Probably everyone is familiar with the state of apathy, when passion for what is happening has disappeared, the desire to act, when everything planned seems useless and aimless. If an individual says that he wants absolutely nothing, then he often means that a motivational element is missing, and not the desire itself. Reasons and desires differ in internal content. The first is to encourage subjects to engage in a variety of activities, focusing them on meeting specific needs. The second is a need that has taken on a certain form, the desire to acquire something. The desire for idleness, idleness, and doing nothing is also a desire, but not supported by motivation.
general characteristics
During the period of apathetic mood, indifference to all external events develops, emotions become weakly expressed or absent altogether, interest and the desire for action decrease.
In men, this condition manifests itself more clearly and occurs more often: they spend a significant part of their time at home, do not go out to work, and refuse friendly meetings, usual hobbies, and sports. In women, apathy develops less frequently due to their natural emotionality and greater involvement in social interactions - caring for children, communicating with friends, meeting with parents. The basic psychological mechanism for the development of apathy is the depletion of mental energy reserves (emotions, motivations, involvement). In healthy people, indifference and indifference are the result of prolonged stimulation of the central nervous system. The brain begins to induce inhibition processes, protecting the body from further waste of energy and excess nervous tension. Sometimes apathy, arising as a defensive reaction, is consolidated as part of the personality, and then subconsciously used at certain periods of life.
The key manifestations of an apathetic state are the lack of expressed emotions, interest in current events and people around. As a result of these changes, there is a refusal to work, household duties, and a narrowing of the circle of friends. In men, apathy is accompanied by a reluctance to perform hygiene procedures, get out of bed, and eat. In women, emotional devastation is more noticeable - loss of interest in communication and hobbies, inability to be happy, sad, or angry. Apathetic people are often absent-minded, inattentive, and cannot cope with their usual tasks: they cannot choose clothes, make a shopping list, or prepare dinner.
Other characteristic symptoms, equally common in both men and women, are general weakness, slow reactions, feelings of loneliness, memory impairment. It is worth distinguishing laziness and depression from apathy, since these conditions are symptomatically very similar. Laziness is selective - you don’t want to do certain actions that don’t bring you pleasure. At the same time, a person can easily start doing what he likes - go for a walk, meet friends. Apathetic states cause paralysis of any activity, a complete lack of desires.
Depression is characterized by a decrease in mood, a predominance of negative emotions - sadness, sadness, disappointment, depression. When apathy develops, positive and negative emotions are smoothed out and are practically absent. Anxious depression occurs with motor restlessness, an apathetic state is always accompanied by slowness of movements. Sometimes it becomes a manifestation of severe depression: patients are indifferent to current events, sit or lie for a long time without moving, without talking.
I’ll start with high expectations, when you want to get everything here and now.
Whether at business trainings or psychological trainings, people often look for a pill. I took it once and everything changed.
Of course, at the same training we can get quick results, it can serve as a strong stimulus for growth, cause large-scale life changes, but... This is a situation I often encounter in my practice.
A person comes to training and wants to get from point A to point B, let’s call it that. He came to point A with a baggage of certain problems that prevent him from getting to point B, even with the route before his eyes. Everyone has their own luggage, some have a couple of chips in their pocket, and others have hundreds of stones in a backpack behind their back.
And so a person throws off a dozen stones during training, and, of course, it becomes easier for him, he can even jump, although there is a bag of stones on his back, but since the weight has become less, a feeling of lightness appears. Time passes, and the person expects that now life has changed once and for all, and this is partly true, since he is no longer at point A, because he has taken a step forward, but also not at point B, since there is still a load hanging behind his back...
What's the result? Each of us has our own amount of work, in order to sort through all this cargo that we have accumulated over our lives, naturally, we will have to work more to get to point B. But what often happens in reality? A person, instead of continuing to work on himself, becomes despondent or simply gives up working on himself.
This applies to both material and spiritual tasks. This happens in building a business, in sports, in working on yourself, in working on changing your thinking, on the path to your happiness...
Causes of apathy
Emotional exhaustion develops as a result of stress, traumatic situations, and previous somatic diseases. In addition, it is a symptom of mental disorders and organic lesions of the nervous system. Apathy can be a temporary condition, a manifestation of another pathology, or a side effect of taking medications. In men, it often develops due to the use of alcohol and drugs. It arises as an independent disorder, in combination with lack of will it represents apathetic-abulsic syndrome, and in the absence of motor activity - adynamic syndrome.
