The psychologist commented on the words of the head of VTsIOM about “withdrawn” citizens

“Man sees no way out”

According to the head of VTsIOM Valery Fedorov, many Russians, especially representatives of the so-called middle class living in large cities, are experiencing stress caused by the events of the last year and a half. The head of the center said that as a result, people “withdraw into themselves” and “try to pretend that nothing has changed.” In his opinion, there are about 20 million such people.

MK asked psychologist and psychotherapist Oleg Shevchenko to comment on this statement.

“Firstly, I believe that in fact there are much more than 20 million people experiencing stress these days and, to use Fedorov’s words, “withdrawing into themselves,” says the psychologist. – Secondly, let’s figure it out – what is meant by “withdrawal”? A person stops trying to influence a situation that worries him if he understands that he cannot change anything. And then he begins to live next to this situation, trying not to think about it, occupying his brain and soul with other things. Or rather, trying to borrow. It is impossible to do this completely, because the situation itself has not gone away, and the person, despite all his efforts, continues to suffer because of it.

This is the most dangerous thing – prolonged stress without any visible prospect of getting out of it. After all, the most difficult mental conditions are those in which a person does not find a way out. Let’s take the top three events that cause the most severe stress: the death of a loved one, divorce, job loss. In the first place is the loss of a loved one, because in this case a person is powerless to change anything. During a divorce, you can try to re-arrange your personal life; after being fired, you can try to find a new place, but it’s impossible to get your loved one back.

In this case, prolonged stress most often sets in, which is a direct path to depression, a serious and difficult-to-treat disease.

What is happening now is that people realize that they cannot do anything about the situation that is traumatic for them, and they are trying to somehow come to terms with it. Some people succeed better, others worse, but in any case, this position does not lead to a solution to the problem, and the psyche of a great many of our fellow citizens remains under attack. And this is extremely worrying.”