Depression and anxiety whilst lying down

[Bifford]

I've noticed that when I lie down to go to bed, I quickly begin to feel more anxious and pessimisstic about the world.  All the problems hovering over my head suddenly grow to terrible proportions.  When I get up and go out for a walk, however, I feel more or less normal.

I've heard some reasonings for this in terms of evolutionary psychology: when you're standing up, you're in a posture to fight or flee, whereas you're helpless while you're lying down.  I've also read science articles that say people take insults better when they're lying down.  Some psychiatrists still ask their patients to lie on a sofa during their sessions.  Is it possible the brain switches into another mode when you rest?

[stevejoe]

Hmmm... this sounds very familiar with what I've been experiencing for years.  It started once when I woke up like a bolt around midnight with an intense feeling of dread.  If I tried to lay down I would be overcome with anxiety caused by a sense of impending doom and gloom.  Getting up and walking about or pretty well doing anything except lying down would elimnate the feelings of dread. Usually after 2-4 hours of this I was able to go back to bed.  Over the years this "anxiety" has developed and evolved to the point where it is triggered by thoughts of aging and death of myself, spouse, kids, siblings, and even people I don't even know. As always, these anxiety-triggering thoughts occur when I am laying down in bed, and disappear immediately if I get up and stay awake.  One explanation I came up with is that it has something to do with being unable to or fearing the loss of control/consciousness that's required to relax and fall asleep.  Fear of death?  Who knows.   

[andreapollman]

That sounds interesting. Depression may not only occur when you are at rest or alone. In some teens they also suffer from teen depression because of some chemical changes that occurs during this stage.

[brainlips]

An acquintance of mine used to have similar experiences.

He got into meditation pretty hardcore and is says he's now relieved of anxiety etc.

Sounds pretty interesting, and the evolutionary explanation sounds reasonable plausible.