Anyone have obsessions as coping mechanisms?

Just a question for you guys. During hypo/mania, I characteristically always form a strong obsession with something or other, and I'm sure many of you guys do as well. But do any of you form obsessions with things when you're depressed? As perhaps a form of coping?

I had always thought that I only got obsessive during hypomania, but now that I think back there have been obsessions during depression, too. Reason I bring this up is because my mood has been going down lately, and I've formed a new obsession. A friend of mine called me out on it after I repeatedly ranted on about my current obsession to him. He told me that I often get into these obsessions and then I forget about them later. I got angry because of course, I don't see this obsession as being a fad, as I honestly believe this is something that I'll be passionate about for a long time.

I know that my current obsession and the subject matter is a way of coping with my depression and my feelings of not having a purpose in life. When I think back to past obsessions during depression, I could see that they were a way of coping as well.

I'm feeling pissed at the moment just with what my friend said. You know how when being manic, and you're making all these elaborate plans, but then when someone calls you out on it and points out that it's just your mania, you get defensive and pissed? That's how I felt when he pointed out that this could just be a passing obsession. I know that he's right but I still feel as though he's wrong.

Not sure where I'm going with this post really. Does anyone else get obsessions when depressed?

- EGD.

I've never really thought about having obsessions during depressive moods, but I do definitely have them during hypomanic ones. Currently I'm fixated on a coworker...I can't stop thinking or talking about her and it's so annoying. I wish I could stop and I don't know how. The medicine curbs it a bit,though.

I just know that my mood is getting funky lately. I feel depressed but I'm also getting a lot of thoughts of creative projects, and this obsession too. Having trouble sleeping, my medication that usually sedates me hasn't been.

All I know is that obsessions are a big warning sign for me that something is off.

- EGD.

Ooh I'm looking forward to reading this thread

I definitely a few obsessions, i'm not sure whether they are coping mechanisms or a case of OCD... haa

For one, I constantly play with my hair, I am always twirling it, plaiting it, I don't even realise I am doing it, and when I do try and stop myself I get very agitated and distressed about it.

I also have a ritual every morning that I do follow, no matter how early I get up. Get up, wash my face with cold water and brush my teeth, make an coffee frappe, turn on music, apply makeup and do my hair. (lol)

I also have to chew on each side of my mouth the same amount of times other wise it feels off..

hmm haha and a couple others

I absolutely do have obsessions. Not sure where they come from. Last few days: Dave Gahan's heroin phase. Reading interviews, listening to the music, trying to find as many resources about that period in Depeche Mode career... until I moved on all of a sudden. Previous obsessions included Viking mythology, becoming a coach and recording an instrumental folk album. (I am now 40% ready with that and stalled for the last two months, because obsession went away.)

EGD - I think I know what you're talking about, but I don't think this form of obsession is necessarily unhealthy. Futher, I don't think that it is part of coping.

You accurately described this so-called "obsession" as a deeper and potentially long-lasting passion. This is perfectly consistent with combating depression - not a symptom of hypomania - because you are actively pursuing a passion. I'd be pissed too if a friend said it was obsession because that implies that what you're doing is not real and unhealthy. Why can't you have a healthy obsession?

But back to the topic - I don't think this is a form of coping because coping involves "tollerating stress". There are active or proactive and passive approaches, but all involve doing something that helps with managing symptoms of stress. What you are describing is part of your purpose in life, which some people I know usually lump into what is called "world building", which is clearly not coping. One reason is that world building involves the construction of your life and the people that you choose to include in it (which is what you seem to be doing).

I found that depression hits hard when I do too little world-building. When I try to do too much, I get unhealthy obsession. There's actually a journal article that describes this idea - see the 5 mood states by Zhang et al. (2007: 1734). Those five states are 1) severe mania, 2) mild to moderate mania, 3) normal balanced mood, 4) mild to moderate depression, 5) severe depression. We don't want states 2 or 4 because they lead to 1 and 5, respectively. So when you are engaging in a passion, it may seem to border mania - but passion is kinda like that, so it seems hard to say anything other than you seem to be avoiding/preventing mild depression. Thus, I think you may be building something good for your life, and your friend may simply be coping and not understand what you are doing.

This is an interesting question EGD.

For me, I definitely get obsessions while hypomanic. For example, I just spend the last 2 days, crunching numbers that I thought had relevance to my work. (Whether someone else feels that way I don't know) I was passionate, focused, and couldn't stop thinking about these numbers and what they might mean.

