The Struggles of A Parent Today

In general, children from elementary to high school are subjected to various stressors as they confront rapid changes in themselves and their environment. This includes developing their own personality, a rebellious stage, developing secondary sexual characteristics, expanding social engagements, and school work. Simultaneously, more people in their 30s and 40s are marrying and having children later in their lives. This can result in a great deal of stress when it requires them to juggle raising children and caring for their aging parents. The 30s and 40s parents are also at their prime working-age, holding many responsibilities at work. This means there’s an increase in parents who feel more stressed from both work and home.

These stressful environments can influence family dynamics. Once a family relationship becomes strained due to stressors, it can lead to various problems such as child neglect, abandonment, or even domestic violence. Each family dynamic is different. There are no absolute cookie-cutter solutions in building or maintaining an excellent parent-child relationship. Although recently, mindfulness is gaining attention for its effectiveness in reducing parenting stress and building healthy parent-child relationships. Let us introduce how mindfulness and parenting can go hand in hand.

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is a concept based on the Buddhist teaching of focusing on the present moment. It’s been widely adopted in the world of psychiatry and business in recent years. The actual technique is called “mindfulness meditation,” a meditation that aims to achieve a constant state of calmness.

In mindfulness, the value lies in “accepting the current state without evaluation or judgment.” This is difficult in practice when it comes to relationships. When someone’s behavior is not in our favor, we subconsciously judge them as “selfish” or “incompatible.” We have a natural tendency to judge others on our personal scale of good or bad. Mindfulness training builds the mental capacity to concentrate on the present moment, allowing a focus on our own feelings instead of judgment towards others. This technique can help us at times a relationship feels stressful and out of our control.

Mindfulness in Parenting

Mindfulness practice is relevant when it comes to parenting. Research report several benefits of mindfulness-based parenting and their effectiveness in improving family relationships.

Parents that focus on their child’s “present” state and behavior can accurately catch small signs, subtle changes in behavior, and even decipher an infant’s words. It also reduces the stress a parent feels when their child’s behavior doesn’t align with their own childhood expectations. The acceptance of the child as who they are, without imposed value judgments, creates a better understanding of the child’s characteristics (personality and abilities) without excessive or unattainable expectations. Accurately perceiving and responding to the child’s needs and emotions reduces the chance of stress we feel from a child’s unexpected behaviors. This also increases self-efficacy (the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage situations) in a parent.

Easy Mindfulness Practice for Parents

Even when we understand mindfulness as an effective tool, it can still be a challenge to practice every day. The basics of mindfulness starts with meditation. The word “meditation” has us imagine a setting where we sit in silence with our eyes closed, mind empty. For many, this is a tall order when they’re not too familiar with meditation. The onslaught of first-time experiences also makes it difficult for child-rearing parents to maintain an adequate amount of time for themselves. Moreso if the parent has to balance between work, family, and caring for their elders. Time becomes extremely finite, making it increasingly difficult to meditate.

A common misconception about meditation is that we need time and space to do so, but sitting down and closing our eyes only helps induce a meditative state. What’s more important in mindfulness is to actively control one’s attention. In fact, there are some practices adopted by research and clinical practice that can be more easily incorporated into our daily lives.

Below are some of the easiest ways to practice daily mindfulness.

1. Walking Meditation

Applicable Time: During a daily walk or commute.

How: This meditation technique draws full attention to the action of walking. Stay relaxed and breathe naturally. Begin walking at a slow and deliberate pace. Pay full attention to sensations in the heels and toes leaving the ground, movements of the thigh and calf muscles, and the center shifts in gravity. Pay close attention to the physical conditions and changes that occur within the mundane act of walking. 

Additional Tips: Many thoughts may come up while walking, but don’t try to force clearing the mind. Instead, acknowledge the thought and let it go by returning focus to the steps. Walking meditation is a technique that focuses on deliberate walking, so be sure to do it in a safe place where there’s no concern about traffic accidents.

2. Body Scan

Applicable Time: During work or in between housework.

