Sleep deprivation prevents depression in 50 percent of cases

Definition

In psychology, deprivation is loss or deprivation.
This concept comes from the English term “Deprivation”, which has a strong negative meaning and negative orientation, carrying not just a loss, but precisely the deprivation of something vital. In other words, in psychology, deprivation is a lack of sensory stimuli and social motives, deprivation of living sensations, social contacts and natural impressions. This concept, from the point of view of its content-psychological meaning, is related to the term “frustration”. Compared to the frustration reaction, the deprived state is more severe, painful and often even destructive to the personality.

The study of various aspects and forms of mental development in unfavorable conditions is carried out by such a science as special psychology. Deprivation is one of the factors of disturbances in human development, which is the object of this science. In addition, the special scientific interest of special psychology is associated with the so-called “margin of safety” of development, that is, the stability of the psyche during the implementation of the main functions of reflecting the surrounding world. The problem of deprivation in special psychology is an integral part of the study of that very “margin of safety”.

Psychological consequences of lack of sleep

Chronic lack of sleep causes many changes and pathologies in the body.
All problems begin due to excitation of the nervous system. Psychological problems include memory loss, irritability, changes in behavior, and neurological pathologies. Poor and short sleep is fraught with decreased concentration, headaches, swelling and redness of the eyes. During the day you want to sleep, which is why the main tasks remain aside.

Risk of depression

Depression is a mental disorder associated with depression, poor mood, and tearfulness. Such a violation leads to irreparable actions, low self-esteem and even suicide. With inadequate sleep, depression occurs due to the inability to regenerate brain cells, which are renewed during sleep, when the body is in a state of calm. The risk of depression appears if you sleep less than 6 hours a day for a long time.

Irritability

Lack of sleep disrupts the functioning of the nervous system, and a person loses mental balance. The person becomes angry and irritated, nervous and screams. This leads to nervous breakdowns, irregular heartbeat, and increased blood pressure.

Memory losses

As a result of lack of sleep, the body begins to compensate for sleep while awake. Because of this, a person switches off while walking. In medicine this is called microsleep. At this moment, the brain switches off and does not perceive the environment. The result is a lack of understanding of what is happening and memory lapses.

Such micro-dreams can lead to death not only of the person falling asleep, but also of other people. For example, according to statistics, 8% of all fatal accidents occur because the driver fell asleep at the wheel.

Clumsiness

Chronic lack of sleep leads to poor coordination. A sleepy person looks drunk. His gait is disturbed, he may walk past the right door or turn. Lack of sleep also leads to a loss of precision of movements, which is why a person, for example, cannot pick up an object or press a button the first time. Because of this, efficiency decreases and qualifications decrease. And the work done will have to be redone due to mistakes made.

Decreased libido, impotence

With a lack of sleep, fatigue accumulates and the desire for sex decreases. The consequences of lack of sleep in women lie in the lack of libido. Lack of sleep in men is fraught with partial impotence. In addition, during sex, a lot of energy is spent, which is simply not in the body due to lack of sleep.

Causes

In scientific circles, the concept became more widespread in the early 20th century. At that time, physiological research was actively carried out aimed at studying the functioning of the human body under conditions of deprivation, for example, food or motor deprivation. For psychology, the main result of such research was that a person, deprived of the ability to satisfy his own needs, experiences severe psychological and physical discomfort.

Sleep deprivation has formed a separate area of ​​research. Experiments conducted on people have proven that with insufficient sleep or its complete absence, certain changes in consciousness occur, a decrease in willpower, and the occurrence of auditory and visual hallucinations. Thus, sleep deprivation, like depriving the body of food, is a way to induce an unnatural state of consciousness in a person, although in some mystical practices there is still a misconception that such deprivation is a path to “purification.”

A person in a state of sensory deprivation experiences implausible sensations that can be identified as hallucinations. Research in this area is carried out using specially built devices. So, there is a special chamber equipped with sound insulation. The subject is placed in it, whose movements are also constrained.

As experiments have shown, people’s reactions to this kind of isolation from external stimuli can be very different, but almost never the subjects experienced any pleasant sensations, and subsequently completely refused to participate in similar experiments, since sensory and social deprivation is the path to degradation of personality and thought processes.

