Deadly “smiling” depression: how to get rid of it

People have nerves of steel. Crisis, difficult international situation, sanctions, mobilization… Adults are stressed looking at them, and children are also worried.

The level of sales of antidepressants, antipsychotics and tranquilizers, according to marketers, has grown by 15% over the last period in the country. In total, this month, the Russians bought over 2.5 million packages of medicines, spending almost 1.5 billion rubles on them.

And if we count from the beginning of 2022, then in its first half of the year, compared to the same period in 2021, sedatives were bought 81.3% more expensive in rubles and 51.7% more in packages.

Such a stable and rapid growth was observed before only in February 2020 before the announcement of the pandemic.

Then, by the beginning of 2021, growth sagged a little, so that in 2022 it would again rush up – by as much as 30%.

“Basically, we buy valerian, motherwort, herbal medicines, some relatively inexpensive drugs that are well known,” the pharmacist of one of the Moscow pharmacies, where I looked, confirmed.

She also said that some visitors began to ask for serious drugs. “On the advice of friends or relatives.” And even if they are not included in the list of those sold strictly according to the prescription taken into account, the sellers were obliged to check whether the buyer has a form from the doctor. “I have a video camera,” the woman says.

In general, as she claims, after the coronavirus, many have become well-versed in sedatives. Moreover, with their help, the post-COVID course is also smoothed out.

Prolonged stress is deadly. And when from one traumatic situation, a person, not having time to adapt, immediately “dives” into another, even deeper, the result can be fatal.

At some point, the psyche simply stops responding to what is happening. You can even feel relatively good, smile (there is even such a thing as “smiling depression”), but at the same time the body will continue to shout “SOS”.

“At the moment when the body has reduced the perception of stress, a dangerous illusion is created that everything is fine,” explains psychologist Yuri Muradyan. – Prolonged experiences can cause various diseases in a person, because stress hormones negatively affect the entire body, including cognitive abilities. In times of stress, we are not able to turn to new creative solutions, which require physical strength to create, but all of them went to pay off the stress.”

If we take the famous Kubler-Ross model: five stages of accepting the inevitable (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and humility), at the stage of denial and anger people are in a hurry somewhere, shake their fists, pour out their emotions on others.

Long-term stress begins with the bargaining stage, when we are still somehow trying to improve our condition, hoping to bargain for more favorable conditions from the surrounding reality, then depression falls on us, that is, the realization that everything that is happening around is for a long time, and with it must somehow continue to live and work.

“Long-term stress can be defined by several factors: apathy, lack or lack of energy, thoughts like a broken record, irascibility, loss of appetite, the future looks extremely pessimistic,” continues Muradyan.

It is impossible to avoid stress, because stress factors accompany us all our lives, so it is important not to avoid it, but to be able to level it, reduce the mental burden on the body.

“This requires an elementary discharge,” says the expert. – These are any bath, water procedures and massage. The body relaxes, physical activity is distributed evenly, as well as blood flow, muscle clamps are removed. But all this must be done not spontaneously, but systematically, like a kind of ritual. A system is always important for dealing with stress.”

In the early days when something unpleasant happens, it is important to determine what is in our control and what is not, and focus our attention on that. Do not fuss, wait for at least some clarity. We work with a short planning horizon – what exactly will we do in the next day or week. We do not spray ourselves on a million tasks at the same time, we choose two or three main areas.

But when uncertainty becomes a pathological norm, completely different laws are already included here.

Now such a period has come, we live not just in a crisis, not just in a daily changing world – from now on, instability has become a part of everyday life.

It is very important to start working with stress, including through the head, if through the body it is not enough. Try to get through to your mind.

“For example, in connection with the sanctions, the volume of work has increased for people. Stress is formed due to the person’s attitude to the situation, so I always ask the question “What is your attitude to this situation now?” and “How does this attitude help you?” A person, as a rule, begins to say that this attitude does not help him in any way. “OK, and then what is the point of it?”, – the specialist argues.

Yes, sometimes we cannot change an external situation, especially one that has already happened, but our attitude towards it affects our bodily and psychological health and, in general, how we survive those events that have already happened. Therefore, you need to save yourself. And just “turn off” for a while.