The state "I don't want anything and I am not interested in anything" has a scientific name - the apathetic-abulatory syndrome. It includes two key complexes of symptoms:
Apathy. A feeling of indifference and indifference to everything around. Emotions are as if there are no bad or good ones.
Abulia. Another name for this condition is impatience. The person has no desire or motivation for any action, and has no or suppressed ability to be physically or intellectually active, to make decisions.
This condition has several of the most common causes:
- Emotional burnout
- Loss of faith in oneself
- Mental and somatic disorders (depression is the most common)
Let's look at each of the causes in more detail - and understand how to act.
Emotional burnout
Emotional burnout syndrome is a state of physical and psychological exhaustion, loss of the ability to be active against a background of anxiety.
The key symptoms of burnout are:
- Loss of desire and interest in any activity
- Inability to enjoy things and activities that used to bring joy (anhedonia)
- Decrease of efficiency, feeling of tiredness
- Impairment of cognitive functions (thinking, memory, attention, etc.)
- Negative anxious thoughts, excessive self-criticism, feelings of inferiority (self-blame)
- Possible sleep and appetite disorders
Unlike a simple feeling of tiredness, the main cause of emotional burnout is an anxious background. The condition is associated with exaggerated standards towards oneself, constant anxiety:
I'm not doing enough/good enough!
What will others think of me?
I am too stupid, boring, uninteresting, incompetent!
I won't do well, I'll fail the task!
How do you fight emotional burnout?
Re-evaluate the tasks. You may have taken on too many tasks, and you are depressed by a feeling of helplessness, weakness, fear for not completing or not completing all tasks well enough, constantly failing to meet deadlines. Most likely, you can delegate some of the work to other people, distributing the workload.
Carry out a reassessment of your importance. Your standards for yourself may be inflated. You may think that the whole world depends on you - and you will be a good person and employee, only if you take on maximum assignments, you can foresee any negative events. But you are not a robot, and you are valuable in your own right. If you feel that you took on too much - it's not a shame to refuse to do some things.
Take a full rest. Most likely, you need a normal weekend without any focus on work. If the work is too exhausting and at the same time you're not interested - it makes sense to take a long vacation, change the field of activity or go in a different direction within your field.
Consult a specialist. An experienced psychologist or psychotherapist will analyze the causes of burnout, teach you the techniques of regulating emotions, controlling anxious thoughts. He will also help you "to untie" your self-esteem from the quantity and results of the work done.
We wrote more about emotional burnout here.
How to prevent emotional burnout?
Form realistic standards. Soberly assess the burden on yourself. If you strive to constantly take on other people's tasks, "do your best" and 110% of all commitments, burnout will sooner or later visit you. It is better to plan ahead for a pessimistic outlook, taking into account fatigue, unfortunate accidents - and take less workload.
Conserve your resources. No matter how strong is your desire to do many tasks, you can not overpower them if you regularly neglect rest. Your body needs refueling-sleep, a balanced diet, exercise, and healthy rest.
Learn cognitive techniques. You should learn how to cope with disturbing thoughts - meditation techniques, cognitive behavioral therapy and other techniques can help. You can ask a psychologist for a consultation beforehand.
Understand your goals. You should be aware of why you're doing this or that job. If you don't understand the value of your actions, it will be harder for you to concentrate on your work. Most importantly, you will be vulnerable to outside influence.
Other people and their evaluation of your work should not determine your worth as a specialist and a person.
Low self-esteem
Loss of faith in oneself - one's worthiness and capabilities - occurs when one faces traumatic factors - such as harsh criticism, dismissal, work and creative failure.
But the root of the problem is not the stressor itself. We lose faith in ourselves because our self-esteem is "tied" to these very external factors.
Why does this happen?
Dysfunctional upbringing. A child from childhood was brought up in a toxic, strict environment - love, attention and support had to be "earned" through certain behaviors and actions. And a child's value as a person always depended on the opinion of his parents or other relatives about his behavior and actions.
If you scrubbed the floors, you'd do great!
If you get a "C," you're good for nothing!
How can you be loved if you don't obey?
If you don't do as you're told, you'll be a useless loser!
Workaholism. When we are tired, our nervous system goes into "energy-saving mode" - all actions are aimed at maintaining life (to eat, sleep), for something more resources are not enough. But instead of resting, we rebuke ourselves and force ourselves to act, using up our reserve energy reserves. Every day the situation gets worse. But we don't realize it. We feel like we're just not good enough - because our self-esteem is tied to how well we're doing.
No matter how hard I try, nothing works, everything falls apart! I guess I'm just no good at anything!
Critical Psychotraumas. Sometimes even a person with healthy self-esteem is trapped by external factors. For example, he or she has experienced a long series of failures, or a major event has caused doubts about personal competence (for example, a major criticism of a project that has been years in the making).
More about the causes of low self-esteem we wrote here.
How to restore confidence in yourself?
Realize your importance in isolation from external factors. You are a person with an individual set of characteristics. A unique combination of knowledge, skills and experience already distinguishes you from other people.
Evaluate your strengths and successes. It is important to write down all your achievements and positive qualities, even if they seem insignificant to you. Even better - do it regularly. So in moments of weakness you will be able to open your notebook and understand what a long way behind you, how much you have done for yourself and your project.
Big challenges are built on small daily successes.
Keep trying. We always have two options - try and don't try. In the first case, there is a chance of a result. In the second case, the result is guaranteed not to happen. So as long as you have some resources and opportunities, you need to keep choosing the first option - and this strategy will inevitably pay off.
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