 656,953 calls for the year.

The referral service is free of charge. If you have no insurance or are underinsured, we will refer you to your state office, which is responsible for state-funded treatment programs. In addition, we can often refer you to facilities that charge on a sliding fee scale or accept Medicare or Medicaid. If you have health insurance, you are encouraged to contact your insurer for a list of participating health care providers and facilities.

The service is confidential. We will not ask you for any personal information. We may ask for your zip code or other pertinent geographic information in order to track calls being routed to other offices or to accurately identify the local resources appropriate to your needs.

No, we do not provide counseling. Trained information specialists answer calls, transfer callers to state services or other appropriate intake centers in their states, and connect them with local assistance and support.

Suggested Resources
What Is Substance Abuse Treatment? A Booklet for Families
Created for family members of people with alcohol abuse or drug abuse problems. Answers questions about substance abuse, its symptoms, different types of treatment, and recovery. Addresses concerns of children of parents with substance use/abuse problems.
It's Not Your Fault (NACoA) (PDF | 12 KB)
Assures teens with parents who abuse alcohol or drugs that, "It's not your fault!" and that they are not alone. Encourages teens to seek emotional support from other adults, school counselors, and youth support groups such as Alateen, and provides a resource list.

After an Attempt: A Guide for Taking Care of Your Family Member After Treatment in the Emergency Department
Aids family members in coping with the aftermath of a relative's suicide attempt. Describes the emergency department treatment process, lists questions to ask about follow-up treatment, and describes how to reduce risk and ensure safety at home.
Family Therapy Can Help: For People in Recovery From Mental Illness or Addiction
Explores the role of family therapy in recovery from mental illness or substance abuse. Explains how family therapy sessions are run and who conducts them, describes a typical session, and provides information on its effectiveness in recovery.
For additional resources, please visit the SAMHSA Store.

Last Updated: 08/30/2022

Everything You Need to Know

Written by Hope Cristol

Symptoms

Morning depression can be part of what’s called diurnal mood variation. It refers to the fact that symptoms of clinical depression can rise and fall throughout the day. Usually, it’s worse in the morning hours. But some people find that their mood slumps in the afternoon or in the evening instead.

Morning blues can look like classic depression. Signs may include feeling sad, anxious, and lacking interest in anything. You may feel most down after you wake up and notice that you:

Have no energy to start your day
Feel cranky
Overslept or find it hard to get out of bed
Feel frustrated

Possible Causes

Morning depression may stem from clinical depression. Or it may reflect other health issues.

Sleep problems. They often go along with depression. People who don’t get enough quality sleep are more likely to be depressed. Depression itself can make it hard for you to fall or stay asleep.

A common physical cause of poor sleep and depression is obstructive sleep apnea. This is when you stop and start breathing during the night. Treating your sleep apnea can ease your depression symptoms.

Stress hormones. Your body releases a chemical called cortisol in response to “fight or flight” situations. This hormone amps up your heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, and breathing rate. Over time, too much cortisol may be linked to such problems as anxiety, depression, and a hard time with memory and concentration.

Usually, your cortisol levels spike after you wake up. It may be that your body overreacts to the stress hormone and leaves you feeling down in the mornings.

Inflammation. Studies have found high levels of an inflammation-causing chemical called interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the brains of people with depression, schizophrenia, and other mental health disorders.

IL-6 levels rise and fall at different times in different people. But early morning is a common peak period. One study found that in some people, IL-6 amounts climb overnight and reach their highest level close to the time that their cortisol levels peak.

What You Can Do

If the symptoms of morning depression sound familiar to you, you can take steps to get help.

Get the right diagnosis. Talk to your doctor or health care provider to understand if you may have something more than temporary mood swings.

Take care of your overall health. Try to eat well, stay active, and manage any long-term conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. Physical health plays a role in your mental health.

Ask for a medication checkup. Your doctor or pharmacist can review if your drugs or drug interactions may be behind your morning depression.

causes of drowsiness, weakness and fatigue

Periods of moral fatigue occur even in stress-resistant people. By unconsciously pausing emotions, a person protects himself from the more severe consequences of mental stress. Therefore, a short-term decrease in social and psycho-emotional activity is considered the norm. We can talk about violations of mental health, if the depressed state drags on - indifference to life appears.