How: A body scan is done by drawing attention to every detail of the body, from the top of the head to the bottom of the toes. It can be done standing or sitting. Try slow, natural breathing to enhance focus as it’s brought to each part of the body starting at the top downwards- the head, the forehead, the ears, … and so on. 

Additional Tips: Understanding the natural state of your body will help you detect any changes or discomforts—for example, an itchy head or slightly tense shoulders.

3. Mindful Cooking & Eating

Applicable Time: While cooking or eating meals.

How: Cooking and eating is a mindless act we do every day that stimulates various senses. Mindfulness promotes the focus on these five senses, and cooking is a suited process for perceiving the multiple sensations. For example, while cutting a raw carrot with a knife, notice the crunchy texture, the chopping sound as the knife hits the cutting board, or the vivid orange colors cut into various shapes. A recipe can go through changes in smell and texture as the food gets cooked. After the food is prepared, pay careful attention to each bite as you chew the food -the looks, smell, the texture in the mouth. The entire process from preparing to eating can become a meditational practice if we act mindfully through each step.

Additional Tips: Through the entire process, there will be times where we’ll find ourselves distracted. If so, don’t suppress the thoughts. Instead, acknowledge the thoughts and bring the attention back to the present moment. It may seem difficult at first, but daily practice will help achieve a natural control over our state of consciousness no matter what situation we face.

Cherishing the NOW Through Mindful Parenting

A growing child continuously faces new experiences every day. The same goes for a parent too, many things occur throughout a child’s life that is new. Even for an experienced parent of several children, each child is unique. The social environment surrounding the parent and child also changes daily. Not every situation replicates a past experience 100%. New experiences can make us feel anxious and nervous, causing stress to slowly grow.

Under stress, we rely on our past experiences and place high hopes for a brighter future. However, parents should be careful not to evaluate their child using judgments based on past experiences or high expectations for the future. This can lead to frustration and anxiety when things don’t go as planned. As a result, both the parent and child will feel overwhelmed and stressed. Objectively, judgments based on past experiences never guarantee desired results for what’s happening now, just as much as high efforts towards the future doesn’t always ensure success.

We all have different personalities and capabilities, so there’s no point in comparing ourselves to others. The best way to reduce parenting stress is by letting go of the standards we hold from the past, future, or comparisons. Once we implement mindfulness and accept ourselves and our children as who they are “now,” we can start enjoying the process of parenting without stressing over each occurrence of events.

If you’re looking for more tips on how to care for your mental health, check out some of our past blog posts!
→ Looking to improve your mental health? Try the SELFMIND app FREE for a week!

References：

Yoshimasu, K., Oga, H., Kagaya, R., Kitabayashi, M., & Kanaya, Y. (2012). Parent-Child Relationships and Mindfulness. Japanese Journal of Hygiene, 67(1), 27-36. doi: 10.1265/jjh.67.27

Kitagawa, K., & Muto, T. (2013). What is How to Respond to Difficulties in Promoting Mindfulness. Doshisha Clinical Psychology: Therapy and Research 3(1), 41-51. doi: 10.14988/pa.2017.0000013384

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Workplace Relationships Affects Everyone

It’s not that difficult to avoid stressful situations if it’s within personal relationships. You can usually cut ties with a person or create distance so that they can’t distract you.

However, when it comes to stressful relationships at the workplace, it can be impossible to avoid certain people due to work responsibilities. Unavoidable work stress can cause mental illnesses when they’re left unattended.

The Impact of Stressful Relationships at Work

Stressful work relationships are continually listed among the top 10 reasons why an employee quits their job. Not everyone leaves their job for positive reasons and sometimes, their mental health can be way too damaged by the time they leave their job.

High Risk of Depression and Burnout

There’s a risk to a person bearing through high-stress environments for long durations. Long-term stress is known to lead to possible mental illnesses.

A prominent mental illness due to prolonged depressed feelings and anxiety is depression. Workplace stress can cause unhealthy conditions for your mental well-being, as well as physical symptoms like insomnia and fatigue. As a result, some serious cases may even cause difficulties in getting out of the house in the end.

