Disability & Boredom

energysavingselfcare:

cactus-spirit:

I don’t understand why people assume there’s this sense of entitlement when someone with depression or chronic illness complains about being bored. It’s not like we’re sitting there with endless resources in front of us, turning our nose up at all the options we have and whining about everything being too boring. It’s not just boredom – it’s lack of stimulation and enrichment. 

When you have a condition that severely restricts your ability to do things, you get… understimulated, socially deprived, restless… and that translates to boredom. I wish more people understood that when I say I’m bored what I’m really saying is, I’ve barely been able to leave the house for five days and I feel like staring at the walls or scrolling through my phone for another eight hours is going to make me lose my mind. 

This is absolutely true. It’s called “occupational deprivation” which is fancy OT words for “not being able to do almost anything” basically. There’s a whole academic literature about how bad it is for people to be occupationally deprived and how it screws you up psychologically.

I’m actually in the beginning stages of writing an article about occupational deprivation in bedridden people. It′s basically a case study of me – I’ve been bedridden for decades – but I’d love to hear from other bedridden spoonies if you’d like your thoughts included. Message me!