Adolescent abulia is a lack of will or energy in adolescence.
Adolescent abulia is the absence or waning of energy , strength or will in adolescence . It should be noted that the notion comes from the Greek language.
For example: "The government's apathy when it comes to solving the neighbors' problems is surprising," "I can't understand the apathy of some young people," "School makes me apathetic."
Apathy as a lack of motivation
Avolition is linked above all to motivation and can appear in adolescence . That young person who has apathy does not find reasons to carry out an action or to make a decision: therefore, he remains passive and inert . In more advanced degrees of avolition, the intervention of a psychiatrist may be required for the treatment of the individual.
In colloquial language, the idea of adolescent apathy is used to name the young person's lack of desire to do something. Take the case of the boy who is convinced that going to school does not bring him any benefit. The young man believes that the knowledge that his teachers transmit to him is useless and considers that spending several hours in the educational establishment is meaningless. Due to adolescent apathy, the boy does not do the tasks that the teachers tell him, he does not participate in class and he does not even study for the exams.
Sometimes adolescent apathy is linked to lack of motivation and boredom .
A clinical picture
As a clinical condition that requires professional treatment, avolition can include difficulty starting and sustaining movements, difficulties swallowing food, lack of appetite, and limitations in social interactions. In these cases, a doctor must make the diagnosis and suggest the steps to follow so that the person recovers their capacity for action and initiative.
It is important to note that within the field of psychiatry , avolition is not a well-known syndrome, either because some diagnoses point to other disorders or because not all individuals who present this condition consider it worthy of being treated by a professional. However, as expressed in the previous paragraph, the most serious cases go far beyond the apparent lack of will or initiative to make decisions, since it becomes a truly disabling mental and physical block .
Symptoms of teenage apathy
With respect to the symptoms of adolescent apathy, we can distinguish two well-defined ones: procrastination , the attitude of people who systematically postpone their obligations, despite having the time to fulfill them punctually; apathy , a state of tiredness that lasts over time.
In relation to lack of will , we must not forget that it is not a mere sign of temporary laziness, which can be resolved with rest or canceled with imposition by third parties: it is a deep emptiness, a sensation from which the patient He thinks he can't escape . Furthermore, this inability to carry out projects that may seem simple to other people affects both the professional and educational fields as well as the personal one.
All this leads specialists to think that adolescent apathy may be the sign of a mood disorder or depression . When the discomfort lasts indefinitely and there seems to be no solution, it is very important that those close to the sufferer contact a psychotherapist or psychiatrist to obtain a diagnosis and begin treatment.
Unfortunately, many parents and guardians do not understand the seriousness of the signs described above, but instead attribute the lack of will to irresponsibility and reprimand their children for it, thus making the situation worse and dangerously postponing the intervention of a professional. Since adolescence is such a difficult time for some to go through, no negative sign should be ignored.