From romantic flair to post-industrial impasse: a cultural history of melancholy

Charles Bukowski has a poem that begins with the lines “Each of us is written in the history of melancholy.” What happens to the lyrical hero is really familiar to millions and generations: looking at the wall, he suffers because of the girl who left him and is sad about life in general. The poem ends with an unexpected confession: “There is something wrong with me, except melancholy.”

Probably Bukowski, who exchanged one meaningless low-paying job for another and poured alcohol into his disgust for a world that was not immediately able to appreciate his work, knew what he was talking about.

Melancholy, changing masks and style, has always been associated with a social context. Among the reasons for this condition: conflict between a person and the outside world, “dissatisfaction with culture” and a crisis of ideas. In one era, it was based on anxiety due to the inability to reconcile reason and feelings, in another - antipathy towards bourgeois society, in a third - a feeling of emptiness against the backdrop of post-industrial dead ends.

In all forms, it became a symptom of something larger, going beyond the boundaries of medicine and psychology into the space of existential meanings: in addition to melancholy, there is always something else wrong.

Causes of depression and depression

From the point of view of helping a person in a state of depression and for developmental reasons, experts distinguish three types of depressed mood:

1. Depression as a reaction to external unpleasant events.

• due to receiving negative information that is traumatic to the psyche. For example, news about a serious illness or death of a loved one, news about the start of a war, about some kind of loss, about a threat to oneself, etc.
• a long-lasting psychological conflict between the desired and the actual.
• a consequence of overload of the nervous system in the form of prolonged stress or a series of excessive psychological trauma, lack of sleep, malnutrition, exhaustion due to internal diseases.
• bad weather.

2. Depression is a manifestation of the disease DEPRESSION. Depression as a painful condition is characterized by decreased mood, loss of the ability to receive pleasure, pessimism, low self-esteem with feelings of guilt and other symptoms.

3. Depression is a manifestation of other mental disorders, such as:

• encephalopathy (consequences of organic damage to the central nervous system);
• anxiety disorders: phobias, obsessions, panic attacks;
• psychosomatic diseases: asthma attacks, irritable bowel syndrome, weight gain (or loss), hypertension, eczema, palpitations, etc.;
• addictions (alcohol, drugs, smoking, gambling, etc.), especially in the initial period of abstinence from use (maintenance of sobriety);
• asthenic syndrome, neurasthenia.

Separately, it should be said that psychiatrists distinguish among mentally healthy people a group of people who have a kind of predisposition to depression.

These are the owners of such personality traits as decreased sociability and activity, hypochondria (exaggeration of health problems), dissatisfaction with current events and with oneself, difficulty making choices due to increased suspiciousness, pessimism and a skeptical attitude towards everything.

These character traits have been observed since childhood and can intensify during periods of hormonal changes in the body. For such people, a low mood level is a kind of norm. The development of depressive conditions requiring medical attention occurs more often in them than in others.

Depressed state

When depression strikes, people feel trapped in a way that cuts them off from their familiar environment, thus preventing them from responding appropriately and interacting with others. Typical complaints for people in this state are loss of joy in life, sadness, guilt and worthlessness. They experience - loss of energy and interest, sleep disturbances, disturbances in appetite and weight, impaired sense of time, no desire to communicate with other people, as a result of which family relationships are destroyed, as well as personal and social connections, as a rule, fail, so how a person feels insecure in all areas of life, and sometimes is unable to get out of his confinement, or this is given to him through very great efforts on himself, which depends on the degree of the state of oppression.