In modern psychology they talk about deprivation in a slightly different way. This term refers to a lack of social and sensory stimuli that can inhibit the child’s normal intellectual and emotional development.

Methods of therapy and psychocorrection

In most cases, you can cope with deprivation syndrome on your own, without resorting to the help of specialists . In this matter, the level of understanding and support provided by loved ones is important. In order to get rid of deprivation, you need to expand your horizons using various tools. Various interest groups can serve as such tools. The emotional deficit of communication can be compensated by frequent meetings with friends and trips to various entertainment venues. The lack of tactile contact is usually compensated for by establishing close relationships with the opposite sex.

It is important to note that to overcome a severe form of deprivation, a person needs more global help. In order to get rid of childhood social deprivation, the child must attend a specialized rehabilitation center. It is in such an institution that the child will be able to compensate for the lack of attention to himself and the lack of communication. It should be said that the problem of social deprivation should be considered at the state level.

Most often, deprivation syndrome occurs in pensioners who are forced to live out their old age in solitude and isolation. Social services attach great importance to this issue and often organize various events for pensioners free of charge. Psychologists use completely different methods to combat deprivation syndrome.

One of the important areas of correction is a radical change in lifestyle and an attempt to compensate through self-realization in other areas. It should be noted that in the presence of severe emotional deprivation, the problem can only be dealt with with the help of a specialist.

Forms

Deprivation has two types of forms: obvious and hidden. Mental deprivation has an obvious character, which is expressed by a clear deviation from established norms in society. Hidden deprivation has a less pronounced character, since it arises under circumstances that are favorable at first glance, but still do not allow the fundamental needs of the individual to be satisfied.

Thus, deprivation in psychology is a multifaceted concept that affects various areas of human life. Now let’s take a more detailed look at the manifestations of deprivation that are most common in modern society.

Precautionary measures

Sleep deprivation (especially long-term) imposes strict safety requirements. During this time, it is *categorically* prohibited to drive or use machines and mechanisms that can cause injury. It is not recommended to leave the house (especially on the roadway), or engage in activities that require increased attention.

Before starting the experiments, you should get enough sleep and carve out a sufficient period of free time during which there are no urgent matters.

Deprivation is not a magic wand. This is a zealous, unbroken horse that has yet to be learned to control!

Phase Change:

It is known that people are divided into “larks” and “night owls”, and programmers, due to the nature of their activities, often have to change the night phase of work to the day phase. There is a concept of “soft” and “hard” phase change. During a hard shift, a person who is, say, in the nocturnal phase does not sleep all night and the entire next day, moving to the trestle bed only with the onset of darkness and waking up already in the day phase, as a result of which the duration of wakefulness is ~24 hours (a classic example of deprivation) .

With a soft phase change, a person, after waking up, falls asleep at the “proper” time, reducing the wakefulness to 6 hours. It is believed that a mild phase change is easier to tolerate by the body, but in reality it is always individual. Mild phase changes are characterized by problems with falling asleep, usually solved by using sleeping pills (in these cases, official medicine recommends the use of Melaxen, available in pharmacies without prescriptions). Indeed, it is difficult to fall asleep just six hours after waking up. “Restructuring” the body to a new phase in this case takes much longer, during which the person feels constant drowsiness. A rigid change of phases, on the contrary, helps to reveal creative potential, but this, again, depends on the person.

There is also a “floating” mode, practiced by a number of freelancers, which allows you to squeeze the maximum of available Time out of the day. The point is that a person deliberately refuses to link his internal biorhythms to the daily cycle and falls asleep not by the clock, but when he really wants to and has completed all the planned tasks. When entering the floating mode, sleep duration is a constant Ts. According to the law of probability, on some day the current work will be more than yesterday, and therefore the duration of wakefulness will increase by Ta, therefore, tomorrow we will wake up not at moment X, but at (X - Ta). Since the system operates predominantly in one direction (there are few reasons why we would go to bed earlier, but falling behind schedule and sleeping late is quite normal), we get the following: wake-up hour X continuously moves across the dial, while a constant change of phases “lark”/“night owl”. The main problem is to accustom yourself to fall asleep at dawn, especially when the rising sun hits straight into your eyes, shooting right through even thick curtains.

