AMOTIVATIONAL SYNDROME: SYMPTOMS, CAUSES AND TREATMENTS - ECONOMÍA - 2025

The amotivational syndrome is a state that is experienced passivity, lack of motivation, conformism, isolation and total inactivity. It is characterized by symptoms such as dysphoria, decreased attention, intense anhedonia, memory disturbances, and little desire to compete, work, or perform any activity.

The person who suffers from this syndrome never feels like doing anything. In other words, at no point does she find anything that motivates her enough to get up from the couch and do it.

The amotivational syndrome turns the person into someone totally incapable of doing anything, totally incapable of enjoying anything, and who will only carry out those activities that they are totally obliged to do.

The person with this syndrome allows himself to lose his job due to the inability to go to work, and is capable of stopping any activity no matter how important it is.

This state causes the person to gradually isolate himself, lose his ideals and ambitions, stop experiencing emotions or feelings completely, and present a total indifference to what is happening around him.

Is it the same as being lazy?

Amotivational syndrome is not synonymous with being lazy, not wanting to make an effort or being conformist. It is a state in which the person is totally incapable of experiencing emotion, motivation, interest, enthusiasm and affection, which is why indifference and inactivity predominate.

Because if we stop for a moment to think… If you have to do something but can't find any reason to do it, will you do it?

Many times we do things that we do not feel like doing, such as going to work, studying, helping someone, etc. But even if we don't feel like doing it, there is always a reason why we do it.

We work to earn money, we study to pass exams and we help to demonstrate our commitment or friendship, there may be no desire or motivation… But there is always a reason.

This is precisely what happens to someone with amotivational syndrome, it has no reason. He is not able to find the reason he has to go to work, study or help, he is unable to find the reason for anything, so he ends up not doing it.

Symptoms

Now we know what amotivational syndrome is, let's look in a little more detail at all the symptoms that a person with this problem experiences or can experience.

Passivity

The person with amotivational syndrome becomes totally passive with respect to all the stimuli around him. You have a hard time focusing and paying attention to things, being active, and doing any kind of task.

Apathy

Apathy is a state of disinterest in which there is a total lack of motivation. The person with this type of alteration is not simply passive towards the stimuli around her, but rather that she has no interest in them.

Conformity

The two previous symptoms cause the person to adopt a state of conformity with respect to everything. Anything you say to him will not seem right or wrong, he will simply not care about everything.

Isolation

In the same way, this state of conformity and disinterest will make the person irretrievably isolate himself from everything. She will not be interested in anything or anyone, so she will separate herself from everything and will not get involved or participate in anything.

Introversion

You will adopt an attitude that will be characterized by concentrating on your internal processes, your thoughts and your inner world. You will not focus on the things or thoughts of others, or on outside activities, events, or stimuli.

Loss of ideals

Lack of interest in everything will also cause you to lose concern for your own ideals. These will cease to make sense, since as with everything, you will not find any motivation in them.

Lack of emotion

Likewise, he will be totally incapable of experiencing emotions and feelings towards anything and towards anyone. As we have said before, if a person with this problem were to win the lottery or they were given very good news, they would not flinch.

Indifference

It will present a state of mind marked by absolute indifference. He will never be inclined towards one thing or another, neither for the good nor for the bad.

Sadness

You will feel sad and depressed most of the time, but you cannot say why you feel that way. The fact that you like nothing, nothing motivates you and nothing interests you will make you feel sad without knowing how to identify the reason.

Lack of affection

In the same way, you will not feel affection for anyone or will have great difficulty doing so. The inability to experience emotions and feelings that the person with amotivational syndrome has makes the affect also meaningless for them.

Abandonment of personal care

Nothing will motivate you enough to do so and personal care is no exception. You won't find any reason to groom yourself, take care of yourself, or groom yourself, so you won't if you don't push yourself too hard.

Impaired social skills

During the amotivational syndrome, you will hardly interact or communicate with other people, since you will not feel like doing so. This will gradually lose the social skills that you previously had, and it becomes increasingly difficult for you to interact with others.

Inhibition or decreased sex drive

Nor will he be interested in sexual relations or his own sexuality. For this reason, your sexual drive will decrease, until you can become totally inhibited and be unable to have sex.

Inability to develop plans for the future

Your status will also make you have no interest or concern for your own future or that of others. You will not be able to develop plans or project what your life will be like in the future.

Decreased attention

The amotivational syndrome also produces cognitive alterations (referring to our ability to think and process information).

Of all of them, the most noticeable is the decrease in attention, since the person with this syndrome will have difficulties to focus on the stimuli around them (mainly because they have no interest in them).

Decreased concentration

In the same way, you will have enormous difficulties concentrating and keeping your attention on anything.

Decreased computing power

Its computing power will also be impoverished and its operation will be slower than usual.

Decreased judgment

Since he is indifferent towards most things, you will have a difficult time judging or interpreting things as good or bad, including his own actions.

Decreased reflexes

Likewise, in the amotivational syndrome, psychomotor alterations are seen, mainly related to reflexes, which are slower.

Slowness of movements

Finally, in the person with this problem a greater general slowness of all their movements will be connoted.

Is it the same as a depression?

With what you have read so far, a question may be coming to your mind… Does the person with amotivational syndrome have depression?

The truth is that many of the symptoms are practically identical to those that a depressed person may experience, but they are not. Amotivational syndrome is not depression!

The main difference between the two is in the awareness that the person has about their state. A person with depression is fully aware that she is depressed and knows what her thoughts are that make her sad.

However, a person with amotivational syndrome is not fully aware of their condition and cannot identify why they feel this way, so they will hardly seek help.

Causes

Today it is still not known exactly what the origin of this syndrome is but it is clear that drug use (especially marijuana) is closely related. And it is that the majority of cases of amotivational syndrome that have been registered are marijuana users.

It seems that the effect that Marijuana has on the frontal parts of our brain involved in functions such as social behavior, motivation or reasoning ability, is the main cause of amotivational syndrome.

However, there are professionals who believe that this syndrome responds to a type of personality prior to the consumption of Marijuana, so the fact of consuming the drug would not be the cause, but rather a symptom that there is some alteration in the form of be of the person.

Although the relationship between marijuana use and amotivational syndrome is clear, it has not been fully demonstrated that this problem is directly caused by cannabis.

Treatment

The first goal of treatment should be the abandonment of drug use, since if you have amotivational syndrome and use marijuana or a similar psychoactive drug, it will be difficult for you to reverse the situation.

Addiction can be overcome through psychotherapy and through psychotropic drugs if necessary. In addition to focusing on overcoming addiction, the amotivational syndrome itself can also be treated, since many times it persists despite having stopped using.

The first choice treatment should be SSRI drugs (antidepressants) together with cognitive behavioral therapy, to encourage the patient to resume daily activities, improve relationships with family members, and work on the thinking style that leads to inactivity.

References

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