We are facing a wonderful day; You will never see and experience this day again, the universe offers you the opportunity to smile one more day and do everything you set your mind to with high self-esteem. It is true that we are somewhat compelled to enjoy and enjoy constant pleasure that sometimes it is so difficult for us to allow ourselves moments of indifference, moments that fill us with reluctance, rest and lack of motivation. This imperative of satisfaction should be another object of attention when addressing the issue of apathy since its apparent counterpart “motivation” also overshadows a type of adverse effect on quality of life. In the following Psychology-Online article we will explain the meaning of apathy, its symptoms and how to overcome it.
Apathy: meaning and definition
With this article we do not want to create an apology for apathy or a rejection of motivation, but we want to share tools to establish critical thinking that is practical and beneficial for the mental health of readers.
Apathy is a alteration of motivation which implies a significant decrease in goal-directed behaviors, for example a lack of strength, interest, detachment and indifference to some of the following events:
- Go out to eat with friends.
- Do sport.
- Get out of bed.
- Dress elegantly for a date with your partner or friends.
- Job.
- Establish emotional bonds with friends and family.
- Discuss.
- Have sex.
- Eat.
The emotional response in people with apathy is greatly reduced, which is known as flat affect. There is a absence or reduction of emotions that generally occurred in the subject’s life in response to a certain event. Whether they are emotions of sadness, anger, fear, joy or shame, people devalue or create a lack of meaning for any of these emotions. This characteristic is frequently observed in and in some depressive disorder.
Apathy: symptoms
Below are explained some of the characteristic symptoms of apathy:
- Cognitive indifference.
- Affective indifference.
- Disinterest in personal care.
- Lack of interest in establishing emotional ties.
- Lack of interest in starting a conversation.
- Difficulty getting up in the morning.
- Reduced or no emotional response.
- Loss of appetite.
- Disinterest in sexual activities.
- Disinterest in activities that involve contact with other people.
- Little interest in carrying out their responsibilities.
- Hopelessness.
- Loss of interest in having new experiences, learning.
- Reduction or feeling that thoughts are slow.
- The decision-making capacity becomes very complex for the person.
- Altered executive functions.
- Alteration of perception (especially you feel that time is going very slowly or you are not able to perceive how much time has passed from one moment to another).
Some of these activities may not be carried out because they end in apathy. In the case of loss of appetite, it results in little food intake or a poor diet.
Difference between apathy and abulia
Apathy is related to an alteration in motivation, abulia is involved in the lack of will. When our apathy occurs in very high severity (a major deterioration in our functioning in which it does not allow us to act as we normally did and makes it difficult for us to make decisions or makes it impossible for us to act or carry out our responsibilities) it is called avolition.
In apathy there is a lack of interest but activities can still be carried out, in abulia there is an absence of will to act or difficulty in starting and maintaining movements on purpose.
Apathy and depression
Apathy is most common symptoms in depressive disorders. This state of disinterest, indifference, emotional flattening and hopelessness can lead to a reduction in the will to act and thus also present with an absence of pleasure in activities that were previously called anhedonia, these being characteristic symptoms and necessary for the diagnosis of a depressive disorder.
Apathy: a survival mechanism
There was a point – writes Dr. Victor Frankl (1946) – in which the only emotional state convenient and logical to the circumstances is, precisely, the absence of emotion. Apathy functions as a necessary mechanism for self-defense within which reality is blurred and all effort and emotion is focused on a task: the preservation of one’s own life. Dr. Frankl’s experience in the concentration camps of the Second World War allowed him to understand that after a certain time, prisoners became apathetic to the suffering of others and their own.
The constant observation of violent or aversive stimuli causes the ability to experience physical, emotional or cognitive discomfort to be progressively lost. The subject becomes – as Dr. Frankl explains – a non-sensitive entity.
Apathy as a survival mechanism manifests itself in our activities even if we are not inside a concentration camp. When we suffer from a breakup, the death of a loved one, failure due to a bad business or professional frustration, the last thing we think about is smiling and enjoying the wonderful day that exists. Emotions of sadness or anger may occur that are inevitable not to be felt since emotions cannot be controlled. This is where apathy works as a protective balm by allowing ourselves a space of solitude and indifference to the needs of others, especially that external and imperious need: “You have to be well and smile, you still have life and you can raise your self-esteem!”
Depriving emotions amplifies apathy and makes it chronic by not allowing it to live and exist in the life of the mourner. It is here that we provide the opportunity to analyze a constant principle of self-help books such as positive thinking.
The danger of positive thinking
Being happy, smiling, being the best version of yourself, not settling for little and never stopping are not a treatment. However, self-help books, media, colorful notebooks, mugs and photographs flood us with this idea.
The problem arises when these motivational phrases are used to force people to live in a kind of dictatorship of happiness in which, even if everything goes wrong, the important thing is to remain positive and smiling.
When someone is diagnosed with cancer, it is very common for those around them to insist on the importance of staying positive. These characteristics of forcing someone to be happy can lead the person to isolate themselves from their environment for fear of being reproached for being sad, anxious or worried. Every emotion has its function. Sadness, for example, allows us to adjust to a significant loss in our life, it can also lead us to introspective isolation where we mourn the loss and begin to understand the effects it will have.
Entrusting our health to these motivational phrases can lead to a level of self-demand and . People may feel that they will never live up to expectations and remain in a process of frustration and guilt, which can lead to , or .
How to overcome apathy
In the article, apathy was described as a survival mechanism of which we are often deprived. The corollary of this opportunity to break through apathy allows people to restructure everything that causes them deep pain, general disinterest, indifference to things that may be relatively wonderful, and terrible emotional reduction.
Listening to the people we love and talking ourselves about this experience of apathy allows our emotions to be respected and expressed, we are allowed to go through our phases of apathy.
How do you combat apathy? In apathy we must listen, explore and attend with priority the following situations explained:
- The things we disagree with.
- What are ours? interests priority.
- Be aware of the emotions that we are experiencing.
- The possible Causes of my emotions.
Each of these situations is best addressed by a clinical professional.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- Victor E. Frankl. (1946). Man’s Search for Meaning. Herder Publishing.