How often have you joked that some situation (usually repetitive, or boring, or both), has caused you to 'lose the will to live'?
Quite often I would guess. Its a common term, and said with little thought as to any basis in truth.
However given a little thought, we have all heard of someone's parents, who it was said had passed away after 'just giving up', or 'losing the will to live' ..... so perhaps its a surprise that in fact medically speaking, there is no such diagnosis as 'give-up-it is'. Technically the cause of death would be whatever the primary illness was, with complications. Or perhaps simply old age.
Well, a Doctor Leach, a senior research fellow at Portsmouth University, has said that his latest study has concluded that there is such a specific distinct condition. He has stated that the will to live is important, and that those who don’t exhibit it can simply give up on life and die. He considers this to be a genuine medical disorder, that needs to be treated as distinct from depression. He thinks that his study has shown that it most often occurs in those who people who suffer severe trauma (physical or psychological), and who feel that there is no escape.
Rather than suicides, these people usually feel that the only rational outcome to their position will be death. They then go through stages 'withdrawal', 'no motivation', 'lack of response to pain stimuli', and 'apathy', which ends in 'Psychogenic Death' (described as 'disintegration of the person'). He claims that although very similar to depression in its presentation and manifestations, its a distinct condition, as it doesn't involve suicide activities or thoughts, rather just an unwillingness, or maybe inability to carry on.
This is caused by a malfunction of the brain circuitry that governs behaviour. Without motivation, the person just falls into apathy. In most people this is finally reversed when the trauma survivor rediscovers a sense of choice, and regains some control over their predicament, thus taking a renewed interest in life. Obviously the reverse of this is that those who don't obtain such feelings, then succumb and decline into death.
To be honest, I am not entirely convinced by this, as its hardly a new thought. As discussed at the start of this post, most of us have observed or heard anecdotally from someone who has observed this phenomena. In fact the ancients in the 5th and 4th centuries BC called it Melancholia, and described it as a distinct disease with particular mental and physical symptoms. Hippocrates said the term or condition covered all "fears and despondencies, if they last a long time". Later times also treated it as a medical problem as well as a part of life. Robert Burton ('The Anatomy of Melancholy 1621), wrote that 'music and dance were critical in treating mental illness, especially melancholia'.
I sometimes think that modern doctors have to just create or reinvent conditions up to get into a medical journal, or the International Classification of Disease (ICD) manual produced by the World Health Organization. What Dr Leach seems to be describing is indistinguishable from deep depression and desperation, or perhaps the melancholia of earlier times.
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck ..... then its probably a duck.
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| Giving Up Is Not An Option ... For Some. |
Quite often I would guess. Its a common term, and said with little thought as to any basis in truth.
However given a little thought, we have all heard of someone's parents, who it was said had passed away after 'just giving up', or 'losing the will to live' ..... so perhaps its a surprise that in fact medically speaking, there is no such diagnosis as 'give-up-it is'. Technically the cause of death would be whatever the primary illness was, with complications. Or perhaps simply old age.
Well, a Doctor Leach, a senior research fellow at Portsmouth University, has said that his latest study has concluded that there is such a specific distinct condition. He has stated that the will to live is important, and that those who don’t exhibit it can simply give up on life and die. He considers this to be a genuine medical disorder, that needs to be treated as distinct from depression. He thinks that his study has shown that it most often occurs in those who people who suffer severe trauma (physical or psychological), and who feel that there is no escape.
Rather than suicides, these people usually feel that the only rational outcome to their position will be death. They then go through stages 'withdrawal', 'no motivation', 'lack of response to pain stimuli', and 'apathy', which ends in 'Psychogenic Death' (described as 'disintegration of the person'). He claims that although very similar to depression in its presentation and manifestations, its a distinct condition, as it doesn't involve suicide activities or thoughts, rather just an unwillingness, or maybe inability to carry on.
This is caused by a malfunction of the brain circuitry that governs behaviour. Without motivation, the person just falls into apathy. In most people this is finally reversed when the trauma survivor rediscovers a sense of choice, and regains some control over their predicament, thus taking a renewed interest in life. Obviously the reverse of this is that those who don't obtain such feelings, then succumb and decline into death.
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| Melancholia - Edvard Munch 1891 |
To be honest, I am not entirely convinced by this, as its hardly a new thought. As discussed at the start of this post, most of us have observed or heard anecdotally from someone who has observed this phenomena. In fact the ancients in the 5th and 4th centuries BC called it Melancholia, and described it as a distinct disease with particular mental and physical symptoms. Hippocrates said the term or condition covered all "fears and despondencies, if they last a long time". Later times also treated it as a medical problem as well as a part of life. Robert Burton ('The Anatomy of Melancholy 1621), wrote that 'music and dance were critical in treating mental illness, especially melancholia'.
I sometimes think that modern doctors have to just create or reinvent conditions up to get into a medical journal, or the International Classification of Disease (ICD) manual produced by the World Health Organization. What Dr Leach seems to be describing is indistinguishable from deep depression and desperation, or perhaps the melancholia of earlier times.
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck ..... then its probably a duck.
Practically speaking, there really is no reason to go on living after you've reproduced and raised your progeny to self sufficiency. Many animals die after reproduction which leaves more food and resources for the offspring.
ReplyDeleteYet most animals fight for life just as tenaciously as humans do. It's an innate response of life to the threat of it ending.
DeletePractically speaking or not, here's one animal who is tenaciously going to go on living as long as he can.
DeleteThanks for the comments.