Be careful, no one knows how your body will react to partial or complete sleep deprivation.

Final processing and consolidation of information occurs mainly during sleep, so learning new material during deprivation is impossible or ineffective.

Deprivation, by suppressing short-term memory, deprives us of the opportunity to form even simple logical structures; therefore, solving non-trivial problems requires significant effort.

Deprivation activates declarative and procedural memory - we remember everything we were taught before.

Types of Deprivation-

Classification

If we classify the concept of deprivation, then it can be absolute and relative. We are talking about an absolute form of deprivation when an individual, due to some social or material factors, is unable to satisfy his basic needs for food, housing, education, etc. But the concept of relative deprivation is between the norm and pathology.

Today, scientists identify the following types of deprivation:

• Sensory (stimulus). Sensory deprivation is the inability to satisfy the need for impressions. This includes visual, auditory, tactile, sexual and other forms;
• Cognitive. In essence, this is a person’s lack of ability to effectively and rationally understand the world, and this also includes a cultural form of deprivation;
• Emotional. This group includes the so-called maternal deprivation (parental), as well as any other types of deprivation associated with limited opportunities to establish emotional connections or their severance, for example, in the event of the death of a loved one. A paternal form of deprivation often occurs when a child is raised in an incomplete family;
• Social. This concept means that a person is deprived of the opportunity to fulfill his own social role due to social isolation. Social deprivation occurs among prisoners in prisons, children in orphanages, etc.

Concept and types of deprivation

Currently, the term “deprivation” is actively used in psychological and medical literature. However, there is no unity in defining the content of this concept.

The term “deprivation” is derived from the English word deprivation, which literally means deprivation, loss. It is based on the Latin root privare, which means “to separate.” The prefix de conveys the strengthening of the meaning of the root (you can compare: Latin pressare – “press”, “press” and English depression – “depression”, “suppression”).

In English-language literature, the concept of “deprivation” means the loss of something, deprivation due to insufficient satisfaction of any important need, which occurs as a result of separating a person from the necessary sources of their satisfaction and has harmful consequences. In this case, we are not talking about physical deprivation, but about insufficient satisfaction of mental needs, therefore, mental deprivation. It is the psychological side of these consequences that is significant because, regardless of whether a person’s motor activity is limited, whether he is excommunicated from culture or society, or whether he is deprived of maternal love from early childhood, the manifestations of deprivation are psychologically similar [36]. They can cover a wide range of personality changes from mild oddities that do not go beyond the normal emotional picture, up to very severe lesions in the development of intelligence and character [32].

Deprivation is more pathogenic the younger the child and the more needs it covers [15].

The most complete and detailed definition of mental deprivation was given by J. Langmeyer and Z. Matejcek: “Mental deprivation is a mental state that arises as a result of such life situations where the subject is not given the opportunity to satisfy some of his basic (life) mental needs in sufficient measure and in for quite a long time" [18].

At the same time, among the “basic (vital)” needs, which are recognized as approximately the same in all human cultures, the authors include [18]:

1) the need for a certain quantity, variability and type of stimuli;

2) the need for basic conditions for effective teaching;

3) the need for primary social connections (especially with the mother or a person replacing her), which provide the possibility of effective basic integration of the individual;

4) the need for social self-realization, which provides the opportunity to master separate social roles and value goals.

The term “hospitalism” is used as a synonym for mental deprivation. Hospitalism is limited to describing the situation in which deprivation occurs in institutions - in most cases this is a hospital environment, but the hospital situation can be accompanied by other influences in addition to deprivation (greater possibility of infection, changes in routine, lack of sleep, increased potential for conflicts when living in a group and etc.). But it is worth noting that under favorable conditions, deprivation in institutions may not arise at all [24].

In addition to the term “hospitalism”, the concepts of “separation” and “isolation” are used, used as equivalent. But they can rather be defined as a condition of deprivation itself or as a condition that contributes to the emergence of a deprivation situation, that is, a life situation where there is no opportunity to satisfy important mental needs [18].