Since written sources have existed, there have been indications that people have suffered from depression at all times. Back in the 8th century BC, Homer described depressive suffering in the Illiad. He told how Bellerophon wandered aimlessly and groaned in melancholy and despair: He wandered around the Aley field, alone, gnawing at his own heart, running away from the traces of a person... The so-called notes of Hippocrates say that if fear and sadness last for a long time, we can talk about a melancholic state. The ancient Greeks called mental pain “melancholy”, that is, black bile; in the Middle Ages, its name was Acedia and was understood as lethargy and laziness; with the advent of natural science medicine in the 19th century, the term depression began to strengthen and was understood as depression. The changes that occur in a state of melancholia or depression are basically comparable, and it is certain that the depressive experience has always existed. Let's talk about some aspects accompanying the state of depression. And let's start with sadness. Many people are familiar with the feeling of sadness. Not everyone understands a person's deep, lasting, incapacitating sadness. A depressed state, when he feels like a “living lemon”, and tears - healing for ordinary sadness - dry before his eyes before they can be shed. The onset of a depressed state and its companion sadness can be due to various reasons: the loss of a significant person, possession or status, in the way we attach meaning to our concepts, feelings, ideals and circumstances, in the feeling of lack or loss of positive emotions such as love, self-esteem and a sense of satisfaction, in feelings of deprivation, pessimism and self-criticism. Although sadness is a normal and healthy response to any setback and is common, sadness that does not improve over time is pathological. People who experience normal sadness are usually able to talk about it, know why they are sad, and still have hope that the sadness will dissipate. Depression occurs when normal metabolism is absent or significantly weakened. Immediately following sadness is “loss of joy,” “inability to enjoy,” “lack of pleasure.” Depressed people become more and more incapable of enjoying. This, as a rule, is reflected in their relationships primarily with relatives, hobbies become boring, the perception of art and music, which they previously enjoyed, loses its attractiveness, the world of nature and sounds is deprived of diversity. This causes them anxiety, they know that the joy is gone, but cannot understand where and how to get it back, the fact that a person does not find pleasure in things or people leads him or her to emotional alienation from activities and people who would normally would stimulate her. The deep sense of isolation that comes with being depressed usually makes communication difficult and becomes a burden. In cases of severe depression, a person is consumed by feelings of guilt and worthlessness: “I am worthless,” “the world is meaningless,” “the future is hopeless.” Minor offenses and omissions can be magnified into huge violations of moral standards, that is, when depressed, our normal feelings of doubt become exaggerated. Also, in a depressed state, self-esteem suffers. Self-esteem is the degree to which a person feels valuable, worthy, and competent. Low self-esteem is most often accompanied by feelings of unhappiness, anger, feeling threatened, tiredness, withdrawal, tension, frustration, feelings of duress, conflict and inhibition. There is a strong connection between parental warmth, acceptance, respect, and an explicit set of boundaries and positive self-esteem in children. We can say that people with high self-esteem have loving parents, while people with low self-esteem have unloving ones. People who have low self-esteem or evaluation of others tend to immediately feel helpless or hopeless in the face of loss. When a person begins to slip, stuck in a state of inexhaustible sadness, sadness, lack of joy in life, loss of interest, of course, a warm atmosphere of understanding and support in the family is a great help, but also important and necessary is the professional help of a psychotherapist who will help find the lost time. that's joy. Depression as a rhythm disturbance From studies in the field of depression it is known that its characteristic signs are that mental and speech activity, as well as the ability of a person to act while in a state of depression, become inhibited. But it has also been established that in a state of depression the rhythm of sleep also changes. It is known that in the state of sleep there are two types of its activation, which are fundamentally different from each other. One of them is “slow sleep”, which, in contrast to the waking state, does not show any patterns of rapid arousal, and depending on the depth of sleep, is characterized by more or less slow waves on the EEG. The second type of sleep is the so-called “paradoxical sleep,” which, according to the pattern of brain biocurrents, is close to the state of wakefulness, although the sleeper did not wake up and did not change his posture. Previously, dreams were attributed to this phase of sleep, also commonly called the REM phase. EEG recordings made during depression show a reduction in the period of slow-wave sleep, and especially its deep phase, and in parallel a large number of periods of wakefulness appear. These findings reflect, in the language of electroencephalography, the precise sensation of shallow, interrupted sleep in depressed patients. Even more revealing are the changes in “paradoxical sleep.” On the one hand, this type of sleep, which is close to the waking state, occurs more often in people who are depressed. However, it is distributed over time differently than in healthy people. The first stage of REM sleep usually occurs approximately 70-110 minutes after falling asleep. For people who are depressed, this time is sharply reduced and ranges from 20 to 60 minutes. This phenomenon is observed so frequently that it is actually a reliable indicator of depression. In contrast, this phenomenon does not occur in people who, without being depressed, suffer from insomnia or only show mild depressive mood changes for a short time. And so, as a result of studies conducted using an electroencephalogram, it was established that a healthy person sleeps deeply at the beginning of the night, and REM sleep appears no earlier than an hour and a half later. And the predominant part of REM sleep occurs in the second half of the night, when sleep becomes more superficial. In a depressed person, on the contrary, REM sleep begins within half an hour after falling asleep and lasts for a long time. There is no deep sleep for most of the night. Hormonal secretion in a person in a state of depression is significantly altered: the increase in cortisol secretion in depression is earlier than in a healthy person, while growth hormone, which in a healthy person is secreted mainly at the beginning of the night, is sharply reduced. In conclusion, it can be noted that rhythm disturbances undoubtedly remain one of the main biological signs of people in a state of depression. Due to the lack of deep sleep, the load on the body as a whole increases, since a person in a depressed state is forced to stay awake longer, and thus is knocked out of the usual rhythm of life. Such an overwhelming load, in people who are depressed, leads to an increased release of the stress hormone cortisol.

