Can't seem to focus on my interest lately. Advice?

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I've been feeling quite depressed, anxious, stressed and overwhelmed lately (since I got back to university) and it seems to affect my ability to focus on an interest of mine (reading). I don't feel like reading as much as usual (I've only read 2.5 books since the beginning of September, which is really bad for me) and when I try to read I can't really focus. It's making me really frustrated. I want to read but I feel too low to do so.

Does this (not being able to pursue your interests the way you want to) happen to you as well? Any advice?

My interests change. try to find another.

Yes this happens to me. Months will go by where I think I should start working on a project of mine, but never do. I have faith that when the time is right I will get down to it. You just have to stop being so hard on yourself, and find other things to do. Even if your rational mind would evaluate these other activities as "less valuable", that is really a false analysis, your mind can't just be forced to do whatever you assume is best for it. If you can't bring yourself to do something, your mind is asking for a break from that.

This.

It's not the end of the world, really. Maybe what he needs is a temporary break from his hobby and do something else, that can be a very refreshing experience. He can always pick up reading later on. He may also want to try reading a different type or genre of books, to keep the variation alive. A lack of interest could be an indication that you are bored with your hobby and need to shake things up a little!

Hope this helps. Good luck to OP.

No. I don't want this to change. Hopefully it's "only" my depression that's making this difficult and it'll get back to normal once I figure things out. I don't want this to change. Perhaps I should try reading something completely different. I've read a lot of non-fiction lately. Perhaps I should try some sort of fiction (tried starting a fantasy book about a week ago but that didn't work so perhaps I need some other sort of fiction). I don't know.

You're quite lucky that reading is your hobby. My advice for you is to nudge yourself a bit to read a variety of publications: from scientific journals to newspapers to a good mystery novel. If you're multilingual, read in another language.

Again, you're lucky. My favorite pastime nowadays is stalking, staring at, stimming at and snapping photos of Mercedes-Benz S-class. I scour parking lots and garages for the prized Benz, getting excited when one is seen.

I wish you the best of luck. Sometimes, when you're in a hole, the best solution is to push through and out of it.

You were just diagnosed this month? That is enough to explain feeling unsettled I think.

When I lose interest in reading, I start writing. The writing makes me want to research, so it leads me back to reading. Does this make sense?

Reading is NOT the issue here.
The issue is the loss of interest(motivation) in reading, which is likely secondary to the Depression and/or anxiety and/or stress.

rebbieh, you need to focus on the problem(Depression) not the end result of the problem(decreased quantity of books read)
do you have professional help with your mental illness?
do you have support from friends?

I have been there.
Let me know what you think of what I have opined.

Correct. Less than two weeks ago.



I think you're right. I've lost interest in doing things in general (not only reading), which is most likely due to depression, anxiety and stress.

Yes, I get some professional help with my mental illness. I've been seeing a psychologist about once every two weeks for the past couple of months. Our focus has been learning how to cope with stress. I've had other therapists before then, for many months, but it has never really worked out due to communication issues and me being too logical for the therapist's liking (by that I mean I questioned everything, outsmarted the therapist's reasons for thinking a certain way etc.). I'll hopefully get some more help (for example meeting up once every week instead of once every two weeks and for example focusing on depression etc.) now that my ASD assessment is over and they (the psychologists) can figure out what kind of help I need more specifically.

You asked if I have support from friends. That depends on what you mean by support, so what do you mean? I have some friends but it's not like they can help me with what I'm going through.

I love reading, but when I was at university I rarely read for pleasure. I was just kinda 'read out'. So it may just be that.

It may also be some anxiety and depression which is robbing you of joy you'd normal feel in things.

Stress and pressure at university might cause some of the problems but it shouldn't. I mean, I've managed to read 5-8 books a month (textbooks for university excluded) for the past 12 months without any problems. However, I'm finding the transition from having the summer off to getting back to university quite difficult. That plus depression and getting diagnosed with AS is probably what's causing all of this. It's frustrating.