Apathy: definition, what to do when you want nothing?

What is apathy?

“apathy means a difficulty mobilizing for activities, caused by a lack of emotional interestand not from a physical cause“, explains Dina Karoubi-Pecon, psychoanalyst and psychotherapist. Concretely, patients are indifferent to everythingemotions and desires, and don’t want anything. So they don’t feel more interest in moving, mobilizing, and generally feeling very tired. “The person is like jelly. This is, of course, against his will.. This lack of interest can affect their daily life, resulting in difficulties at work or estrangement from loved ones. Often, patients and their families suffer greatly“, specifies the specialist. But some apathetic people are not aware of their condition before relatives push them to consult. “This may be the result of an emerging or already established mental illness.“, she adds.

What are the differences between apathy and abulia?

Must be distinguished the apathy of abulia“who is a decrease or absence of cravingswhich is usually found in the depression“, explains our interlocutor. But in abulia, the person is still sensitive to the motivation and the rewards that are the key to an action, whereas the apathetic person no longer feels this motivation.astheniait is a weakening of the organismcoming from physical and not moral fatigue as in apathy.

What are the signs of apathy?

Apathy translates daily into the partial or total lack of response to certain usual stimuli. The person no longer takes initiatives, and feels constantly demotivated. “Daily activities like practicing a passion, playing sports, going out, visiting friends or doing family activities will no longer appeal to him“, specifies the psychotherapist. The person is no longer passionate about anything, no longer feels emotions or sensations. This can also go as far as a loss of interest in others.

Depressed or lazy?

To differentiate apathy from simple “laziness”, there are a few clues: “A lazy person will not want to do unpleasant things like going to work, cleaning or shopping, but will enjoy going out, going to the movies, etc. Apathetic people cannot mobilize for all things in general“, insists the professional. The real signal that there is a problem is therefore inability to lead a normal lifewhich generates the suffering in the personand even in the surroundings.

Why do we want nothing?

Apathetic behavior can be caused by many causes. The first are the psychological disorders: “Apathy can be part of a clinical picture“, explains Dina Karoubi-Pecon. Bipolarity, schizophrenia or depression can lead to apathy. There taking drugs can also make the situation worse. This disorder can also be caused by hypothyroidism (insufficiency of thyroid hormone, whose role is to control the metabolism). “It can also be the result of emotional trauma, state of great stress, of one traumatic event or a moment of great distress, when something changes in life“, describes the professional. Apathy can also be triggered by brain damage caused by neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s disease, etc.) or by other conditions affecting the neural sphere, such as dementia, strokeetc.

An apathetic person is not a “lazy” person.

What to do when you want nothing?

“When the state of apathy affects the patient’s daily life and becomes disabling (inability to work, loss of social ties, even inability to go out), a treatment by a psychologist or psychoanalyst is absolutely necessary“, explains the specialist. “When this state sets in, you have to intervene and consult fairly quickly. Our interlocutor advises to find out about the specialty of the psychologist, his diplomas and his reputation before consulting. “If theapathy is coupled with depression or anxiety very important, or if the simple therapy does not succeed in mobilizing the person, it may be necessary to go to see a psychiatrist [ndlr : qui a le titre de Docteur]. This one can prescribe antidepressants or any other drug treatment“, she specifies. In addition totherapy with a psychologist or psychiatristof the talk groups can help the patient rediscover a lost social bond. “As for the treatments, do not self-medicateinsists the expert. It is up to a specialist to assess the need for a treatment, its type, its dosage…“

Thanks to Dina Karoubi-Pecon, psychoanalyst and psychotherapist, author of “A season at the shrink” Comments collected in 2019.