Burnouts are typical symptoms due to high stress. This happens to people even when they used to enthusiastically work before, but lost any motivation to move forward. It is said that burnouts strongly correlate with depression.

Mental illnesses that stem from stress require immediate attention. Once a person recognizes the state that they’re in, they should go seek professional help right away. For some, it may be hard to understand their state from an objective perspective. It’s important to create a work environment that allows people to look out for each other so that everyone can recognize when someone is “off.”

How to Deal With Stressful Relationships at Work

How vast of a relationship you need to hold depends on your industry and type of job, but most of us need to maintain relationships with a variety of people. As much as diversity is important, the differences in age, background, and type of employment can all easily become a blocking point as well.

What kind of stressful relationships exist in the workplace and how can we deal with them?

1. Workplace Harassment

Workplace harassment is a huge issue when we consider stressful situations and relationships at work.

Below are a few possible categories of workplace harassment:
・Discriminatory Harassment – based on race, age, gender, religion, etc.
・Power Harassment – a person in power harasses a victim who is lower on the office hierarchy
・Physical Harassment – based on physical attacks and threatening behavior
・Psychological Harassment – discrediting, isolating or belittling a person
・Sexual Harassment – includes unwanted sexual advances, conduct, or behavior

In many cases, the problem lies in the fact that the harasser is not aware of what they are doing. No matter how humorous, genuine, and encouraging they “think” they are, their words and actions could be taken differently by the receiver.

＜How to Improve The Situation＞

To stop harassment, you must let the harasser know so that they become aware of what they are doing. Social dynamics may make it difficult for you to directly speak up or confront the person in power. If so, try to talk to someone who is in an adequate position to raise your concerns for improvement.

If it’s difficult to voice your opinion on your own, talk to someone who is in a similar position as you. Submitting concerns as a group is more effective than doing it alone. If there is no one that you can talk to, you should consult a lawyer or get in touch with the U.S. EEOC.

Workplace harassment can be solved through action. There is no need to stay quiet or hold it all in. We all need to take part in creating an environment that will not tolerate any kind of harassment. Our individual awareness of this issue is essential for ourselves and for any other potential victim.

2. There’s Somone You Dislike

When we spend long hours at work, naturally, there will be stressful people that have challenging personalities and different ideologies. They don’t necessarily do anything intentionally bad towards you, you just don’t get along with them that well.

Projects that involve close teamwork with managers and coworkers we dislike can cause long-term stress. There are people we grow close to through frequent communication, but there will always be a few that we have difficulties with.

According to studies, people who easily hold a strong distaste towards others tend to have low self-esteem. In other words, people who have no self-confidence are more critical towards others. This means that building self-confidence could help reduce our dislikes. When we truly accept who we are and reach a point of confidence, there’s no behavior that can really bother us. Even if tension arises between another person, we can brush it off optimistically when there’s confidence.

＜How to Improve The Situation＞

We should always stay calm when friction arises so that we can think through the issues objectively. An open mind with a rational view can give us an opportunity to look at things with less bias.

For example, if a boss got upset at your mistake and you only focused on the fact that they were “upset,” an emotional response might be that we feel angry and stressed. However, an objective view would help us switch things into a positive narrative, where we feel thankful that our mistakes were corrected early on so that they won’t happen again.

Verbalized thoughts are effective in gaining objective perspectives. Talk to someone you trust or write a diary. It can even be an internal conversation with yourself. All of these things will help you organize your thoughts to see things more clearly and objectively.

The Positivity of Healthy Relationships

On the other hand, positive relationships at work can be the best medication for our mental health. A coworker you can talk to daily, or a great boss can all help reduce stress.

Good relationships at the workplace are known to:

・Improve teamwork and collaboration
・Improve employee morale
・Increase employee productivity
・Lead to higher employee retention rates

As we can see, relationships can be both toxic and helpful for our wellbeing depending on the situation.

There are no straight answers on how to solve relationship issues. Everyone seeks their own path to reach a conclusion. A shift in perspective or new ways of thinking can hint us towards a better direction to improve our relationship at the workplace.

