Clinomania (or clinophilia): what is it, symptoms, causes and treatment?
This anxiety disorder causes sufferers to stay in bed for long hours.
Clinomania or clinophilia is the obsession or extreme need to stay in bed for many hours of the day without any organic disease to justify it. without the existence of an organic disease that justifies it.
Next, we will see what this disabling anxiety disorder consists of.
How to know if you suffer from clinomania
Wanting to stay in bed or being lazy about getting up does not automatically mean that we have a disorder such as clinomania. It is relatively normal, especially in societies like ours with such a frenetic pace of life, that we are often tired and want to lie down for hours.
The problem comes when the desire to stay in bed becomes an obsession that ends up affecting our work life. that ends up affecting our work, social or family life. It is at this point that one should be concerned and consider the need to see a mental health professional.
Symptoms
A good way to know if one may be suffering from this pathology is to be aware of the signs that we present during the day, in our free time, with the family, etc.
The most common symptoms in a person who suffers from clinomania are the following:
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Our leisure and free time are confined to constantly staying in bed. We do not go out with our friends or have plans of any kind. We spend all day in bed without getting up, except to go to the bathroom.
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We begin to have sudden mood swings. We feel sad or down when a family member visits us or when it is a sunny day; and conversely, we become happy when we have any excuse to stay at home and lie in bed, such as when it snows or our car breaks down.
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We start to obsess about everything that has to do with our bed: pillow, sheets, cushions, bedspreads, etc. And we can't get the desire to stay lying in it out of our heads.
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Every time you try to get out of bed, there is a kind of gravitational force that pulls you and won't let you. It seems as if your willpower is overridden.
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Lying in bed gives you great comfort. This is because your brain has generated a reward pattern that means that every time you lie down you secrete dopamine and other substances that give you intense pleasure.
Psychological symptoms
In addition to paying attention to the signs, it is advisable to observe yourself and detect any symptoms that are out of the ordinary..
These are some of the most common psychological symptoms of clinomania:
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Sadness and lack of motivation: as we have already mentioned, the most common characteristic of clinomania is the obsession or exaggerated desire to stay in bed. In addition, the person begins to see the outside world as hostile or devoid of stimuli, so that he or she finds no motivation to relate to his or her environment.
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Feeling of guiltThe fact of lying in bed constantly instead of fulfilling the obligations of daily life, may cause the patient to feel guilty. This, added to sadness and lack of motivation, further reinforces the depressive mood.
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Social isolationThe real indicator that we are facing a case of clinomania is that the subject begins to see his life deteriorating due to the excess of time spent in bed. In this sense, the most affected areas are usually social relationships and work.
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Incomprehension and lonelinessBecause this disorder is sometimes not well understood socially, patients may feel lonely or misunderstood and may lose friends and family members.
Treatment
Like any other anxiety disorder clinomania usually requires psychotherapy to alleviate symptoms, generally of the cognitive-behavioral type.. In severe cases, pharmacological intervention may be required, with anxiolytic or Antidepressant drugs.
The main objective of treatment is to enable patients suffering from clinomania to regain control of their lives, i.e. to be able to work, to relate to friends and family, etc. In short, to lead a structured and autonomous life.
Making lifestyle changes is essential for these people, as it helps to reduce their obsession with staying in bed. Encouraging them to engage in physical exercise and other outdoor activities is one way to help them modify their behavior and minimize obsessive symptoms.
Associated disorders
Although clinomania is considered an anxiety disorder in itself, its symptoms can be present in other disorders, its symptoms can be present in other mental illnesses such as depression or schizophrenia. such as depression or schizophrenia.
The tendency to withdraw into bed indefinitely often occupies the terminal period of some untreated depressive patients. Clinomania is presented as one more maladaptive symptom, along with other symptoms characteristic of depression, such as irritability, persistent sadness, anhedonia (inability to experience pleasure) or frequent crying.
Another mental illness in which clinomania may appear as a symptom is schizophrenia. In a certain subtype of schizophrenia, catatonic schizophrenia, it is common for the patient to experience periods of immobility or catalepsy, with consequent bodily rigidity. This sometimes leads them to lie in bed or on the couch for countless hours.
Clinomania and dysania: differences
We have already discussed clinomania, which involves an obsession and an extreme need to remain lying in bed. But, is there any other similar disorder?
Dysania is a psychological disorder that causes sufferers to feel confused upon waking up, showing signs of irritability and irritability.They show signs of irritability and anger at having to get up.
This occurs because their bodies ask them to sleep longer and to extend the time of rest on the bed, being aware at the same time that it is time to get up and get going.
This fact generates even greater frustration, which is increased because, according to experts, this lack of rest is associated with a lack of motivation (for work, family, personal reasons, etc.) that makes it even more difficult to get out of bed.
According to experts, dysania is a growing disorder due to the change in our sleep patterns: we go to bed later and later and, generally, we do so after having been exposed to all kinds of digital screens such as smartphones and tablets, which makes it even more difficult to fall asleep.
Although dysania is not considered a disease in itself, as is the case with clinomania (which is treated as an anxiety disorder), it is important to solve this problem as soon as possible, so that it does not drag on over time: for example, by sleeping enough hours so that the body is rested when the alarm clock rings.
Bibliographic references:
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Blatner Adam (1997). "The Implications of Postmodernism for Psychotherapy". Individual Psychology.
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Compas, Bruce & Gotlib, Ian. (2002). Introduction to Clinical Psychology. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
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Evans, Rand. (1999). Clinical psychology born and raised in controversy. APA Monitor, 30(11).
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Groth-Marnat, G. (2003). Handbook of Psychological Assessment, 4th ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
(Updated at Apr 13 / 2024)