In clinical psychology and psychiatry, apathy is considered as an independent syndrome of loss of motivation or a symptom that accompanies mental disorders, addiction, neurological diseases. It is quite difficult to get out of this state without the help of a specialist. Especially if the situation is aggravated by misunderstanding of relatives. How does it manifest itself, why does apathy arise? Should she be treated with medication as a mental illness? We will answer these other questions in the article.

What is apathy?

Apathy and demoralization belong to a group of symptoms that combine deviations in the psychobehavioral, emotional, and cognitive spheres. There are several opinions about the typological affiliation of apathy in the structure of psychopathological disorders. Many experts characterize the apathetic state as the suppression of goal-directed behavior against the background of preserved intelligence and physical capabilities. Banal laziness and apathy are not identical concepts. A lazy person tries to avoid duties, but at the same time does not lose emotions, motivation for things that interest him. An apathetic patient lacks any initiative, cognitive activity and emotional response sharply decrease.

Along with mental and motor retardation, apathy is included in the symptom complex of depression. This allows us to classify the apathetic state as a psycho-emotional dysfunction:

Anhedonia is the loss of the ability to experience positive emotions: pleasure, delight, joy. A person cannot enjoy pleasant things, people, situations. The brain refuses to act because it does not receive a “reward” in the form of positive emotions.
Abulia - lack of will, psychological inability to perform actions, seek and make decisions. The patient does not lose consciousness, but cannot do anything.

Sustained decrease in mood (hypothymia), indifference to ongoing events are characteristic of different types of depressive disorders. With true major or minor depression, a person is haunted by feelings of guilt, obsessive negative thoughts about the past, present, and future. With apathetic depression, there is no concern about what happened, the desire to participate in what is happening, the motivation for life planning. A person does not care about either negative or positive events. Relatively speaking, the toggle switch "desires - feelings - interest" is turned off.

Types of apathy

Many clinical cases are presented by passive apathetic depression. Loss of motivation is accompanied by severe symptoms that are noticeable to others. A person is changing before our eyes, without hiding it. From a sociable and hardworking employee, an attentive relative, he turns into a closed "beech", devoid of emotional reactions.

Active apathy is much less common. The patient loses interest in what is happening, loses the meaning of life, but diligently disguises it with imaginary activity. With difficulty, a person continues to perform daily duties, experiencing severe mental discomfort. This condition is considered more dangerous, since it gradually destroys the psyche, leads to the degradation of the personality, and provokes suicidal thoughts.

The difference between apathy and anhedonia is the lack of separation of life aspects. Anhedonia can be partial, that is, cover one side of life - social, physical or intellectual-aesthetic. An apathetic state is almost always total - a complete loss of interest in any aspect of life.

Causes of psycho-behavioral and emotional disorders

The basic trigger for apathetic depression in healthy people is mental exhaustion resulting from:

occupational burnout;
prolonged psychological stress;
exhausting and unbearable loads against the background of lack of proper sleep;
hypertrophied responsibility, perfectionism, "excellent student syndrome";
long-term struggle with severe illness.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can cause lethargy. Indifference to the outside world develops against the background of psychotrauma. For example, the death of a loved one, a difficult divorce, loss of property. The degree of indifference depends on the personality accentuation - personal vulnerability to certain psychogenic factors. Etiologically, the condition is comparable to a protracted reactive psychosis - a distortion of the worldview in the patient's mind.

Other factors that provoke an indifferent attitude to life include:

Shift in the level of hormones and neurotransmitters, damage to the frontal lobes of the brain. Changes are typical for infectious lesions of the membranes of the brain, craniocerebral injuries, neurogenic, endocrine diseases. Endogenous disorders play a leading role in the development of apathetic depression in women in the postpartum or menopausal period.
Mental disorders. These are all types of schizophrenia, schizoid psychopathy, Alzheimer's disease, especially uncompensated forms (lack of treatment with specific drugs). The condition is complicated by the loss of the ability to separate the main from the secondary, to establish connections between phenomena.
Addictions - alcoholism, drug addiction. The loss of motivation and the meaning of life is associated with severe withdrawal symptoms when alcohol and drugs are given up. The withdrawal syndrome is accompanied by a feeling of fear, irritability, psychosis, which is replaced by complete indifference.
Side effect of sleeping pills. Medicines inhibit the synaptic transmission of nerve impulses, so in the morning many people feel detached, indifferent.

In men, the causes of psycho-emotional dysfunction are more often associated with the professional sphere, in women - with interpersonal relationships, hormonal changes. Despite this, women are less prone to apathy. The gender imbalance is explained by the lability of the female psyche, the high involvement of women in social and family ties, and the excess of social roles.