Looking to improve your mental wellbeing? Try the SELF MIND app FREE for 1 week!
If you’re looking for more tips on how to care for your mental health, check out some of our past blog posts!

References：

McFarlin, K. (2019, February 5). Importance of Relationships in the Workplace. Small Business – Chron.Com. https://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-relationships-workplace-10380.html

Nagatomi, Y. (2015). Psychological harassment and mental health at work. Journal of Osaka University of Economics, 66(1), 223–233. https://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/120005616521

Nagatomi, Y. (2016). Stress trigger and process under workplace harassments. Journal of Osaka University of Economics, 66(5), 243–248. https://doi.org/10.24644/keidaironshu.66.5_243

Ostuka, Y., Suzuki, A., & Takada, M. (2007). Mental Health at The Workplace: Recent Trends and Stress Coping Realities. The Japanese Journal of Labour Studies, 49(1), 41–53. https://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/120002099808

Yahnke, K. (2020, June 12). 11 Types of Workplace Harassment (and How to Stop Them). I-Sight. https://i-sight.com/resources/11-types-of-workplace-harassment-and-how-to-stop-them/

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What is A Flow State?

Have you ever heard athletes talk about “being in the zone”? This “zone” is the hyper-concentrated focus state, also known as the “flow state.” This is where a person’s sense of awareness rises while distractive thoughts and sounds disappear from consciousness. Some people describe this moment as people and objects moving slowly, or as if time stops. Many athletes set personal best records and make incredible moves when they are in this unique state.

A flow state is not limited to sports and could be applied to studies, work, and hobbies. The flow maximizes concentration and brings out the best performances. Wouldn’t it be great to harness this power? In fact, anybody can enter a flow state using tactics of mindfulness in sports.

Mindfulness in Sports: How to Enter a Flow State

There are 7 known ways to enter a flow state:

1. Have a dream or goal – increase excitement and positivity
2. Cherish feelings of fondness – enhance concentration through interests
3. Prepare – create an environment for focus and eliminates distractions
4. Imagine – imagine the entire process from preparation to the sense of accomplishment when finished
5. Focus on the NOW – do not think of past failures, future concerns, etc.
6. Believe in yourself – act with confidence even no matter what
7. Decide on a timeframe and push yourself – give yourself many tasks to complete in a short period

Conscious awareness of these points will help induce an easier entrance into a flow state. Applying mindfulness in sports practice will help with this whole entire process. Mindfulness meditation teaches us how to control our consciousness while eliminating negative thoughts. With training, we can successfully inspire ourselves from within to enter flow states.

Athletic Burnout and Mindfulness

Physical or mental burnouts are common among athletes as they push themselves to the limit. Many work hard to achieve goals and continue to perform despite their physical limitations. Some athletes can lose motivation and enthusiasm when results don’t match their efforts and expectations.

In academic terms, people prone to burnout conditions are believed to have “alexithymia” tendencies. These individuals have difficulties in recognizing and discussing emotional and physical sensations when abnormalities are present.

The following characteristics are found in people who are prone to alexithymia:

• ・Easily nervous
• ・Easily anxious
• ・Perfectionist
• ・People-pleaser
• ・Too serious and overly responsible
• ・Overly sensitive
• ・Has not learned any stress-coping mechanisms

If these characteristics sound familiar, you’ll need tools to face your inner thought process objectively. This is another area where mindfulness becomes helpful. A reflection inwards to accept different emotions and objectivity to our thoughts builds excellent strength to deal with our challenges.

Mindfulness and Cardio as an Anti-Depressant

Research shows that mindfulness meditation and aerobic exercise (cardio) work together very well. It increases neurogenesis in the brain and helps improve depression. Until now, psychotropic drugs have been the most common treatment for depression, but mindfulness meditation and aerobic exercise can be practiced for a lifetime without serious side effects.

It’s unlikely for stress to completely disappear from this world. Anyone can develop depression and mental disorders under certain circumstances. As a preventative measure, it’s important to practice good self-care. Mindfulness has many possibilities in maintaining both physical and mental health. Applying mindfulness in sports practice, studies, and hobbies can enhance our fulfillment in all activities and overall life quality.

