“I have apathy” - how often can you hear this phrase from those around us. Everyone has moments in life when they don’t want to do anything, there’s no need for communication, and nothing around them makes them happy. There is only one desire - to lie down, curl up in a ball, so that no one touches or bothers you.
Before asking the question of how to get rid of apathy, you need to know what it is, its types, symptoms, causes. Someone will smile, but in vain. Apathy is a disorder of a person’s mental health; it does not just arise out of nowhere. If this condition does not last long, then there is nothing to worry about. It is much worse if the illness becomes protracted and, which is very dangerous, gradually develops into a severe form of depression. And in this case, only a qualified specialist can advise you on how to deal with apathy. You shouldn’t risk your health and wait – the consequences can be unpredictable!
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.
How does people's behavior change in an organized environment?
Remember the airport, the check-in area. Without chains and ribbon labyrinths directing the flow of passengers to the counter, crowds, jostling and, as a result, aggression arise - the struggle for primacy in the queue begins. Let's imagine the same situation, but with barriers: people calmly stand in line because the space is organized and everyone follows each other, obeying a common pattern of behavior.
A person’s personality is quite stable (after 14 years people change slightly).
If we want to change people's behavior, realizing that we cannot change the personality, we need to change the environment.
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.
Alcohol depression: why it develops
Anxiety and depression are constant companions of alcohol addiction. High blood alcohol levels reduce serotonin levels. This leads to a general deterioration in health and depression . When drinking ethanol, the production of norepinephrine increases, and a sharp decrease in this hormone of aggression leads to a feeling of depression, loss of strength, weakness, and apathy.
The absorption and breakdown of alcohol in the body is much more active than the removal of toxic substances that pose a danger. Acetaldehyde (a product of ethanol oxidation) is concentrated in large quantities in the cerebral cortex. This leads to insufficient nutrition of neurons, which causes cells in the cerebral cortex to die.
Various drinks containing alcohol are powerful triggers of mental disorders. While they provide short-term bliss, they later lead to increased symptoms of depression. It has been proven that drinking ethanol directly affects depression. Depression increases cravings for alcohol, and excessive use leads to anxiety, depression, or mania .
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.
Health implications
Psycho-emotional disorders in general and depression after heavy drinking in particular depress basic instincts, a person loses sexual desire, his eating behavior is disrupted, and social connections are destroyed. At the same time, drinking does not bring the desired relaxation, only provoking depression. In combination, both pathologies - alcoholism and depression - progress too quickly, even to the point of disability. Depression is a constant companion of alcoholism. The consequences are severe and often, alas, tragic:
- transition to a more severe stage of alcoholism;
- personality degradation;
- alcoholic psychosis;
- suicidal thoughts;
- unreasonable aggression towards loved ones and surrounding people;
- asocialization: loss of family, job, friends;
- exacerbation of chronic diseases, accidental injuries;
- development of affective disorders, schizophrenia, neurosis, epilepsy;
- The most tragic outcome of depression is suicide.
Therefore, doctors recommend not to delay. At the slightest manifestation of a depressive mood, you should contact a specialist; only they can provide effective help and, if necessary, tell you how to cure depression at home.
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.
Once you recognize the need for change, start small
The first steps are usually the most difficult. It's like riding a bike for the first time. First you need to learn to keep balance. After this, the forward movement will be much faster.
Firstly, because you will remove the barrier between you and your employees, and secondly, you will understand how to work on improvements.
Within 2-3 months after the start you will see the first results.
Of course, the larger your business, the longer it will take for these changes to permeate all levels.
Here are the results a company with 500-1000 employees can expect in about a year.
- The business is growing many times faster in comparison with competitors from the same industry and under equal restrictions.
- Employees are engaged and do not need additional incentives.
- Everyone feels personal responsibility for the overall result.
- The team is focused on the needs and goals of clients.
Japanese love
In Japan, people get a job for love - for life. Business in this country is characterized by a strict hierarchy. Management divides all employees into small groups according to tasks. It is prohibited to compete with each other in a group, but it is necessary to compete with another group. Despite the strict chain of command, all group members are equal. In most companies, all employees wear the same branded clothing, have lunch in a common cafeteria and do exercises in the morning. Directors and supervisors are deprived of separate offices; everyone sits in a common room.
Japan also practices the Kaizen method of continuous improvement. Each employee offers ideas for improvement of the enterprise for consideration. If this idea is implemented, the employee receives a gratitude card, which at the end of the year can be exchanged for company goods or additional hours of rest.
Japanese employers monitor their subordinates; as soon as an employee’s work turns into a routine, they change his tasks, offer him a change of position or even profession.
American dream
America is a country where everyone works all the time. Corporations need results. To motivate an employee to work overtime, you need to provide him with an ideal workplace.
American offices have everything you need to not leave there for weeks. For example, the Twitter office has showers, laundry, gyms, restaurants, and sleeping rooms. You can bring children to the Google office - children's rooms have been created, and the cafe has a children's menu.
In addition, rewarding an employee with a title or a star is also an American idea. Photos of the best employees are hung on honor boards, prizes are given out, and awards are held.
