In recent years, sales of antidepressants in Russia have been growing steadily. At the end of February and the beginning of March, in just one week, tranquilizers were sold for a record 525 billion rubles, four times more than usual. But this is not because people suddenly lose their peace because of foreign policy. He wouldn’t have had time to write so many prescriptions for potent drugs. The bulk of consumers were experienced neurotics: people who feared the disappearance of imported drugs bought for the future. This increase only showed that the increasing consumption of antidepressants in our country and with them the services of psychologists, psychotherapists, psychoanalysts and similar specialists are more stable than ever. But what is he talking about? Is our society too sick? Or is someone diligently healing us?
For starters, a case from life. One day I met an old friend. I haven’t seen him for several years. She looked overjoyed and happy. At that time, not long ago, his life in his past life was not sugar: he lived with rather violent relatives, he frantically tried to build a personal life and could not, he was still looking for either a job or himself, and that’s it. in vain – and here it seems to shine in your eyes. True, a kind of fiery, but still familiar flashed. He couldn’t stand it, he told everything. It turned out he had been in therapy for two years. Psychoanalysis, working on traumas, awareness, fullness, life in the moment… well, pills, as if without them. By the way, the tablets began even earlier, but in a “past life” were something harmless, like the homeland and afobazol – in a word, nonsense. And then, that means the tools of zaborism went to therapy.
And you can’t imagine how good I feel now! – a friend flutters. How free and calm I became!
– So you moved, great! I am happy for the person. – What about work? Did you like it?
And then the interlocutor somehow disappears. You know how it is with light bulbs sometimes. Before they burn, they wink sadly. And now my friend is also going out, but it flares up again, although not as brightly as at the beginning of the meeting.
It turned out that everything remained as it was. And everything was terrible. But therapy! A friend admitted (with some enthusiasm) that he now has a completely different attitude towards everything, that he is no longer involved in traumatic and stressful things, that the doctor helped him cope with all this.
“But wait,” I say, “because relatives have fights at night!”
– Yes, – nods, – debauchery. And even worse. But what? To rent apartments? No money. Communication services? But you know our services. And why should I? No, this is not my problem. I can’t manage the lives of adults. And therapy…
Therapy is cheaper, yes. You cannot change the truth – change your attitude towards it. We’ve all read a lot of such clichés. One out of every three statuses in social networks is about awareness, freedom, acceptance and self-discovery.
And we all have a group of acquaintances stuck in this endless self-digging – recognition, discovery, acceptance – living from session to session, insight to insight, one pill to the next. In most cases, this is pretty harmless. Think about it, a person is talking to a psychologist in the evening, just think, he drinks some kind of weak anti-anxiety medicine along with vitamins. There is nothing worse than watching a TV series with a glass of dry wine. Maybe it would be better to talk, read a book. But in general – who is better? And who cares? A good half of those addicted to therapy are more or less fine and have all the problems in the “you should take the fish for a walk” series.
It is much worse when a person who, due to objective traumatic circumstances, has real reasons for frustration, longing, anger, panic, but does not suffer from clinical depression, begins to take psychotropic drugs because he is a victim of overdiagnosis. And overdiagnosis is developing in our country. In our country, according to the results of routine psychological tests in schools, even young people are easily diagnosed with depression. And without any additional examination, antidepressants or tranquilizers are prescribed. But if there is no real clinic, drugs will not help, firstly, and secondly, it can harm.
A true mental disorder, as a rule, is associated with general disorders in the functioning of the brain, with a total lack of neurotransmitters. An antidepressant is actually an artificial means. They lie when they say that drugs have no effect on a healthy person. A person bombards the brain with a drug designed to increase the concentration of serotonin in synapses, and serotonin is found almost everywhere except in individual nerve circuits (activated as a result of traumatic events). But the antidepressant doesn’t work towards the target, it’s snowballing. And the brain must adapt to such an extreme attack, restructuring the balance of established connections – this is a waste of labor, resources. And the resource is not infinite, you have to sacrifice something. And now the unfortunate person’s capacity to work is reduced, lethargy begins, life loses its colors, and even his mind is somewhat jammed. Not scary? But what if forces are needed to solve real problems? What if you need the willpower to pull yourself out of the swamp? To take life and drive it. Physically. And a person sits lazily on the sofa and remembers his childhood, washing the blues with pills – he loses precious time, energy and faith in truth.
Speaking of different physics. Talking to talk is great, but words require action. Life is movement (sorry for another vulgarity). Life is constant solving of different problems, constantly learning new things. Life gets over it. Not a pathetic overcoming in the psychoanalyst’s office in the form of false victories over oneself, but a real overcoming of real sorrows and joys (yes, joys too).
Of course, the road is impossible without stops. Sometimes you have to stop, think about the past and, if necessary, feel sorry for it. Sometimes it’s important to stop the present moment, admire to your heart’s content. But if you don’t keep going, life will soon run out: there will be nothing to remember, and only the satisfaction of physiological needs will be subject to consideration. And here it is close to a real depression.
By the way, according to scientists, clinical depression is associated with changes in the hippocampus. What is the hippocampus responsible for? For memory, learning, movement. So that there is no atrophy, you need to learn, take action, not be afraid to overload the memory (the more, the better). Can’t get along with the job? Go ahead and look for a new one. Finding a job is also a job. Making a plan, choosing lessons (and more difficult), scheduling interviews (so much so that you have time to visit different parts of the city in one day) – there will be no time to feel sorry for yourself. Is it unbearable to live narrow and offended with extravagant relatives? Most likely, they need a psychotherapist (or psychiatrist), but they will not go. Untreated psychoses – this, of course, is another extreme, but how sad for you. Something else should worry you – the organization of an urgent movement. And away. No money? Borrowing. Overwhelmed by painful memories? We need to create new ones as soon as possible. Now, if all these specific actions don’t help, yes, see a doctor. But even then – not immediately to a psychotherapist. It is necessary to exclude organics. Maybe hopelessness and apathy are the result of diabetes or kidney problems. Now, if you have already run enough to the doctors and donated blood, and you did everything with an ultrasound scan with an MRI, but it did not get any easier, then you can think about the soul.
Yes, hard. But no one said it would be easy. And if a psychotherapist promises convenience, do not believe it. Either the charlatan and himself are neurotic, or he is just trying to make life easier for himself. The right specialist will encourage you to take action. And the criterion of appropriate therapy is a change in life, not sensations, but a return to reality and not a retreat into illusions and dreams.
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the editors’ position.
Source: Gazeta