Svetlana Fomina

What to do if you start to feel depressed

If this is a one-time temporary condition that does not in any way affect your behavior and ability to work, then you should not pay attention to it, look for something you can switch to and the depression will go away on its own.

Most likely, the cause of such a depressed state is an external factor (stress, psychological trauma, overwork, etc.) and therefore this is a normal mental reaction that does not require treatment.

If a depressed mood lasts more than a few days, arose for no apparent external reason and affects your activities (productivity has decreased, too much stress is required to achieve normal results, absences from work or school), then you should seek help from a specialist, since, most likely All in all, this is already a painful condition.

What is melancholy

Today, the term “melancholia” is not used in therapeutic practice - it has been replaced by diagnoses associated with affective disorders. Historically, this word denoted a whole complex of disorders with more or less bizarre manifestations, which have other names in modern psychiatry and psychotherapy.

The most general definition of melancholy: a depressing state that has not yet turned into full-blown psychosis, but deprives a person of joy, provoking increased sensitivity and heavy thoughts.

Unlike depression, melancholia is characterized not only by a feeling of depression, but also by the ability to cause neurotic elation and euphoria.

Not only individuals, but also societies, places, eras can suffer from melancholy; it is a cultural phenomenon with its own style. This emotional characteristic is still often used to describe music or landscape. A particularly melancholic state is characteristic of the turn of the century. The era of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries is characterized by decadent sentiments, which, however, provoked the active development of culture. A hundred years later, the world is again in the grip of anxiety and wistfulness, albeit with a different emphasis, so it is not surprising that cultural historians and anthropologists of the senses have remembered melancholy.

How to help someone who is depressed

Offer your help, try to assess the cause of suffering yourself and assess whether you need to wait out this condition or require the help of a doctor.

In some cases, you can “escape from depression” by switching to another problem or changing your attitude; in other cases, you should, on the contrary, look for the cause of depression and speculate on this topic.

Don't leave him alone with you. Be persistent if you are faced with refusal to see a specialist when your condition worsens.

Sleep disturbance and weight loss are critical indicators for arranging a consultation with a specialist. Alcohol is a bad and dangerous way to help when you feel depressed or depressed.

Techniques used for depression

1. Psychological: support, empathy and help in solving current problems from others, “compassion”, relaxation using autogenic training or similar techniques, change of environment (vacation or time off, travel, temporary relocation);
2. Physical: water treatments (cold shower in the morning, warm bath in the evening), intense and regular physical activity, sound sleep for at least 8 hours, provided you fall asleep before midnight;
3. Medical (only as prescribed by a doctor): pharmacotherapy, physiotherapy, diet therapy, sleep deprivation, etc.

Who can help with depression

With mild depression, any loved one who is capable of empathy can help. Or a psychologist who knows techniques to help cope with depression.

If it is clear that depression has painful features, then you should consult a psychotherapist or psychiatrist.

Symptoms that may indicate that depression has turned into depression and a doctor is needed:

• anxiety, apathy, melancholy without external reasons;
• low self-esteem;
• suicidal thoughts;
• sleep disturbance: insomnia, lack of feeling of sleep, early awakenings, daytime drowsiness;
• diurnal mood swings: worsening in the morning and relief in the evening;
• loss of appetite and weight loss. Or vice versa, a strong craving for food;
• physical signs of depression: feeling of a lump in the throat, heaviness in the chest, internal trembling, palpitations and shortness of breath, diarrhea or constipation

There is no most effective method or best cure for depression. Each person and case requires its own unique “tools” to combat the state of depression.

Burnout as a new form of melancholy

Today, the place of melancholy has been taken by the so-called burnout, one of the most common emotional and nervous disorders of our time. How to deal with it is mainly discussed within the framework of popular psychology and self-help, but this phenomenon is not sufficiently understood in a cultural-philosophical way.

Symptoms of burnout include weakness, chronic fatigue, difficulty concentrating, sleep problems, depression, loss of interest in work, inability to enjoy entertainment and recreation, as well as comorbidities that occur due to stress.

People have started talking about this disease en masse since the 1980s, against the backdrop of active economic growth and interest in entrepreneurship. In Russia, as well as in a number of countries of the former socialist camp, these changes had a stronger impact on the psyche of people, since they shook the foundations of society. Both men and women were equally susceptible to corporate fatigue, as they flocked to offices in droves.

As in the case of the secular spleen of the 19th century, burnout of modern specialists is associated with social processes and the social role of a person. Retreats, psychological trainings, mood control apps and an “informal” environment at work are designed to save you from this condition. Unlike 20th-century clerks, modern office workers have come to appreciate secular meditation and yoga mats.

And the rhythm of life is accelerating. Remote work, which seemingly allows you to work in a comfortable environment, blurs the line between personal and professional life.