It is also worth noting the definition of deprivation given by sociologists: deprivation is any condition that gives rise or can give rise to an individual or group a feeling of their own deprivation in comparison with other individuals (or groups), or with an internalized set of standards. The feeling of deprivation can be conscious when individuals and groups experiencing deprivation can understand the reasons for their condition. But it is also possible for the situation to develop when deprivation is experienced as something else, that is, individuals and groups perceive their condition in a transformed form, without realizing its true causes. In both cases, however, deprivation is accompanied by a strong desire to overcome it. [13]

The concept of frustration is quite close to the concept of deprivation, but they cannot be used as identical.

Frustration is defined as a mental state caused by failure to satisfy a need and accompanied by various negative experiences: disappointment, irritation, anxiety, despair, etc. about this. [9]

One of the most important differences between frustration and deprivation is the subject’s awareness of the impossibility of satisfying a need. Deprivation may be partially or even completely unrecognized for some time. Consequently, its consequences can be associated with a variety of reasons. It also represents a much more serious and severe condition than frustration. J. Langmeyer and Z. Matejcek give the following example: frustration occurs if a child is taken away from his favorite toy and is given the opportunity to play with something that he likes less. Deprivation occurs if the child is not given the opportunity to play at all [18].

A. Maslow, in the context of comparing the concepts of threat, frustration and deprivation, distinguishes two varieties of the latter: deprivation of non-basic needs and threatening deprivation. Deprivation of non-basic needs is insignificant for the body, easily replaced and does not cause serious consequences. Threatening deprivation can be defined as a threat to the individual; it threatens the individual’s life goals, his defense systems, self-esteem, and prevents his self-actualization, that is, it makes it impossible to satisfy basic needs [25].

The meaning of a goal object for an individual is dual: it can be a true or internal meaning, or it can be symbolic. A. Maslow gives the following example: two children wanted ice cream, but did not get it. The first child, having heard his mother’s refusal to buy ice cream, felt that he had simply lost the pleasure of eating ice cream, while the second one perceived the refusal to a greater extent as an inability to satisfy his need to be loved; for him, ice cream became a symbol of maternal love, it acquired psychological value. Thus, in the first case, deprivation can hardly be considered threatening and have serious consequences. If the refusal is perceived by the child as a refusal of love (the second case), then such deprivation is considered as frustrating [25].

Thus, deprivation can have serious consequences for the individual when the target object is a symbol of love, prestige, respect, or another basic need. Children who constantly feel the love and care of their parents, children who have formed a basic sense of trust in the world, can quite easily endure cases of deprivation, a disciplinary regime, etc., they do not perceive them as a fundamental threat, as a threat to their main, basic needs [25].

Some researchers, when defining the concept of deprivation, draw an analogy between mental and biological failure. Serious disturbances in the development and functioning of the body occur both due to nutritional deficiency, lack of vitamins, oxygen, and in the case of mental deficiency - lack of social contacts, sensory stimulation, etc. Thus, D. Hebb defines deprivation as a biologically adequate, but psychologically limited environment [2].

So, having examined the main approaches to defining the concept of deprivation, it should be noted that they are all similar in one central point: deprivation is the deprivation or limitation of opportunities to satisfy needs. Depending on what exactly a person is deprived of, there are different types of it. Thus, J. Langmeyer and Z. Matejcek identify four main types of mental deprivation. [18]

1) Stimulus (sensory) deprivation: reduced number of sensory stimuli or their limited variability and modality.

2) Deprivation of meaning (cognitive): too changeable, chaotic structure of the external world without clear ordering and meaning, which does not make it possible to understand, anticipate and regulate what is happening from the outside.

3) Deprivation of emotional relationship (emotional): insufficient opportunity to establish an intimate emotional relationship with a person or the severance of such an emotional connection, if one has already been created.

4) Identity deprivation (social): limited opportunity to acquire an autonomous social role.

Most other authors also predominantly identify these types of deprivation, defining their content in approximately the same way.