If you’re looking for other ways to regulate your emotions, check out some of our past blog posts!
Looking to improve your mental health? Try the SELFMIND app FREE for a week!”

References:

Alderman, B. L., Olson, R. L., Brush, C. J., & Shors, T. J. (2016). MAP Training: Combining Meditation and Aerobic Exercise Reduces Depression and Rumination While Enhancing Synchronized Brain Activity. Translational Psychiatry, 6, e726, 1-9. doi: 10.1038/tp.2015.225

Amemiya, R., & Sakairi, Y. (2015). The Role of Athletesʼ Mindfulness in Alexithymia and Burnout. Japanese Journal of Sport Psychology 42(2), 81-92. doi: 10.4146/jjspopsy.2015-1416

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What is “Burnout”?

Burnout (or sometimes referred to as “blow out”) is a persistent state of lethargy with a loss of mental and physical energy. It is not the name of an official psychiatric diagnosis, but a type of stress reaction that occurs as a result of stress. There are many well-respected people who used to work hard, but lost their motivation only to be forced to leave their jobs as if they have “lost fire”. Initially, experts believed burnout was more common amongst workers in the service sector, such as medical care and education. However, in today’s world where many people are under excessive stress, people in a wide range of occupations (not just in the service sector), are at risk of becoming burnt out.

Symptoms of a Burnout

One of the main symptoms of burnout (or blow out) is “emotional exhaustion”. Emotional exhaustion is a state of weariness caused by stressful interpersonal relationships, being too busy, or by the gap between one’s ideals and reality. This symptom is also linked to other manifestations of burnout, such as “depersonalization”, a disconnected or detached sense of feeling from one’s self and emotional acts, or “diminished personal accomplishments”, the lost sense of fulfillment and competence.

How is it Different from Depression?

Burnout is sometimes considered to be a form of depression because the symptoms of depressed mood and lethargy manifest in a similar way to depression. However, there is a lot of controversy about equating burnout with depression, as burnout has been studied primarily in the field of psychology, while depression has been studied primarily in the field of medicine.

While the cause of depression can be all kinds of stresses in life, burnouts most likely occur due to workplace stress. Recent studies have established a checklist of items to measure the level of burnout in the workplace. If you can relate to many items on the list below, you are at a higher risk becoming burnt out.

Susceptible Characteristics for Burnouts

Burnout is often referred to as a “disease that strikes people who have a sense of purpose and idealism.” People tend to be at a higher risk of burnout if they are dedicated to their work and are attentive to their surroundings. In particular, people with a strong sense of perfectionism and responsibility possess a higher risk of burning out because of the mental stress experienced when faced with a different reality.

To prevent becoming burnt out, it is important to separate ourselves from our duties and obligations. Although in the midst of constant daily stress, it is no easy task to maintain a healthy mindset through personal efforts alone.

How to Prevent Burnouts

Burnout is not just about personal qualities; environmental factors are also deeply related to the phenomenon. Overbearing amounts of work, one-sided communication from the higher-ups, and tasking underqualified workers are all environmental issues that increase the risk of burnouts as well as a variety of stress-related illnesses. To prevent burnouts, we need to re-evaluate our work environment and look for ways to improve.

For example, it’s helpful to ask these questions in the workplace:

• Are my personal workload and emotional burdens overbearing?
• Is the work appropriate for my qualifications?
• Is there interactive communication taking place on both ends?

Constant review and improvements of the above points are an effective way to prevent burnouts.

When You Find Yourself Burnt Out

So what can we do to regain our energy again when we actually fall into a burnout?

The first step is to notice the problems we face. People who are prone to burnout tend to strive for perfection. This makes it difficult for them to recognize their problems. To get an accurate picture of the condition, it’s helpful to seek advice from family, close friends, and supervisors. After we understand our situation, we need to take time away from the source of our stress to question our values. For example, if work is the reason for burnout, a leave of absence or a short separation from work can be the best way to recover.

