Emotional apathy is manifested in different degrees, and the reasons for its formation and development also include pathological and social psychological factors.
In foreign countries, some young psychologists have found through a lot of investigation and study that in modern society with highly developed productive forces, a large number of young people are psychologically in a state of "three noes".
The so-called "three noes" are, in short, heartless, powerless and unintentional. In other words, they are indifferent, lacking in vitality and indifferent. These experts who have been studying teenagers' psychology for many years call on teenagers living in modern society to be alert to this psychological "three noes" state.
1. What are the main characteristics of "indifferent" youth?
(1) From the facial expressions and body postures, we can see that they lack the vitality of life, feel weak all day and lose their "living connection with reality".
The phrase "live in contact with reality" can also be translated as "live in contact with reality". This sentence is a famous French psychiatrist Minkowski who was born in Poland. He said this sentence, which is the meaning of China's old saying that "the walking dead" and "sorrow is greater than death in the heart". Minkowski explained that people with indifferent feelings are autistic and self-enclosed. Most of these young people have suffered setbacks, blows or trauma in their hearts, so they are disheartened, lose the joy of life and get tired of people and things. Their hearts are "cold". Although their bodies exist, their souls are gone and their hearts are extremely empty.
(2) Psychological maladjustment.
This is another form of indifference. In life, we can usually see that some young people are decent and don't do anything wrong, but they have an involuntary obsessive-compulsive tendency. Mainly for no special reason, but lost the enthusiasm for learning or concern for society; They continue to live a life that they consider "detached" and divorced from reality.
However, such young people are not as mentally ill as they are, and their intelligence and personality are quite good; They are not as nervous and neurotic as some mental patients. Pathological psychologists believe that this kind of apathetic youth is just a behavior obstacle or inhibition, and they are "reserve players" of neurosis. For example, some young people think they are "sophisticated", "mature" and "he who sees through the world of mortals". Their morale is declining and they don't want to change the status quo by their own efforts. They are content with the status quo and muddle along.
Second, how to treat "emotional indifference"
Pathological psychologists believe that the "treatment" of this kind of young people is quite difficult, which is more troublesome and laborious than the former emotional indifference type. Nevertheless, we still have ways to "revive" them, rekindle the flame of life and inspire their spirit of striving for progress and hard work. The effective ways to help these young friends find their lost spiritual paradise are "reading and learning" and "music therapy".
1. Reading and learning methods
Many young people are indifferent to their feelings. Through reading and studying, we can fill their spiritual emptiness and make them cheer up, be enthusiastic and be active. Therefore, the "reading and learning method" has been praised and affirmed by pathological psychologists and young psychologists, and is considered to be an effective method to treat psychological emptiness.
Why is the "reading and learning method" so effective? Because reading can broaden their horizons, help indifferent young people see their goals clearly, find spiritual sustenance, and encourage them to devote themselves to meaningful careers with confidence. Therefore, after they form the habit of reading, they will change their psychological "three noes" state, enrich their spiritual life, and their life will no longer be boring. Obviously, with knowledge, you will find your ideal spiritual support. It can also be seen from here that the great British philosopher Bacon said that "knowledge is power" is indeed a wise saying!
In the dark old society, many excellent people felt depressed and confused about the suffering of their motherland. But they read widely and enrich their spiritual world with scientific knowledge (including social science knowledge, such as Marxism). Then use this knowledge to benefit the crowd. Lenin's wife Krupskaya wrote when she recalled Lenin: "Books played a great role in Vladimir ilych's life. In his vast work, books gave him knowledge, and he mastered it brilliantly; Otherwise, he can't be Lenin as we all know. "
Diligent study can not only change the state of psychological emptiness, but also cure mental depression. Some universities in the United States hold weekend refresher courses, and some patients with mental illness caused by non-physiological visceral diseases can eliminate symptoms such as depression, headache and tachycardia in a short time after attending the refresher courses. This proves once again that "reading and learning method" is indeed an effective non-drug psychotherapy.
2. Music therapy
In addition to the "reading and learning method", there are psychotherapy such as music therapy to effectively eliminate emotional apathy. For example, when you are disheartened, pessimistic, frustrated and helpless for various reasons, you can always listen to the grand and unrestrained melody like the March, which will bring you enrichment, courage, hope and strength.
The above is to analyze the problem of emotional apathy from the perspective of pathological psychology. Let's analyze it from the perspective of social psychology.
1964 March 14, The New York Times reported a murder news: a young woman was killed near her home in Queens, new york at night. It took the murderer more than half an hour to kill the murdered woman because she struggled to resist. After investigation, 38 people nearby heard her cry for help, but no one helped or even called the police. This incident has attracted the attention of American public opinion and become an important case studied by social psychologists. Why suicide, "no one to help"? There may be many complicated factors, but the "indifference" or even "ruthlessness" of onlookers is a very important reason.
