my advisor keeps trying to be my therapist

Last week, my advisor thought I was depressed and asked if I'd tried medication. This week he told me he didn't think I was actually depressed because I've done too much work (overall, not this week). Ha.

I didn't think I was depressed until I mentioned what my advisor said last week to someone who knows a lot more about my state of mind, who agreed. I'm not sure I'm entirely convinced, because I'm nowhere near as miserable as I was a couple of years ago, but depression can take different forms so it's possible.

The idea that I can't be depressed because I've done too much work, however, is laughable. I don't feel like I've been a hard worker during my PhD, but I didn't want to argue about that with my advisor so I didn't say anything. I kind of want to point out, though, that the period when I was unquestionably depressed corresponded to the period in which my advisor thinks I did the most work. I probably did do the hardest part of my project during that time, but I still spent an awful lot of time reading blogs and trying not to cry.

My advisor now thinks that my biggest problem is fear of failing, not that I don't like what I'm doing. He thinks I need to not think about whether I like what I'm doing and just concentrate on doing it well. He also thinks I need to ask for help and advice more. He's right about all that. However, I've been thinking about why I was able to do all that work when I was depressed but find it harder now and I don't think that's all there is to it.

Back then, everyone in the lab was in the same building, including my advisor. If I showed up late or didn't show up at all, people would notice. There were other people involved in my project who would ask about what I was doing and expect me to be making progress. Since then, all the lab except three of us (who don't work on related things) has moved to a different building, I've finished collaborating directly with anybody and my advisor is never around to notice what I'm doing.

I know I have responded badly to these changes in circumstances by not being self-motivated or -disciplined. Last week, my advisor said he didn't think there was any point giving me deadlines because he'd tried and I just didn't give him whatever he'd asked for. What I didn't say, because I can't say anything remotely resembling criticism to someone in authority, is that I stopped bothering to do what he'd asked when I realised he didn't seem to care or even remember that he'd asked for something. I should be responsible enough to work without relying on external pressure. And yet, I'm not.

Unfortunately, I think my intrinsic motivation vanished very early on in grad school and once the external disappeared too, I was left with nothing to keep me going. The stars worked for a while, but I need some more help. I'm not sure how much of what I really think I should admit to my advisor, though.

If I made a fuss, I could probably move to the other building where most of the lab is. I haven't done that because I'd feel bad leaving the remaining two people alone. It's not like I interact with them enough that they'd feel the loss, though, really.

Do you think I should ask to move and/or tell my advisor why I think I've been struggling?