Psychological reasons
In men and women, mild apathy can be a character trait combined with low social activity, slowness, and phlegmatism. The causes of apathy as a state of maladjustment are situations that deplete motivational and emotional resources. Personal qualities or external events for which a person was not prepared are considered as provoking psychological factors. Common causes of apathy:
- Unattainable goals.
People with a high level of demands on themselves tend to set high goals and make every effort to achieve them. The reasons for apathy in such cases are extremely difficult, overwhelming tasks that reduce faith in success and generate dissatisfaction with oneself. - Lack of purpose.
A state of emotional emptiness and lack of initiative arises in situations where previous goals have been achieved, but new ones have not been formed. Strength is wasted, needs are satisfied, the person is apathetic for some time. Examples of such situations: a student after passing a session, an entrepreneur who has achieved high profits. - Lack of independence.
This personality trait is manifested by a passive-defensive strategy of behavior. The causes of apathy are shifting responsibility to other people, a wait-and-see attitude, fear of failure, and lack of independence. - Stress.
Sometimes situations of high emotional stress provoke the development of a defensive reaction - apathy. The psyche involuntarily goes into energy saving mode: the patient stops defending his position, loses interest in activities, and becomes indifferent and indifferent. - Frustration.
This term refers to a condition that occurs when it is impossible to satisfy an urgent and strong need. In women, typical causes of apathy are an unsuccessful marriage, fear of divorce; for men - doing unloved work, lack of prospects for other income. - The monotony of life.
A common cause of apathy in women is a lack of new impressions, an established routine with a lack of interesting activities. Most daily activities are done automatically, events are predictable, and there is no time left for hobbies, creativity and research. - Emotional shock.
Apathy as a defensive reaction of the psyche is formed in response to intense positive or negative experiences. In women it is triggered by the birth of a child, in men the main reasons are the loss of their previous social status, dismissal from a high position, refusal to hire.
Mental illness
Possible causes of pathological apathy are mental disorders. In patients, signs of apathy are pronounced, reduce social activity, and interfere with the implementation of household chores and hygiene procedures. Often such people need daily outside care, organizing and stimulating help from relatives. The most common mental illnesses that occur with apathy include:
- Depression.
The main signs of a depressive disorder are low mood, loss of the ability to experience pleasure, and a feeling of meaninglessness in what is happening. There is apathetic depression - a state of indifference, indifference. It develops more often in women and is provoked by prolonged stress. - Schizoid personality disorder.
Schizoid psychopathy is a pathological change in character, manifested by isolation, stinginess of emotional experiences, a tendency to theorize and philosophical reflection. It is more often determined in men. Such people may seem apathetic in social interactions, but often have unique hobbies. - Schizophrenia.
This endogenous mental disorder is characterized by the disintegration of thinking processes, flattening, and impoverishment of emotional reactions. The longer and more severe the disease progresses, the more pronounced the emotional coldness and indifference becomes. More often, apathetic states are observed as a manifestation of sluggish schizophrenia with a gradual continuous deterioration of the patient’s condition. - Hospitalism.
When a patient stays in hospital for a long time and lacks communication with loved ones, a mental disorder develops – hospitalism. It is more pronounced in women, children, and the elderly. Manifested by weight loss, lethargy, apathy, drowsiness, and isolation.
Neurological diseases
Apathy can be a symptom of neurological diseases - dementia, brain tumors, strokes, neuroinfections, traumatic brain injuries. It manifests itself on the basis of organic brain damage (vascular, neurodegenerative, traumatic). It is especially characteristic of pathologies accompanied by damage to the frontal lobe, anterior cerebral artery, pituitary gland or limbic structures. Common neurological causes of apathy:
- Infections.
Apathetic symptoms appear during neuroinfections, when pathogens spread in nervous tissues, as well as during general severe infections with secondary involvement of the nervous system in the pathological process. Thus, meningitis is characterized by fever followed by apathetic states and severe anxiety. For HIV infection - a gradual increase in apathy and depression. - Dementia.
The cause of apathy in dementia patients is changes in the white matter of the brain that occur due to age-related degradation of small blood vessels. 82% of elderly women and men with lesions of the frontal lobes show signs of apathy: dulling of emotions, decreased motivation and initiative. The risk group includes patients with Alzheimer's disease, Pick's disease, vascular and mixed dementia. - Long-term consequences of TBI.
Mental disorders often occur in the long-term period of traumatic brain injury. Apathy is diagnosed in persons with astheno-neurotic syndrome, in whom the consequences of injury are represented by high fatigue, reduced performance, and memory disorders. - Brain tumors.
