If you think of mental health as a spectrum, with people who are clinically ill on one side and a thriving situation on the other, the “Languor” is somewhere in the middle.
“It wasn’t a burnout, we still had energy. It was not a depression, we were not without hope. We just felt sad without having a specific goal ”, writes psychologist Adam Grant in the columns of the New York Times. In this article, the American media baptized languor as “The Mental Health Neglected Average Child”. Symptoms may resemble depression since, after all, a deep sense of emptiness prevails in our hearts.
Covid-19 as a trigger
This feeling of stagnation and emptiness has characterized the days of many people since the start of confinement. What does Covid-19 have to do with this mental state? When talking with friends and relatives about the last few months of confinement, it is not uncommon for the conversation to end with how some people feel tired, demotivated or even lost. Some people may even have a harder time focusing on work or school. “You are not working at full capacity, your motivation is weakened, your concentration skills are disturbed” writes psychologist Adam Grant. The endless anxiety associated with the health crisis caused us all to lose our performance, making us unable to concentrate for several minutes.
From languor to depression
So is languor a mental illness? No. Is it a form of depression? No. However, languor is a kind of alert, a potential risk for future mental illness. the “Languishing“, the term was coined by sociologist Corey Keys, who based his research on the assumption that people who “Languish” in this period and this, without realizing the ill-being that they experience on a daily basis, are those who, in ten years or so, could suffer from psychological disorders, such as depression. In 2002, Corey Keys published a study in the journal Journal of Health and Social Behavior. This research suggests that 12% of the study population met the criteria for languor.
How to treat languor?
The feeling of indifference towards the future is one of the signs which must make you react. The feeling of not having a goal, this form of motivation numbness is not incurable. “We still have a lot to learn about what causes languor and how to cure it, but naming it could be a first step. It could help defog our vision, giving us a clearer window into this hazy situation ”, explains Adam Grant. To get out of languor, the psychologist suggests believing in projects that are close to heart “people who immersed themselves in their projects have been able to avoid languishing and have maintained their pre-pandemic happiness,” he underlines.
The psychologist also suggests devoting oneself to hobbies, setting modest and achievable goals … So, to begin with, it is possible to indulge in a pleasant activity: gardening, video games, cooking a good meal, a discussion among friends. Then focus on your personal challenges. If you are currently in a situation where you know you need to make big changes, break those big tasks into small ones.