Symptoms

In case of mental disorders, endogenous disorders, neurogenic diseases, addictions, apathy accelerates the impairment of cognitive functions and reduces the quality of life. Apathy is manifested by refusal of treatment. Melancholy grows, unwillingness to perform any actions - get out of bed, leave the house, wash, comb your hair.

In contrast to depressed patients, who usually acknowledge their hopelessness and the need for medical help, apathetic people rarely acknowledge their condition. The following symptoms help to suspect psycho-emotional dysfunction in a person:

Detachment from family, social, professional problems. A person does not want to take part in discussions, take the initiative.
Striving for loneliness, seclusion.
Exhausted look - a haggard face, circles under the eyes, a detached look.
Absence of emotional reactions. Do not cause reciprocal experiences sad or joyful news.
Reticence, reticence, monotonous and poor speech. An apathetic patient avoids communication with relatives, colleagues, friends, easily breaks off old ties, refrains from making new acquaintances.
Stingy facial expressions, gestures. A smile practically does not appear on the face, the movements are constrained, a little clumsy.
Decreased appetite, physical activity. There is a retardation of attention, thinking.
Changing habits. It includes giving up hobbies, participation in family and friendly gatherings.

In women, the symptoms of lethargy are reflected in appearance. They stop wearing make-up, dressing beautifully, because appearance, like everything else, ceases to be significant.

Internal state is characterized by:

Chronic fatigue. Physical and moral weakness is always present (regardless of the time of day).
Daytime sleepiness, decreased quality of night sleep. There are different types of insomnia - frequent awakenings at night, inability to fall asleep quickly.
Oppression of sexuality. There is no libido, psychophysical pleasure from tactile sensations.
Indifference to former pleasures. For example, a person refuses delicious food, outdoor recreation, SPA treatments, etc.
Loss of desire to develop, contemplate the beautiful - listen to music, travel, watch movies, read books.

Psycho-emotional state affects physical health. There are regular headaches that are difficult to remove with painkillers. Aches in the bones, dyspepsia, problems with bowel movements appear, muscle tone decreases.

Treatment

When the psyche is not destroyed, and the patient himself is aware of the causes of apathy, rest, good sleep, healthy nutrition, and physical activity help to cope with indifference. If apathy continues for two weeks or more, specialist help is required. Therapy is aimed at stabilizing the functioning of the nervous system, restoring mental health, and maintaining physical fitness.

Comprehensive treatment includes:

Medicines. Taking into account contraindications, age, severity of the disorder, tranquilizers, antidepressants, antipsychotics are prescribed. Special therapy can be supplemented by cardiological drugs, anti-pressure drugs.
Psychological and psychotherapeutic assistance. To restore motivation, various methods and psychotechnics are used. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - recognition and correction of behavioral attitudes. Gestalt therapy is the development of self-awareness (understanding, acceptance of one's state, liberation from it). Art therapy is the return of emotionality, the development of creativity. Personal growth training is the stimulation of the desire to return to the old life, to learn something new. At the first stage, classes are held one-on-one with a psychologist, at the second - in groups.
Recovery of physical health. Includes sports, massage, walks in interesting places, a varied diet, taking vitamins, biologically active food supplements.

Treatment of apathy requires attention from relatives and friends. The support of relatives increases the effectiveness of the work of a psychologist, speeds up recovery. For this, family psychotherapy, family psychological counseling are provided. The involvement of relatives helps to find the root cause of an apathetic state, to form the correct behavior model to create a healthy environment in the family.

Why is it important to release your anger and how to do it correctly

Were you told as a child that it is normal to feel aggression, anger, annoyance? Hardly. But surely the parents asked to “behave like an adult”: stop crying, be silent, not whine and be patient. We have learned to skillfully suppress emotions and the habit of behaving in a manner accepted in society has been carried over into adulthood. It is now young parents who listen to psychologists' lectures and try to find the right words in any situation. And 25–30 years ago, only a couple of books by foreign authors could prepare for parenthood in this way.