Indifference and indifference are observed in cases where the tumor is localized in the frontal lobes or pituitary gland. Signs of emotional disturbance appear already in the initial stages of tumor development; in addition to apathy, they may include depression, infantility, tearfulness, and irritability.
Taking medications and alcohol
Long-term use of some drugs leads to the development of side effects accompanied by apathy. The risk is highest when taking tranquilizers, antidepressants, sleeping pills, oral contraceptives, and antibiotics. Another possible cause of apathy is withdrawal syndrome (alcohol hangover). In both cases, emotional disturbances are caused by biochemical changes in central nervous system processes in the parts of the brain responsible for emotions. Apathy occurs within the following syndromes:
- Neuroleptic syndrome.
Long-term use of antipsychotics can cause affective disorders, decreased cognitive functions, and social activity. Mental retardation, akinesia, and asthenia develop. Neuroleptic deficiency more often affects men and women with bipolar affective disorder, schizophrenia, and endogenous depression. - SSRI-induced syndrome.
This complication is a consequence of long-term treatment with antidepressants of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor group. It manifests itself as dulling of emotions, reduced emotional sensitivity, and a feeling of “emotional anesthesia.” Apathetic syndrome is found in patients with panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, depression, and obsessive-compulsive neurosis. - Side effect of sleeping pills.
Sleeping pills have a depressing effect on the synaptic transmission of signals in the central nervous system, so the person feels drowsy and falls asleep. They distort the natural sleep formula and suppress the rapid phase. After awakening, a feeling of fatigue arises, performance decreases, emotional detachment and indifference are formed. - Withdrawal syndrome.
The reason for the apathy of men who abuse alcohol is a state of withdrawal (hangover). At the first stage of alcoholism, when taking a break from drinking alcohol, a feeling of weakness and drowsiness appears, and apathy or irritable aggressiveness increases. At the second stage, autonomic disorders become more pronounced - headaches, changes in blood pressure, increased sweating.
Don't torture yourself!
Don’t choke yourself with worries that right now you are not satisfied with the result, that life is unfair or that fate has deprived you of something. Everything is fine with you, everything is fine with the world around you, you just have a certain amount of work in front of you for your soul, body, psyche, depending on what your goal is.
Take a closer look at what a huge amount of energy is spent precisely on going negative due to the fact that right now your desire is not fulfilled, because it is quite possible that this desire is either harmful to you, or if you receive it quickly and effortlessly, then you won’t get the experience you need and won’t see the true value in what you received.
Survey
To find out the causes of apathy, you need to consult a psychiatrist and neurologist. The examination begins with a clinical interview of the patient: the duration and severity of apathy and provoking factors are determined. With severe apathy, patients remain indifferent, do not answer the doctor’s questions on their own, and the conversation is held with relatives. During the observation, the absence of external manifestations of emotions, slowness, and weakening of motivation come to the fore. To more accurately determine the cause of apathy, the following methods are shown:
- Psychodiagnostic testing.
The use of psychodiagnostic techniques makes it possible to diagnose apathy as a symptom of mental illness or a state of psychological maladjustment. A set of tests for men and women is selected individually by a psychologist. Various self-esteem tests are used, for example, the Beck Depression Inventory, and complex personality questionnaires - the Cattell questionnaire, SMIL, Eysenck questionnaire. If schizophrenia or dementia is suspected, a pathopsychological study of cognitive functions (thinking, intelligence, memory) is carried out. - Neurological examination.
Apathetic patients with symptoms of nervous system damage are examined by a neurologist. Using a survey and special tests, the neurological status is assessed, the nature of the central nervous system lesion (focal, diffuse), the localization of the lesion is determined, and the main pathophysiological mechanism is established. Data from a neurological examination allow the doctor to suggest the causes of apathy and select instrumental procedures to clarify the diagnosis. - Instrumental research of the brain.
To assess the nature of brain damage and determine the localization of the lesion, imaging methods are used: MRI of the brain and supplying vessels, ultrasound of the vessels of the head and brain structures, CT of the brain. Apathy often accompanies damage to the prefrontal zones, pituitary gland, and limbic system.
Picture of the world.
I wrote a separate article about this and once again I want to note that how you see the world on key issues will depend on your mood, happiness, and amount of energy.
Detailed article about this at the link: how to change your life
In what light do you see this world? How do you imagine the meaning of your life? Who are you in this world? What is your purpose? What is your nature?
The answers to the above questions are the foundation of your life. Whatever the answers are, such is life.
