Have you lost something important to you , a way of life, a precious object? Or are you finding the state of the world, such as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic , is wearing you down? Journal about what is upsetting you, and reach out and talk to trusted friends. Are there any things that can be done that can move you forward? Is there a different perspective you could consider? Poor sleep , a bad diet , and lack of exercise have all been connected to apathy.
As has drug use , and a hangover certainly helps any of us to stop caring. In what ways are you neglecting yourself? What small changes could you make starting today? Mindfulness encourages us to observe our thoughts and feelings right here and now.
And when we commit to this process, a curious thing happens. Try a Gestalt therapy approach and imagine your apathy is sitting in front of you. What would it look like? What would you like to say to it? How different is it from who you really are? This can even be the case when it feels like our apathy comes from a world gone crazy. The current events around us shines a light on the fact that we are not living our best life. What are the things you deeply value , when everything falls away?
How is your current life not in line with these choices? How can you make those choices in your current life, in a different form? Cognitive behavioural therapy CBT suggests reversing the pattern of emotions leading to actions. We just go ahead and do. Are you an apathetic mess in the face of the ongoing Covid pandemic? But your friends are doing just fine?
Why is it you are more prone to falling into hopelessness? Research from the University of Oxford [2] suggests it might be that your brain is not designed to be efficient. Using brain scans, it showed that connections in the front part of the brains of apathetic people are less effective. You have to use more energy to plan an action, which would lead you to be less enthusiastic and to fall more easily into hopelessness.
It can also relate to our upbringing. Childhood experiences might have taught us to fall into hopelessness or to give up on ourselves. It could have been a parent who taught us to be addicted to negative thinking. If you are really mired in your apathy?
Or if you suspect you easily fall into apathy because of unresolved childhood issues? Then do seek the support of a counsellor or psychotherapist. Sometimes the very idea of having someone to report into who actually listens and cares about what you say can alleviate apathy. A therapist can also help you decide what you want to happen next in life, and then move towards it. Is it time to start caring? We connect you with friendly and highly regarded therapists in Central London.
Or use our booking platform to find UK-wide therapists as well as Skype therapy you can do from anywhere in the world. Post below. Andrea Blundell is the lead writer and commissioning editor of this site. You can find her on Twitter. Apathy and the functional anatomy of the prefrontal cortex-basal ganglia circuits. Cereb Cortex. Epub Oct 5. PMID: Too many things have happened in this downward spiral since early Is He Changed??? Helping and Watching a Friend's Recurrent Depression?
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I feel like I am going crazy What is wrong with me? Cyclical Depression Frightening thoughts - fear losing control - please help! A plant can be an okay substitute. Pick yourself up a small houseplant or a succulent to care for.
You may consider a potted tomato plant. Whatever little thing you find to care about, focus on it for a while. Then, when you feel ready, use the care you feel for it as a stepping stone to find another thing to care about, and then another. Go slowly so as not to overextend yourself and your emotional output. If, after adding a third or fourth thing to care about, for example, you start to find it difficult or apathy creeps back in, take a step back from one of those things.
Grab yourself a sheet of paper and a pen. Make a list of ten things you used to do in the past that gave you a spark of motivation; things you once cared about. They can be anything from socializing and spending time with your friends to doing volunteer work to art to exercise or whatever, really. Take a look at the list and consider how practical each of those things is to accomplish right now given how you feel. Rank them from most to least practical. It may be challenging to do, or you really may not feel like doing anything.
Sometimes you have to create your own motivation by setting some goals to chase and then pursuing them. The act of pursuing a goal can be enough to spark up and create some caring, particularly when you have the results of your efforts in hand to enjoy. This is also a big part of discipline.
There are times when pursuing any goal is difficult because motivation can wane when the job gets tedious or you lose sight of the end goal. Setting smaller goals that will lead you to your bigger goals can force you to care about those steps in the process, which then filter out into other areas of your life.
Sometimes you will fail. Everyone does. Take that care and see what else you can transfer it to instead.
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