After being quarantined by myself and having experienced several coronavirus-related panic attacks, I recognized the need to work with emotions and began a course of sessions with a psychologist. It was clear that the stresses of the last ten years — graduating from high school, studying at a prestigious university, finding a job, and all this Moscow race — led a perfectionist like me to the fact that tears and nervous tension became the first reaction to any step out of the comfort zone. I could cry when I saw rain outside the window in the morning or discussed my career growth with my boss. The psychologist immediately explained that these tears were resentments that grew out of unspent anger due to unfair assessments (hello, excellent student syndrome), domestic worries, suppressed career ambitions and, in general, the desire for perfection - of course, unattainable.

Popular

In a conversation with a psychologist, it turned out that more and more people today turn to specialists with the problem of unrealized emotions. Working on them is called "anger management." “We are used to considering such complex emotions as negative, such as anger, anger, longing, and push them out of consciousness, pretending that nothing is happening. Many are even ashamed of such states,” explains psychologist, Gestalt therapist Alina Bugrim. What if our emotions are like road signs to help us stay on track?

At once, several of my friends hid in themselves for years the desire to escape from toxic bosses, in the evenings describing new absurd office situations to their friends in colors. During this time, both of them doubted their talents and spent a lot of moral strength pleasing the bosses. They were angry at themselves for not being able to say no, and at them for not being aware of what was happening at all. Both eventually got tired of living in a state of constant aggression, and each silently broke off the working relationship. I asked my friends exactly how they felt when they made this decision, and each noted the urgent need for change. It turns out that anger is a marker that stimulates change. However, psychologists explain, it is not necessary to bring yourself to emotional burnout, endure endless overtime, break dishes at home, or, as Britney Spears did in 2007, rush at the car of the offender with an umbrella. It is much more correct to catch your aggression right away and direct its energy to change - to build and defend your boundaries and learn to say no. “Anger, like any strong feeling, helps our transformation. By learning to better understand our own desires, we begin to appreciate and respect ourselves more,” adds Bugrim.

Popular

“Intentionally ignoring our feelings or suppressing them, we do not get rid of the problem - emotions build up and act on us destructively,” says Nathalie Leroux, a member of the International, a respiratory practitioner coaching federation. Devastating in the literal sense: the fact is that the stress hormone cortisol circulates in the blood several times longer than serotonin, which is responsible for happiness. “For some reason, many reproach themselves for natural reactions,” continues Leroux. “In reality, every time you experience certain feelings, this body is trying to tell you something.” How to work with it? Leroux advises asking yourself questions: “If my anger could speak, what would it say to me? What can I take away from the situation? How can I convey what really matters to me next time?

Suppressed and ignored emotions can turn into real illnesses. “Any uncomfortable state is perceived by the body as stress. The psyche always elevates it to the rank of a threat to survival. The body includes mechanisms that protect against danger. Most often it is swelling or inflammation,” explains Anton Antonov, clinical psychologist, specialist in functional changes in organs and tissues. Antonov recommends that at the moment when you feel aggression, disappointment, resentment, realize this and surrender to the sensations for a minute. Most likely, you will feel how the tension goes away - this body ceases to protect itself from stress. By accepting the situation, we give the brain a signal of agreement with it, and then it no longer poses a danger to the body. It would be useful to recall a similar situation from the past, when you already felt something similar. “Try to live this episode again, replacing the picture with a positive one. If you were angry then and did not do what you wanted, go back there mentally and imagine what you did - complete that event. And look what you will become after - happy, free?

Popular

During the six months spent away from the office, I learned to track anger, feel its energy and accept it. I found out that the ultimate goal of this work is a state of harmony and peace, in which the ways of resolving the situation that provoked aggression are better seen. And I remembered that several years ago I unconsciously used this method. Then I sincerely talked with my management and, contrary to the advice of my relatives, I left, not agreeing to the new conditions, while maintaining relations. And a few months later she was already working at Vogue.

Imagine a person with whom you are offended. What would you say to him, do, being in a rage, a state of passion? Write down your thoughts and analyze them - this will help you not to mess things up.
Divide the page into two columns. In the first write down the actions of the offender, in the second - your expectations from him. Think about whether he knew about your expectations? How did you get them to him? Did he agree?
Set a timer for an hour: for the first half hour, write down what you would like to say to the offender.
Learn more

Why am i so depressed in the morning

SAMHSA’s National Helpline | SAMHSA

Main page content

Suggested Resources

Everything You Need to Know

In this Article

Symptoms

Possible Causes

What You Can Do

causes of drowsiness, weakness and fatigue

What is apathy?

Types of apathy

Causes of psycho-behavioral and emotional disorders

Symptoms

Treatment

Why is it important to release your anger and how to do it correctly