Expanding in more detail the above types of deprivation, the following points should be noted.

Sensory deprivation is sometimes described by the concept of an “impoverished environment,” that is, an environment in which a person does not receive a sufficient amount of visual, auditory, tactile and other stimuli [2]. This concept was used in his works by D. Hebb, who put forward and empirically proved the hypothesis that if a very limited environment leads to disturbances in the development and normal functioning of the body, then an environment rich in sensory stimuli, on the contrary, stimulates development. Therefore, a complex sensory environment is an important condition for the favorable development of a young child [37].

Famous Russian psychologist L.I. Bozhovich put forward the position that children, during their transition from the neonatal period to infancy, have a special need, namely the need for new impressions. It is expressed in the appearance of visual concentration in children, which in turn changes all their behavior and the nature of their emotional experiences. This need is the basis for the formation of other social needs, including the social nature of the need for communication between the child and the mother [8].

Cognitive (information) deprivation prevents the creation of adequate models of the surrounding world. If there is no necessary information, ideas about the connections between objects and phenomena, a person creates “imaginary connections” (according to I.P. Pavlov), he develops false beliefs. A lack of information in professional activities leads to mistakes and prevents productive decision-making. The influence of information hunger on the psyche is especially pronounced in extreme operating conditions [2].

Both children and adults can experience emotional deprivation. The first and most important emotional connection is between the baby and the mother or caregiver. By establishing this connection, the need for love and recognition is satisfied. A pronounced lack of communication between a child and his mother, that is, maternal deprivation, leads to a number of mental health problems in the child. For example, children who are potentially capable of establishing emotional contact, but are deprived of it in the early period of development (due to the neutrality or even emotional hostility of others), lose the ability to make such contact in the future [36]. The most striking expression of the consequences of this type of deprivation is observed in children in boarding institutions, as well as in socially unprotected and single-parent families, when a child is raised with one of the parents who does not pay him due attention and does not provide him with the necessities of life. Also, a situation of emotional deprivation contributes to the development of the phenomenon of alienation, and this is what produces the lack of love and warmth towards the second and third generations in the family (like a kind of consistent chain of generations, which can be quite difficult to interrupt). [24]

Social deprivation is interpreted quite broadly in the literature. It is faced by both children living or studying in closed institutions, and adults who, for one reason or another, are isolated from society or have limited contact with other people.

A classic example here is the so-called Mowgli children, who from early childhood are deprived of contact with society and do not have the opportunity to develop culturally.

In addition to the above types of deprivation, there are others. For example, when a sharp restriction of movement occurs (as a result of illness, injury, etc.), we can talk about motor deprivation. Its consequences are especially severe for children: there is a delay not only in motor development, but also in the development of speech, social skills and emotional expression. Children whose motor activity has been severely limited for a long time due to medical reasons are susceptible to depressive states, which can be replaced by outbursts of rage and aggressiveness [36].

In modern psychology and related humanities, there are certain types of deprivation that are of a generalized nature or associated with individual aspects of human existence in society: educational, economic, ethical deprivation, etc.

In addition to types, there are various forms of manifestation of deprivation - obvious or hidden.

Explicit deprivation is obvious: a person’s long stay isolated from society, raising a child in an orphanage, etc. [2]

Hidden deprivation (according to G. Harlow), or partial (according to J. Bowlby) occurs when, even under externally favorable conditions, it is not possible to satisfy the needs that are significant for a person. J. Bowlby speaks of partial deprivation where there has been no direct separation of mother and child, but their relationship for some reason is impoverished and unsatisfactory. In addition to this, G. Harlow distinguishes between a disturbed and an insufficient relationship between mother and child [18].