On May 24th, 1983, China Guangming Daily reported a story about saving others by sacrificing oneself. On April 24th, 1983, Feng, a rural female teacher of Xushi Commune Central Primary School in Jianyang County, Fujian Province, was swept by a rare tornado, and when the classroom was about to collapse, her hands hugged each other tightly. The "5. 1 1" Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 witnessed countless deeds of self-sacrifice. This spirit of sacrificing oneself to save others is in sharp contrast with the indifference of some people in danger.
The two social systems have brought people two different social psychology. Emotional indifference or even ruthlessness has almost become a common social problem in capitalist society.
What I have said above is analyzed by popular social psychology as a social trend of thought. There is no doubt that this is a major premise that we must clearly see. However, from the perspective of mental health, why are most people compassionate and altruistic in the same social system, such as the environment around us, while some people are indifferent or even heartless?
Third, the analysis of the causes of "emotional apathy"
Some pathological psychologists believe that indifference is a psychological response to frustration. Usually, when people are frustrated, they will first show an "attack" reaction; If the attack response fails, or the attack response causes more setbacks, it will be manifested as an "escape" response; If you can't escape, you will show a "cold" or even "heartless" reaction.
Attack-escape-indifference (or ruthlessness), which of these three different ways to deal with setbacks? This depends on the different specific situations faced by all parties and their unyielding influence. Therefore, these three different ways to deal with setbacks are not three steps that must be taken from strong to weak. In daily life, we will find that in the face of the same setbacks, some people take the offensive way, some people take the evasive way, and some people take the indifferent or even ruthless way.
Speaking of "indifference" and "ruthlessness", it seems that they are indifferent, willing, indifferent and without anger. In fact, indifference is only a temporary suppression of anger, which is expressed in an "indirect way". It can be said that indifference is a kind of "silent resistance" and "negative protest" to a certain extent.
It should be said that the causes of indifference are complex and diverse, not limited to the two types mentioned at the beginning, but also include multiple factors of political, economic, social and cultural background. Therefore, it is not enough to simply find the reason physically or psychologically. Therefore, we should not only use the knowledge of pathological psychology, but also use the knowledge of social psychology to analyze the psychological characteristics of emotionally indifferent teenagers and the real mystery of their formation and development.
Kimble, a pathological psychologist abroad, suggested in 1963 that the following people are prone to apathy: ① people who have suffered setbacks for a long time; (2) People in a helpless and hopeless state; 3 people with psychological fear and physical pain; 4 people who can neither attack nor suppress psychologically.
These four types of people are prone to produce indifferent common genes emotionally, or because their social environment has a great and profound impact on their psychology. Emotional indifference and even ruthlessness, with strong sociality and class nature. Whether a person produces indifferent behavior depends on his or her moral level and moral belief. In the final analysis, the core of indifference is to protect individuals and protect themselves.
If we study it carefully, we will find that people with indifferent feelings are not really "ignorant of the world" and avoid shrinking; If an individual's own interests are harmed, it is not completely indifferent. After the tragedy in Queens, new york, USA, American social psychologist Dali and others immediately began to investigate. He summed up the psychological activities of indifferent bystanders at that time into the following four categories: ① fear of thugs stabbing themselves with knives; (2) Being afraid of participating in interference and testifying in court will result in a lot of time or other involvement; (3) Because it is an emergency, psychological preparation is insufficient; Maybe it was a false alarm and nothing happened. It is rash to save people by yourself, and you will be laughed at.
In fact, it is obvious that among the four kinds of reasons for suicide stated by the indifferent "bystanders" of this murder tragedy (they all heard the young women's cry for help at that time), ③ and ④ are just excuses; 2 is secondary; (1) is the main and real reason. In other words, the basic reason of from ruin's indifference is to protect individuals, "fearing that thugs will stab themselves with knives".
However, there are also some situations and omens worth pondering. For example, in recent years, our country's legal advisers have found that children whose parents are divorced are indifferent to life and society and lack the necessary trust in people because of the lack of family warmth. Most of them are eccentric and have a weak sense of morality. They are either indifferent to everything or rude and lack proper education. Although this situation is a minority phenomenon, it cannot but attract enough attention from the society.
Therefore, in order to eliminate some young people's emotional apathy, we not only hope that they will maintain mental health; At the same time, we should also call on parents, teachers and all members of society to try their best to create a good environment for young people to feel warm, safe, respectful and hopeful.