Getting over apathy. How?

February 24, 2023 11:37 AM

I've been struggling with apathy for the past month or so. I'm not depressed, life is ok on the whole. I just don't have any interest in doing anything - work or fun. I have to force myself to do basic stuff. If you have suffered from the same thing, how did you get out of it? I normally like being productive so this is not great.
posted by Saucywench to Health & Fitness (16 answers total)

FWIW, life can be "ok on the whole" and you can still have depression.
posted by nkknkk at 11:40 AM on February 24, 2023 [16 favorites]

^^ Yes, this. This is where I was last summer. I was not really sad and my life was pretty good, really. But I'd lost all interest in doing stuff and I hated having to interact with people. I ended up revisiting my meds, increasing the ones for depression and adding some for anxiety and they have helped a ton.

I found I had sort of rationed what bandwidth I had and saved it for the most important things. The thing is, the amount I had was still dwindling.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:42 AM on February 24, 2023 [5 favorites]

Yeah this is what depression feels like for me - rarely sadness, just a lack of interest in doing things I normally enjoy.
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:43 AM on February 24, 2023 [2 favorites]

I want to gently point out that anhedonia is a pretty big symptom of depression and you are describing exactly what it is like.

In general, one of the suggestions for this that isn't related to depression medication is to schedule things that might be enjoyable and keep actively engaging in activities. The loss of engagement in activities can really increase depression as a whole if that's what's going on.
posted by AlexiaSky at 11:44 AM on February 24, 2023 [4 favorites]

depression is not sadness. more like numbness and indifference. i think you might be headed for trouble if you don't take this on more seriously.
posted by j_curiouser at 11:49 AM on February 24, 2023 [3 favorites]

If - and only if - you and a competent medical professional have eliminated depression or other mental health issues as the source of this, you might be interested in reading about a bit about acedia, the remedies for which tend towards the spiritual.
posted by jquinby at 11:51 AM on February 24, 2023 [3 favorites]

Situational depression is for when life is bad. Most of the other kinds - including seasonal affective disorder, which hits a lot of people hardest when the days start getting noticeably longer again - are for any old day.

Make sure you've addressed all the low-hanging fruit: supplemental Vitamin D plus actually witnessing sunlight with your skin and eyes every day (ideally early in the day), review your sleep situation (which can be either symptom or cause with depression), consider if you are having any other symptoms of low or high thyroid. Spend a couple weeks staying extra on top of hydration and regular meals to see if that helps.

This can be a red flag for medical issues, or it can be a medical issue itself. If you can't get yourself turned around to a measurable improvement in a month, see a doctor.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:52 AM on February 24, 2023 [8 favorites]

Fresh air and exercise.
posted by aniola at 12:08 PM on February 24, 2023 [3 favorites]

If you haven't already, get your thyroid checked in addition to considering the answers above.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 12:51 PM on February 24, 2023 [2 favorites]

Vitamina D for a touch of Winter blah?
posted by thegirlwiththehat at 2:35 PM on February 24, 2023 [1 favorite]

What you describe might in fact be a MDE (Major Depressive Episode).

As it happens, under DSM-5, to have a MDE, a person needs 5 or more symptoms listed below (during a 2 week period), these must represent a significant change from how you were before, and one of the symptoms has to be either "depressed mood" (what many people call "depression") or "loss of interest or pleasure" (what many people call "apathy").

*But not both*

In other words, per DSM-5, a person does not necessarily have to feel "depressed" to be having "a major depressive episode".

Here are the symptoms of which you must have 5 or more:
Source (Wikipedia)
• Depressed mood
• Loss of interest or pleasure
• Change in appetite
• Change in sleep
• Change in body activity (psychomotor changes)
• Loss of energy
• Feelings of worthlessness and excessive or inappropriate guilt
• Indecisiveness, confusion, or a decrease in concentration
• Suicidal ideation

Bottom line - might be a good idea to get a professional evaluation.
posted by soylent00FF00 at 4:23 PM on February 24, 2023 [1 favorite]

Research shows that exercise is effective at treating depression (about as effective as taking anti-depressant medication - so far from perfect but many people find it helps). Plus exercise is just good for your body in so many other ways. Most people know about the immediate impact of high intensity exercise (the "runner's high") but low intensity exercise, sustained over a period of weeks has a different but powerful and long lasting effect on your mood.

The problem, of course, is that if you don't feel like doing anything, you won't feel like exercising either. But if there is any form of exercise that you normally like (or at least don't hate), pushing yourself to do that could be helpful.
posted by metahawk at 5:20 PM on February 24, 2023 [4 favorites]

I know this is the opposite of folks' advice here but when I'm feeling burned out sometimes I lean in to not doing anything. If all I want to do is lie on the sofa and watch dumb TV for four straight hours until I go to bed, or stare at the ceiling, or go to sleep two hours early, that is so uncharacteristic for me that I figure I must really need the rest. With me, I get fidgety and want to go do things again soon enough. If it went on for more than a couple weeks before I started to feel that "hey, don't I have something I WANT to do?" itch, then I'd be worried and see a doctor. But I have to stop trying to force myself to do those things in order to let them catch my interest again.
posted by Lady Li at 6:13 PM on February 24, 2023 [7 favorites]

How are your energy levels? Are you feeling tired/exhausted all the time? Have you had COVID recently?

Am wondering if the explanation is physical, rather than Depression.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 7:42 PM on February 24, 2023 [1 favorite]

That doesn't sound like apathy to me, but some kind of antipathy. Apathy would be having no preference between, say, watching TV and washing dishes. So the problem isn't that you don't care, but that you have an aversion to things you need to do, which as others have said, is probably some form of depression.
posted by nemo_sum at 8:21 AM on February 25, 2023

Depression can be quite physical. And is probably an illness with many more causes and symptoms than we know. Whether it's depression or not, treating it with exercise, sunshine, humor, music, fun, friends, and nutrition is likely to be effective and enriching and there's no risk.

Add a walk outside every day, at least 20 minutes. Get some aerobic exercise every day, if possible. Take the stairs.
Watch stupid-funny movies. Monty Python, Mel Brooks, Something About Mary, Office Space, Galaxy Quest, Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters, Animal House, etc.
Listen to music, esp. dance music, dance if you can. Music reaches a different part of your brain and affects mood and intellect.
Draft a friend and go go-karting or play pickle ball or laser tag, any fun activity.
Get together with friends.
Get really good nutrition, and make sure you're getting extra B12; a deficiency can cause the blahs. I address it with nutritional yeast and beef. Avoid sugar and don't go nuts on carbs.
Get plenty of sleep.

Alcohol is a depressant. You don't have to make a big deal of abstaining, but really don't lean on it.

But also, lean in to it a little. Go to bed early with a funny movie or page-turner book. Treat yourself to some nice bath products, maybe a new sweatshirt for watching Brooklyn 99 on the couch. Takeout steak dinner with salad, veg, loaded baked potato.

It might be depression. Take a depression self-test. If you haven't had a physical in forever, schedule it. Re-assess your feelings every week or so.

Please come back and update, let us know how things are going.
posted by theora55 at 8:23 AM on February 25, 2023