How to Fight Apathy: Advice from Clinical Psychologist Anastasia Shavyrina
Everyone is familiar with the feeling of powerlessness, “not wanting anything” and decreased interest in one’s life.
Apathy may be to blame for everything – an atypical mental state characterized by indifference, apathy, coldness, and lack of emotion.
Apathy is not a separate diagnosis, but a symptom. That is, it is a condition that signals problems, and in some cases diseases, that need urgent attention.
Both adults and children, especially teenagers, are susceptible to this condition, notes psychologist, clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and psychology teacher Anastasia Shavyrina .
The main signs of apathy are: loss of desires, decreased attraction to everything around, limited social contacts, absent-mindedness, slurred speech, slow reaction, decreased appetite, feeling weak and exhausted, forgetfulness, loneliness and indifference. On a physical level, a person with apathy will feel sleepy during the day and unable to fall asleep in the evening. Intestinal problems are often observed. Muscle tone decreases, and the person is accompanied by headaches.
The most harmful thing for a person in apathy is not paying attention to their condition. It worsens and rarely goes away on its own, without outside intervention. Therefore, it is so important not to close your eyes to all the above symptoms and take the deterioration of your mood seriously. Most often, clients who come to therapy describe their apathetic state very superficially, even with disdain. It irritates, interferes with life and does not stop after a delicious meal, a party, and sometimes even after a good vacation. Apathy is confused with laziness, which as such does not exist in psychology. Laziness is a lack of strength and energy for certain things, and not a bad habit.
According to doctors, apathy can have different origins: somatic or appear as an accompaniment to mental disorders. In the case of somatic course, these are precisely internal causes, apathy occurs against the background of fatigue, burnout at work, taking certain medications, during hormonal disruptions, with an excess of vitamin B12, with thyroid disorders, immunodeficiency.
If there are aggravating circumstances: depression, addiction, schizotypal disorder or dementia, then apathy will be included in the general symptom complex of one of the diseases.
A person in a state of apathy spends most of their time at home or really wants to. Lying down, looking at the ceiling or watching a TV series is their ideal day. This does not mean that TV series or “doing nothing” are bad. But the viscosity of apathy does not allow a person to do anything else.
The condition is like a swamp, and it seems that there is no strength to get out of it. Such people are not talkative, they communicate little with loved ones, they answer briefly and to the point. This is not associated with indifference or sudden hatred.
The reason for this is a catastrophic lack of strength. For a person in apathy, it can be difficult even to brush his teeth, let alone have a family dinner. If earlier the victim of an apathetic state could enjoy meeting with friends, going to museums or the cinema, then in the acute period the person loses interest in everything that he loved before. He does not want to take care of himself, work, cook, clean, look after children.
The state of apathy arises for very different reasons, but the picture is usually the same. You can't ignore this signal, but you shouldn't force yourself either. Many people try to take on more work tasks, wait until the last deadlines and hope that such motivation will pull them out of the swamp. Sometimes people allow themselves to immerse themselves in the world of fast food and endless movies, explaining their logic by the fact that at some point they will get bored and they themselves will want to get out of bed. The same thing is often done with cleaning the house. More precisely, with "not cleaning" - sooner or later there will be no clean mugs left and "I will be forced to wash everything." Of course, in a state of apathy, a person simply continues to drink from a dirty cup.
Excuses for apathy are found in everything - friends will understand and forgive, the weather outside is not ideal, vitamin deficiency, cold, retrograde mercury and many other things. And all these reasons and excuses really have a right to exist, if we are not talking about apathy. All the above methods will help when faced with fatigue, cold, bad mood, negative experiences. But apathy on such grounds progresses, as, for example, does depression, so other methods of influence are needed - careful and non-violent.
Before you see a doctor, it is worth supporting yourself at home. Strictly refuse alcohol, smoking and, preferably, caffeinated drinks. It is necessary to avoid heavy food and sweets.
Never take sedatives or stimulants on your own. The clinical picture of apathy varies depending on the underlying diagnosis, so you can harm yourself. The most you can allow yourself is herbal calming tea.
The atmosphere at home should also be gentle. Try to avoid stress, do not get into conflicts. Ask your loved ones to be understanding of your condition.
After such self-support, you need to see a doctor and find the root cause of the condition. If these are endocrine changes, we restore the hormonal balance. An emotional problem, PTSD, trauma - psychotherapy will help. If the doctor has found something else, medications, lifestyle changes, physiotherapy and exercise will help.
It is worth remembering that apathy is a worsening process that can gestate in a person for years. And even if it seems to you that it is under control, remember that after some time without professional help you risk facing a more serious problem.