Not an End, But a New Beginning

According to one study, of the 20 people who recovered from burnout due to a leave of absence, only one returned to the same job. The other 19 people chose to leave their previous careers and rediscover their value in a new environment. It takes courage to change your lifestyle, but taking a step toward a new environment without fear may be the key to avoiding a repeat of burnout. In that sense, being burnt out is not a dead end with nowhere to turn, but rather a starting point for a new career.

No Need to Give 100%

In general, people with good work ethics and attention to detail are considered “excellent” and “respectable”. However, in the real world, no one is perfect all the time. No matter how good a person is considered to be, they can’t always do 100%. Some days may be 80%, whereas some days may be 45%, and that’s okay!

There will also be moments of happiness within these days that aren’t our best. Even if our day’s efforts end up around 30%, there will still be times where family, friends, and hobbies will fulfill us. Try to avoid getting caught up in your ideals. Allowing imperfections and maintaining a relaxed state will help avoid burnouts.

→ Looking to improve your mental health? Try the SELF MIND app FREE for 1 week!
If you’re looking for more tips on how to care for your mental health, check out some of our past blog posts!

References:

Irie, M. (2017). Burnout and Depression. Journal of Health Science, 39, 41-47. doi: 10.15017/1800858

Kubo, M. (2007). Burnout – Stress in Human Service Jobs. The Japanese Journal of Labour Studies, 49(1), 54-64.

Mind Tools Content Team (n.d.). Burnout Self-Test: – Are You at Risk? Retrieved October 30, 2020, from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTCS_08.htm

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Defining Workaholic

Am I a workaholic?

A workaholic describes a person who is addicted to work and works compulsively for long hours. It’s generally regarded as a negative state that is detrimental to one’s physical and mental health, but some people consider it a positive sign of enjoyment and fulfillment being met at work.

The definition of workaholic varies among experts. If you work long hours on a daily basis, and the following statements apply, you likely are a workaholic.

・I can’t stop thinking about work even on days off

・I sacrifice health and personal time to devote myself to work

・I find myself disinterested in non-work related topics

People who are prone to workaholism often carry heavy workloads and tend to be under excessive work pressure. If we find our workload increasing one after another or if we’re juggling multiple tasks at once, we should be cautious.

Work Fulfillment Impacts Our Well-Being

According to research, less fulfillment in work leads to unhealthier individuals, both physically and mentally. Long hours at an unfulfilling job puts our minds and bodies under a lot of stress. More hours invested in work means less relaxation and resting hours as well, causing a constant accumulation of stress without relief. This can lead to more serious conditions such as burnout, depression, and even karoshi (death due to overwork).

Generally speaking, work is a strenuous task that involves social responsibilities and it can be challenging to make it fulfilling on our own. To reduce unhealthy mental and physical pressure from work, we need to come up with ways to make work enjoyable and create that change together as a society.

However, we still shouldn’t work long hours even when we enjoy work. The higher ratio we spend on work every day, the more fatigue naturally accumulates with more potential damage to health. Regardless of whether we enjoy our work or not, excessively long work hours should be avoided.

Escaping the Workaholic Lifestyle

Workaholism is a condition caused by excessive long hours of work. To prevent this, the entire workplace needs to regularly review and consider whether the workload and working hours are appropriate for each individual. It’s also important to implement a system and environment where employees feel at ease voicing their working condition needs for a healthy work-life balance.

What can we do if we still find ourselves falling into workaholism? If we want to escape the workaholic lifestyle, we should consciously switch gears between work and personal. As for starters, try to become aware of the following two things:

1. Find a hobby as passionate as work
   Hobbies can be a great escape from work. It can lead to increased motivation at work to generate the money necessary for the hobby and help avoid long work hours to invest in personal time.
   
2. Cherish time with family and friends.
   Communicating with family, friends, and others who are not directly involved in our work helpslp us switch off “work mode”. Investing in relationships outside of the workplace also prevents social isolation later in life when we retire.

To prevent workaholism, we must understand our situation objectively, although It’s not easy to do when we’re overwhelmed with work. Remember to listen to family, friends, and colleagues who care about you most. If you think that you’re fine even though you’re overwhelmed and pressured with work, watch out. You may have already lost your way through workaholism.