Treatment
Apathy is not always a condition that needs to be treated. If a person has become less emotional and proactive after a period of high stress or a traumatic situation, you need to give the body time to recover - ensure proper sleep, healthy nutrition, and protect from worries and mental stress. If the apathy is severe, lasts more than a week, and significantly worsens the patient’s quality of life, special treatment is necessary, including psychotherapy, medication, and changes in rest and work patterns.
Adequate rest helps overcome apathy
Psychological help
Psychotherapy and psychological counseling are necessary for patients with severe apathy. To improve the condition, methods of cognitive behavioral therapy and psychoanalysis are used. The specialist conducts individual sessions where the probable causes of apathy and ways to overcome apathy are discussed. With the help of a psychologist, the patient again learns to feel his emotions, set goals, and resist stress. At the second stage of therapy, it is possible to attend group trainings - interaction with other people increases a person’s interest and motivation.
Drug treatment
If the cause of apathy is excessive stress and fatigue, minimal drug support is indicated to help the body recover faster. Vitamin and mineral complexes and herbal adaptogens, for example, tincture of ginseng or eleutherococcus, are prescribed. In case of severe apathy due to mental and neurological diseases, pharmacological drugs are used: psychostimulants, antidepressants, analeptics. Their combination, dosage and duration of administration are determined by the doctor individually.
Lifestyle correction
Along with the main treatment aimed at eliminating the cause of apathy, it is recommended to introduce new activities into the daily plan, even if at first they seem uninteresting. It is necessary to remember what hobby was fascinating before - sports, art, self-education. You should avoid stressful situations, alternate periods of work and rest, adhere to a healthy diet, and a regimen of moderate physical activity. It is important to involve loved ones in the rehabilitation process; in the first stages, their will is the main organizing and stimulating factor.
Low amount of energy.
On a physical and energetic level. The rough body is clogged with toxins, poisons, and so on... I spoke about this above. Energy shells are full of resentment, hatred, malice....
Where does the desire to do something come from? Is it possible to find a pill to instantly fix the situation? Obviously, the problems accumulated over the past years of life cannot be solved in an hour. It takes time, desire and patience, although it should be noted that you can get the first results quite quickly if you take care of your body and psyche.
You are busy with something other than your own business, you are not in the plane of your destiny.
This may well be the case. Often we decide to engage in any type of activity not because we want to do it, but because we want its fruits or with the help of this type of activity we are trying to get rid of fears.
The prestige of the activity, the opportunity to travel, passive income, planned good profits... All these messages make us go against ourselves. Our essence wants one thing, and we believe that life requires another, but it’s not life that demands, but we decided that it is impossible to do otherwise.
I recently wrote an article about how to find your purpose. I recommend reading it.
Banal laziness?
Or maybe all philosophy is passing by because we are simply lazy. We believe that first you need to get inspiration and strength to do something, but in reality, you often need to start doing something for strength and inspiration to come.
Laziness doesn't come out of nowhere. There are reasons. The way of life and thinking gave birth to it. Nutrition, physical activity, routine. Or maybe you started to slack on little things and ended up drowning in a swamp.
In order not to repeat myself, I provide a link to my large article about laziness here: how to overcome laziness
Japanese technique
There is an Eastern technique called Kaizen. Its essence is to devote a minute of time every day for twenty-one days to achieve your goal. It's like traveling in one minute.
For example, let's say you decide to learn Japanese. Exactly a minute a day at the same time, learn the Japanese alphabet, listen to songs, watch movies, etc. Within a few days you will see progress, and this progress motivates you to go further towards achieving your goal.
Subsequently increase the time period to three to five minutes. This way you will improve without having to put so much effort into it. Just by getting involved in the process, you will realize how much pleasure it gives you and you will forget about laziness.
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Life period.
Our body and subconscious are not directly under our control; at least we do not see a linear connection. It happens that the influence of planets, energies and other circumstances creates in us a mood that we need to live correctly. What does right mean? Gain experience, draw conclusions, charge your batteries.
It happens that we are so mentally exhausted that the subconscious begins to block external activities in order to save the psyche and the body as a whole.
Perhaps you just need rest, but not just sitting on the couch and staring at the wall, but restorative rest. Minimum stress, maximum joy, trust in life, peace...
In order to correctly assess what you personally need in such a period, awareness is required. And this again means working on cleansing your body, psyche, and the ability to listen to your body and heart.
Or a change in life period. There will be experience in profession, relationships, physical or mental journeys, material achievements and new experiences are required. Which? This is already a question of your purpose and awareness.
