I want to go for a walk, but I need to help around the house, I want to lie on the couch and read - but I can’t think only about myself.
First of all, you need to think about the good of others and your native country - this was the basis of education in Soviet society.
Times are changing, and more and more people are putting their own interests above all else.
Conservatives believe that this is impossible and the world is heading into the abyss. But let's try to figure out whether everything is really that bad?
Conversation with a psychologist. About depression and egoists.
Vladimir Chubarovsky - professor, doctor of medical sciences, psychologist, psychotherapist, leading researcher at the Research Institute of Hygiene and Health Protection of Children and Adolescents of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “SCCH” of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences.
It's raining outside the window, and it's raining in the shower. Everyone has reasons for being in a bad mood from time to time. But bad moods also happen for no apparent reason, especially in the fall. Our expert talks about the causes and ways to overcome depression...
A psychologist can help you cope with depression.
What is the difference between depression and just a bad mood?
VC: Each of us by nature has a certain temperament. What is light excitement for Eeyore, is deep depression for Winnie the Pooh. They have different rates of transition to this state. It is believed that there is a connection between body structure and character. What do the sunny personalities of Winnie the Pooh, Carlson, and Sancho Panza look like? Round, plump. What do emotionally dry, cold, immersed in their inner world prophets, sorcerers, classy ladies, Shapoklyak, Don Quixote look like? Elongated, thin. It’s not for nothing that something positive is depicted as round and fluffy... But depression, of course, has absolutely clear criteria. Firstly, a persistent decrease in mood, and secondly, thoughts flow heavily, slowly, the person is sometimes inhibited, and has difficulty doing ordinary things. Thirdly, bodily changes appear - weight loss, blood pressure jumps, etc. Unlike a bad mood, depression is not a reaction, but a condition. Let’s say a child’s turtle died, it would be strange if he didn’t give a depressive reaction. But if it lasts 2–3 weeks, it means that the internal protective mechanisms are not coping.
Is it true that self-obsessed people are more likely to suffer from depression?
VC: Yes. Nowadays, egocentric tendencies predominate in society. A person strives first of all to satisfy his needs, and often at any cost. But in the long term, this conflicts with basic life values and destroys from the inside. It’s hard among people, each of whom pulls the blanket over himself. The life of altruists is truly easier and more harmonious. But it is important to distinguish egocentrism from selfishness. Everyone strives to realize their inner “I” (“So that I feel good in this situation”), and to some extent all people are selfish. Tsiolkovsky was selfish when he spent his last money on appliances and did not give it to his family. Diogenes is also an egoist, since he realized his contempt for any goods. Alexander the Great, having all imaginable material benefits, rushed to conquer Asia and transform the world in order to realize his selfish need. Mother Teresa derived satisfaction from helping the weak and disadvantaged. The ideal option is when one’s own selfish needs coincide with the interests of society. The problem arises when a person begins to satisfy his needs at the expense of others.
There are a lot of similar examples: a person seems to have everything, but he does not feel happy.
VC: A self-centered person is rarely happy. Having achieved certain signs of material well-being, a person suddenly understands: he is “loved” precisely for them. A common plot: a wealthy man is looking for bright and pure love, but cannot find it. That is why our establishment is shaken by the wildest scandals. The task of a psychotherapist is not to remake a person or his worldview system, but to try to optimize it so that there is no feeling of depression, sleep disturbances, headaches, or fatigue. And then the person acts on his own and draws his own conclusions.
It is difficult to imagine that someday we will live in an ideal society among ideal people. What to do? How to resist depression?
VC: In our country we live in conditions of a protracted economic and spiritual crisis. This is what underlies the rise in depression. What to do? In a global sense - to optimize the situation in society, make it fairer, change priorities. The social sphere, not in words, but in deeds, should be of paramount importance. Unfortunately, the impact of an individual on the macro-social level is limited. But there is a microsocial level - something that surrounds this person. And here we have much more opportunities. Create your own world! Not happy with the company you work for? Look for another! Not satisfied with this form of activity? Look for another! Today, 60% of pensioners go to live in their dachas, grow tomatoes and roses, communicate with neighbors and do not have the need to go to the Maidan. They create their own world in which they are happy.
Do you really think it’s all about the tomatoes in the country?