Image: Unsplash

References:
Fujimoto, T. (2013). Psychological Distress and Physical Complaints of the Workaholic. The Japanese Journal of Labour Studies, 55(6), 47-58.

Takeishi, E. (2010). Challenges in Achieving Work-Life Balance: Implications from International Comparative Surveys. RIETI Policy Discussion Paper Series 10-P-004.

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Do you ever feel lethargic and disinterested, like you couldn’t be bothered to do anything at all? Indeed, this feeling is “apathy”. We all have days where we just don’t want to do things we know we should, like dealing with house chores after coming back from a long vacation. Dealing with apathy has been a huge challenge for humans throughout history. This article will explore what apathy does to our mental health, and some ways to handle these feelings when they arise.

What Apathy Means: 2 Characteristics

Since no two people in the world are the same, what apathy manifests itself as, and how it affects us, are different for each of us. It also depends on what we are feeling apathetic about and how we got there. As an example, college students sometimes display symptoms of “student apathy”. Some students lose motivation to take on their studies without a clear reason. Researchers believe this to be one of the reasons for students to fail grades and dropout. Student Apathy is different to apatheticness that stems from depression. This is because Student Apathy is an experience specifically towards their studies, whereas Depressive Apathy is something that affects our entire life. The former kind of apathy involves the inability to think further about the problems they hold. On the other hand, the latter generally involves overthinking about problems.

In the same way that sugar and salt appears the same but are completely unlike, different manifestations of apatheticness have been lumped under the same umbrella term of “apathy”. Currently, researchers are trying to see if apatheticness can be patterned into student-apathy-types and depression-types.

Diffirent Kinds of Apatheticness

In 2003, researchers conducted a survey in Japan among 283 university students (233 valid responses). The researchers were able to sort the participants into multiple groups, based on questionnaires asking about their motivation for club activities and part-time jobs. The results showed one high motivation group, and three low motivation groups.

Furthermore, they found that the low-motivation groups had two categories: low motivation for academics alone and low motivation for everything. As a result, only the group with low motivation towards academics showed characteristics of Student Apathy. These student showed a lack of thought towards their inner selves. This suggests that the low academic motivation group had a tendency toward Student Apathy, which may be different from the other two low motivation groups. Although the study itself may not be concrete, the results show what apathy can be patterned into: Student Apathy, and Depressive Apathy. Furthermore, that these two patterns of apathy should have separate categories when considering treatment.

What Apathy Can Teach Us

The Japanese study mentioned above yielded some other interesting results. According to the study, the group with the lowest interpersonal and recreational motivation tended to look inward when they had a negative experience. Of course, it’s a good thing that we don’t run away from bad experiences. However, they were more likely to develop depression through their apatheticness. This was mainly because of their lack in dependency for support, and disinterest in entertainment. While this Japanese study focused on what apathy did to the behavior of students, in today’s fast-paced society, this situation could resonate with anyone, and not just students.

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help

There are times in our lives when we can’t help but feel like not wanting to do anything. If so, why not try relying on someone else? When we don’t feel good, we can’t help but think negatively. At times like this, staying in our own thought bubble can set us down into a negative spiral. If you continue to dwell in your general disinterest and lack of motivation, that’s what apathy will feed on. Before this happens, try reaching out. A family member, friend, someone you trust, or even a stranger on social media. One of those people may be able to help you stay positive and lift you out from your apatheticness. I hope this article has also served as a small light at the end of the tunnel, for someone who may need it.

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If you’re looking for more tips on how to care for your mental health, check out some of our past blog posts!

Image：Unsplash
Reference：
Kano, T., & Tsugawa, R. (2008). A classification of apathy in undergraduates. The Japanese Journal of Mental Health, 23(2), 2-10. doi: 10.11383/kokoronokenkou1986.23.2_2

Uchida, C. (2010). Apathetic and Withdrawing Students in Japanese Universities – with Regard to Hikikomori and Student Apathy. Journal of Medical and Dental Sciences 57(1), 95-108. doi: 10.11480/jmds.570111

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