The people who investigate the unfortunate condition of ‘languishing’ have had plenty to study over the past couple of years.
Those people would include Jolanta Burke, Senior Lecturer at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, who provided us with some updated thoughts about languishing earlier this year.
Although her spelling is a bit odd (like “centre” and “behavioural”), she posted some interesting observations about languishing on The Conversation.
If you’ve been feeling restless, apathetic or even emotionally empty since the pandemic began, you may be “languishing”. Languishing is described as an emotional state of limbo, aimlessness and low mood, which can last for a long time…
Many people may even have experienced – or may still be experiencing – languishing without really even knowing what it is or why they’re feeling that way. In fact, an international study which looked at data from participants in 78 different countries between April and June 2020 found that 10% of people experienced languishing during the pandemic…
Although languishers can be found in at least 78 countries, they are apparently a subject of particular concern in Ireland, among surgeons.
A person who is languishing typically doesn’t know what they want out of life, and doesn’t really care about the future. Sure, it’s raining cats and dogs outside, and you left your car windows rolled down. No big deal. What? I’m supposed to go out in the pouring rain and roll them up?
…Languishing shares some of the symptoms with depression, such as having negative emotions. But it’s also characterised by not feeling in control of your life, feeling like you aren’t able to grow or change and not engaging with your community (including with friends or family).
A surgeon from Ireland might look at me, for example, and notice that I haven’t been hanging out with family and friends during COVID, and say, ‘Well, obviously, Louis is languishing.’
Not necessarily so. Maybe I just don’t want to get sick. Did they ever think of that?
That’s one of the main reasons I have a cat. We can hang out together without spreading any infectious diseases.
And as far as not being in control of my life, who’s in control of their life? Sure, I can choose my breakfast cereal, and that’s a certain type of autonomy. But did I ask it to rain, just when I had left my car windows rolled down?
Senior Lecturer Jolanta Burke says in her article that languishing is different from depression, anxiety and even alcohol dependence. People who are depressed typically want to stop being depressed. People who suffer from anxiety typically look for ways to relieve their anxiety. People who drink too much normally want to stop acting stupid.
But languishers don’t care if they are languishing. I could vouch for that, but I probably won’t bother.
One of the problems with languishing, apparently, is that it’s not considered a mental health disorder. (At least, not in Ireland.) So langusihers don’t get diagnosed and treated with drugs, which is a raw deal for the pharmaceutical companies.
Fortunately, about 10% of the stockholders in those pharmaceutical companies are also languishers, so they don’t really give a damn.
To understand how to reduce languishing, it’s important to understand the difference between languishers and flourishers (people who experience high levels of mental health)…
…We know from previous research that flourishers are seven times less likely to experience depression than people with lower levels of wellbeing (such as languishers). Flourishing is even shown to protect against depression…
If you have a choice between being a flourisher and a languisher, you would probably choose to be a flourisher, unless you are a languisher, in which case it wouldn’t matter to you.
But the problem is a bit more complicated.
Flourishers tend to hang out with friends and get involved in their community. They stay busy, making life better for themselves and other people. So they don’t realize that life is meaningless. They also don’t notice that they are actually suffering from depression.
If a languisher gets depressed, who cares? Stay home and talk it out with your cat.
At least you won’t spread any viruses.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.