In depression, while I may not get these "productive" obsessions, I definitely get obsessive thoughts. An example would be thinking ceaselessly about why I might be depressed, or just how bad it feels to experience the depression. I believe these to be a coping mechanism in the sense that they help me to understand and make sense of the world around me. In that sense they are helping me to cope with the depression by trying to make sense of it. I believe that many people do this. One could argue that these obsessive, persistent negative thoughts, or searching for answers thoughts could be due to the depression itself. Either way, whatever one defines as helpful to them is what really matters.

Thanks for the responses, guys, Keep them coming because I like this topic and curious about your guys experiences with such.

Ian - You brought up an interesting view on it, thank you. I think you could be right about it, and how this differs from other obsessions. Before my conversation with my friend, I was labeling this as a passion and it gave me a sense of something to pursue, and it's definitely a healthy passion, not damaging at all. When he called it an obsession, I did get offended because of the negative connotations associated with that, and how it implied it as a "fad". I've been trying to figure out what this is, I wasn't sure if it was a coping mechanism for depression, whether it's helping to perhaps combat it by giving me a purpose at this time. I don't personally know if this will be long-lasting, but it certainly feels as though it's an added passion and I don't see why it would disappear. I've had many obsessions so far during both hypo/mania and depression. Which is why I can't help but wonder if this is just another passing one. The difference I think between this one and my past ones, is because my past ones didn't really involve it being a "life purpose" type of obsession, my past ones were just focused on a "subject". That's why I feel this one is a bit different, and that's why I felt so very offended when my friend called it an obsession and passing fad.

I do think it's connected with my looming depression though, as it caught on right when I started to drop in mood. But you're right that this could be a healthy passion/obsession, it doesn't have to have negative connotations..

Cheze - My last big depression involved a lot of obsessive thoughts about the meaning of life, existential crisis, etc. Is that similar to what you were experiencing? I wasn't sure whether those types of obsessive thoughts were helpful or harmful, really. It did change my whole outlook on life though, when the depression lifted I came away with some "realizations" lol.

I've been having a lot of trouble with having a meaningless life, and I think that's why when I came across the subject that I'm currently passionate about, I latched onto it quickly because finally something resonated with me. I still feel as though my mood is dropping, but it just feels odd to have a dropping mood and also a part of me that is passionate and holding on to this. As I've never experienced the two together like that. That's why I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this type of obsession during depression or low mood.

- EGD.

I definitely obsess over different things to stave off my depression or to channel manic feelings through. Christianity and Music are huge ones for me. The obsession is usually pretty narrow, like hip hop ONLY for days and days on end, usually one artist, album, or song, which can become odd. It's normal for me to listen to the same song 50 times in a row because it's soothing or something. Repetition is definitely soothing for me. With religion I might obsess over one book of the bible, one character, or one religious authour, recently it was Lev Tolstoy. Another one I had was with Dragon's Den ... I watched all the episodes Season 1-4 in two weeks after work, would stay up very late watching episodes and researching each of the investors lives and children's lives and became very absorbed in the whole thing. Also beer, figured out a lot about ales and lagers and stouts and the brewing process and began to buy like 10 different beers from the liquor store and drink them alone on the weekend and then research their history on the internet. I don't know why I do this but it's nice to hear that other people do it too, cheers

I can relate to the obsessing over the worth of life when one's mood is going downhill, I think I do that too in the form of extreme religiosity and god seeking ... I think I'm trying to fix everything really quickly because I'm scared and letting the fear consume me.. I dunno.. good thread

I become obsessed with different musicians/bands and listen to them constantly until I hate it haha. If I really like the band I look up pictures of them and watch video interviews...this sounds kind of normal but if I'm manic it's obsessive. In the past I also had an obsession with different animals and if I saw them somewhere it's like a sign for me and if I find something in a store with the animal on it I would buy it.

I don't think there's anything wrong with obsessions if they aren't harming yourself or anyone else and I think its ok to have changing interests. I think everyone goes through phases of being attracted to different ideas and subjects, maybe if you feel things more intensely you are more captured by them than the average person and passionate. I too feel like part of my being obsessed with things at times is because I don't have a clear purpose or path for what I want to do, but if your obsession is lined up with a purpose you want to try to make for yourself maybe that's a good thing and can work to your advantage...