Depression

[PaulE]

I'm with Em on the motivation thing. I had 6 months off work with a pretty nasty case of post viral fatigue, one of the ways it manifested was depression. I found one of the things which really helped was having friends who wouldn't let me not do things... They made me get up and out, even if just for a walk to the pub for a chat, or half an hour at the local BMX track on my bike, or even getting me to walk their dog to take my mind away from my troubles. Made all the difference, and that "sanity break" in the day helped me get back on track.

Having people help me like that made me realise that I wanted to do something more people oriented, so I quit my research post at university, became a teaching assistant for severely disruptive kids and then re-trained as a teacher (and got a dog ). Basically, get some support (formal or informal) and eventually the cause or contributory factors will hopefully come to the fore and you will be able to deal with them together.

Good luck!

Medication (including st john's wort) didn't suit me one bit, but alterring my diet to avoid peaks and troughs in blood sugar levels helped (if a blood sugar low coencided with a bad spell, that was the worst of times).