Clinomania: The Uncontrollable Urge to Stay in Bed All Day
Have you ever heard of clinomania? It’s an anxiety disorder in which the main symptom is an uncontrollable desire to want to stay in bed. This symptom generates discomfort and sadness, as well as other symptoms. In fact, they all end up significantly interfering in the life of the sufferer.
However, what added symptoms does clinomania bring? What else do we know about this condition? As a matter of fact, although it’s a disorder in itself, in that it appears on its own, it can also appear alongside other mental disorders. You can find out which ones in this article.
“A bed is a place where so much of life is played out – births and deaths and passions and dreaming – all the most fundamental moments of our fragile human existence.”
― Tracy Rees-
Clinomania
The word clinomania comes from Greek and translates literally as ‘the obsession with sleep’. Also called clinophilia, clinomania consists of an obsession or an extreme need to stay in bed for many hours a day with no organic cause (disease or medication) to explain it. It’s classified as an anxiety disorder. However, how do you know if you’re suffering from clinomania? How does it manifest itself?
In reality, many people really like being in bed, either when they’ve just woken up (those “five more minutes more”) or are taking a nap, or when they go to sleep at night. This is quite common and doesn’t have to be a problem. However, when the desire to stay in bed becomes an obsession, we may be talking about clinomania.
With this condition, there’s the additional worry that staying in bed for more hours than usual interferes with your normal functioning and day-to-day life. For example, arriving late for work several days in a row, not taking care of your children properly, burning your dinner, etc. In fact, if you find these types of occurrences happening on more than one occasion, you should maybe think about the possibility that you’re suffering from clinomania
Symptoms
We’ve already mentioned a generic definition of clinomania. However, what are its associated symptoms? If you think you may be suffering from this problem, they’ll be useful to know. Here are the most common:
- A growing obsession for your bed and anything connected to it. For example, pillows, sheets, duvets, etc.
- Difficulty in getting out of bed. In fact, whenever you try, it’s as if an invisible force is pulling you back and stopping you from getting up.
- The appearance of sudden mood swings. For instance, you feel ecstatic when you have to stay at home (or in bed) and feel down when you have to get up.
- Feelings of deep comfort when you lie in your bed.
- Increasingly, during your free time, you just lie in bed. Obviously, this reduces the number of your activities outside the home and with friends or family.
The psychological effects of clinomania
Now you know the most frequent symptoms of clinomania, so you’ll be able to easily detect them in your day-to-day life. However, more specifically, do you know how this disorder could affect you on a psychological level? Let’s take a brief look at the psychological symptoms it causes:
- Feelings of guilt. These appear due to the fact that you’re spending so much time in bed. In fact, these feelings can even become associated with feelings of worthlessness. In other words, you feel guilty and inadequate for spending so many hours doing nothing other than dozing in your bed.
- Feelings of sadness. It’s a vicious circle. The more hours you spend in bed, the more interest you lose in other things. In turn, not being interested in anything makes you spend more time in bed. All this ends up causing feelings of sadness, apathy, and demotivation.
- Feelings of loneliness and incomprehension. Continuing with the vicious circle we mentioned above, you stop doing things and interacting with others. This ends up generating more feelings of apathy and a deep feeling of misunderstanding and loneliness.
- Social isolation. Finally, you end up isolating yourself from the rest of the world, in your own bed. This really should act as a red flag, warning you that you’re definitely suffering from clinomania.
Is clinomania associated with other disorders?
On its own, clinomania is an anxiety disorder. However, it’s frequently a characteristic of other characteristic mental disorders. Two of the most common are depression and schizophrenia.
In depression, symptoms such as anhedonia and apathy appear. In turn, these symptoms are related to clinomania, since they imply a loss of desire, enjoyment, and willingness to do anything. Thus, the person with depression who presents these symptoms is more likely to also manifest clinomania and stay in bed for hours.
In addition, many sleep disorders appear with depression. For example, insomnia, daytime sleepiness, non-restorative sleep, etc. In fact, the Sleep Institute states that 80% of patients with depression complain of deterioration in both the quantity and quality of their sleep. They further state that the sleep disorder most associated with depression is insomnia, where there are difficulties in initiating and/or maintaining sleep.
In the case of schizophrenia, clinomania may appear in the subtype of catatonic schizophrenia, with related symptoms such as catalepsy, immobility, and body rigidity, etc. If these symptoms appear when the sufferer’s in bed, although their nature is diverse, it may suggest clinomania.
As with depression, sleep disturbances can also occur in schizophrenia. According to the Lundbeck Institute, schizophrenia disrupts sleep and circadian rhythms. Logically, the treatment from one clinomania (when it’s not a characteristic of another disorder) to another, will vary. That’s because there’ll always be some underlying mental disorder causing the symptoms.
“Always remember to fall asleep with a dream and wake up with a purpose.”
-Anonymous-
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
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- Groth-Marnat, G. (2003). Handbook of Psychological Assessment, 4th ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
- Raynaldi, M. R., & Santoso, F. (2020). Studi Visual Karakter dan Gestur Climomania sebagai Pendukung Perancangan Animasi Pendek. Visual Heritage: Jurnal Kreasi Seni dan Budaya, 2(2), 109-118.