VC: Any person has the right to determine his psycho-emotional background. Consciously create situations in which you receive positive emotions. If you have a strong sense of aesthetics, go to art galleries and concerts. If you like sports, go to the gym. Expand your social circle, buy a new dress, have an affair, learn to do stupid things! Try to enjoy the sun and the smell of freshness. Hang out with people who are pleasant and positive. In psychology there is even the concept of “understanding personality.” Sometimes a person is invited to a meeting or brainstorming session who says nothing at all. But his presence alone helps to find a way out of the situation. Act, act, consider your options! Live here and now! A person can change his life through willpower. Our greatest contemporaries lived in ultra-cruel conditions, but this did not prevent their implementation. Today it is even believed that a person is formed not by positive, but by negative emotions. He resists, overcomes and through this is formed as a person. You can help a person adapt to almost any society. It’s just very harmful to do it at the expense of others.
Often depression is masked by physical manifestations: pressure, unexpected exacerbation of old sores
Tops and tablets
— A person needs different types of realization (multiple psyche) - in family, work, hobbies... If a problem arises in one, he intuitively switches to another. We are most vulnerable if there is only one top.
— Antidepressants are acceptable as a stage. But then you have to grab yourself by the hair and drag yourself, like Munchausen, along with the horse out of the swamp of depression. Pills will not solve problems, but will smooth out the condition, the world will remain the same.
“Egoist”, analysis of the work of Ivan Turgenev
The work “The Egoist” was written by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev in December 1878. It is part of the author’s “Poems in Prose” cycle, which was created at the end of the Russian writer’s life. Turgenev argued that these works were written primarily for himself and for the few people who think about the meaning of earthly existence.
In the handwritten version, the poem “Egoist” had a note in brackets: “Viardot.” This gives reason to believe that the text was addressed to Louis Viardot, the husband of Pauline Viardot. As you know, Ivan Turgenev was closely associated with this family for many years.
It is also known that the poem “The Egoist” has two draft editions in one notebook. The final version of the work is distinguished by a less harsh characterization of the egoist. It can be assumed that at first Turgenev splashed out negative emotions on paper, and then somewhat smoothed out the rough edges and gave the poem more literary rigor and depth.
But the essence of the work has not changed. The author's attitude towards the egoist remains sharply negative. Turgenev gives preference to expressive words and phrases that clearly convey the emotional state of the writer: “to become a scourge”, “pressed”, “was ruthless”, “nothing will flinch”, “more disgusting than the outright ugliness of vice”.
Turgenev is especially concerned about the fact that the egoist is outwardly very prosperous. This makes him doubly dangerous to society. After all, not all people are able to recognize the true essence of a person behind the false mask of decency that he demonstrates in the world.
However, this may not be a mask, but a painful narcissism and confidence that the whole world should revolve around his personality. The hero of the work is so absorbed in himself all his life that he is simply unable to notice other people. Even on his deathbed, according to Turgenev, such a person will consider himself a model of dignity and morality.
An egoist at his core is a lone wolf. Therefore, he not only despises ordinary citizens, but also condemns his own kind. Turgenev proves this with a wonderful aphorism: “Someone else’s egoism interfered with his own.”
The author believes that the life of a person in love only with himself is stupid and useless. He calls the hero of the poem a strange combination of two contradictory words: “fiend of virtue.” And virtue here is weak and powerless, since the monster is able to easily break the destinies of his relatives, friends and acquaintances.
- “Fathers and Sons”, a summary of the chapters of Turgenev’s novel
- “Fathers and Sons”, analysis of the novel by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev
- “First Love”, a summary of the chapters of Turgenev’s story
- “Bezhin Meadow”, analysis of the story by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev
- Turgenev Ivan Sergeevich, short biography
- “First Love”, analysis of Turgenev’s story
- “Rudin”, a summary of the chapters of Turgenev’s novel
- “Mumu”, analysis of the story by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev
- “Bezhin Meadow”, a summary of Turgenev’s story
- “Rudin”, analysis of the novel by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev
- “The Noble Nest”, analysis of the novel by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev
- “Sparrow”, analysis of the work of Ivan Turgenev
- “Singers”, analysis of the story by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev
- “The Noble Nest”, a summary of the chapters of Turgenev’s novel
- “On the Eve”, analysis of the novel by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev
According to the writer: Turgenev Ivan Sergeevich