There is also existential deprivation, which can be understood as the deprivation of existential needs. Existential needs include those associated with an attempt to understand the meaning of human existence, to understand issues of life and death, freedom and responsibility, communication and loneliness, to understand one’s purpose, etc. [2]

Sociologists Yu.G. Volkov and V.I. Dobrenkov initially considered deprivation not only as a mental phenomenon, that is, the basis for identifying its types for them was not the concept of mental deprivation, but deprivation in general. [13]

The authors identified five types of deprivation:

1) economic deprivation stems from the uneven distribution of income in society and the limited satisfaction of the needs of some individuals and groups;

2) social deprivation is explained by the tendency of society to evaluate the qualities and abilities of some individuals and groups higher than others, expressing this assessment in the distribution of such social rewards as prestige, power, high status in society and corresponding opportunities for participation in social life;

3) organismic deprivation is associated with congenital or acquired individual deficiencies of a person - physical deformities, disabilities, dementia, etc.;

4) ethical deprivation is associated with a value conflict that arises when the ideals of individuals or groups do not coincide with the ideals of society;

5) mental deprivation arises as a result of the formation of a value vacuum in an individual or group, that is, the absence of a significant value system in accordance with which they could build their life.

Thus, deprivation is a complex, multidimensional phenomenon related to various spheres of human life, and in it different types of deprivation usually do not occur in isolation from each other, but form rather complex interweavings. Some of them may be combined, one may be a consequence of the other, but they all involve a frustrating situation that requires endurance and patience from a person.

The impact of any type of deprivation entails negative consequences for the human psyche, but depending on its innate qualities (for example, the type of nervous system), the degree of impact is different.

Sensory deprivation

Stimulus (sensory) deprivation in psychology is the partial or complete deprivation of analyzers or sensory organs of external influences. Among the simplest artificial means that cause a state of loss of perception are blindfolds or earplugs. There are also more sophisticated mechanisms that can turn off several sensory systems at once, for example, tactile, olfactory, gustatory and temperature.

Stimulus deprivation has found wide application in alternative medicine, psychological experiments, meditation, BDSM games and torture. Short periods of sensory deprivation have a relaxing effect, as they activate internal subconscious analysis, ordering and sorting of information, self-tuning and stabilization of psychological activity.

In the 50s of the last century, McGill University scientists invited volunteers to spend time in a chamber that would protect them from outside influences. The subjects were placed in a small enclosed space, in which all sounds were interrupted by the noise of an air conditioner, and were asked to take a lying position. At the same time, the subjects' eyes were covered with dark glasses that allowed only weak light to pass through, and their hands were inserted into cardboard sleeves.

Most people could not withstand this experiment for more than three days. In the position in which they were, consciousness, deprived of habitual stimuli, begins to turn to the depths of the subconscious. As a result, the subjects had bizarre images and false sensations in their heads, reminiscent of hallucinations. Imaginary perceptions frightened the experiment participants, and soon the most psychologically weak of them began to ask for a return to normal life.

With further research, scientists found that the appearance of the listed symptoms is associated not so much with the fact of deprivation, but with the attitude of the subjects to the loss of sensory perceptions. Deprivation of influence on analyzers from the outside is not so scary for an adult individual - it is just a change in the environment to which the body is able to reconfigure.

For example, deprivation of food will cause discomfort only in those who were forced to starve, or those for whom it is too unusual. People who consciously resort to the practice of fasting feel better already on the third day and endure a 10-day fast without any problems.

In young children, sensory and emotional deprivation manifests itself in a deficit or inability to establish an emotionally intimate relationship with another person, or a break in an already established relationship. Children who end up in an orphanage, hospital or boarding school experience sensory hunger due to an impoverished environment. This environment is harmful to everyone, but it is especially harmful to children.

Psychological research has proven that one of the most important conditions for the healthy formation of the brain at an early age is a sufficient number of impressions from the outside world, since it is during the processing of information received from the outside that the analyzer systems of the brain are trained.

Maternal mental deprivation

There are situations in life when, for some reason, a child finds himself without a mother. For example, the mother died or she abandoned the baby after his birth. These are classic types of maternal loss that have a deprivative effect on human development. But other options for separation from mother can become a catalyst for the development of deviations. Among them, the most common are:

• due to difficult childbirth, the child is temporarily separated from the parent;
• the mother is forced to leave for a certain period of time without the baby (on a business trip, to study, etc.);
• mother goes to work too early, entrusting raising the child to grandmothers and nannies;
• the baby is sent to kindergarten at an age when he is not yet psychologically ready for it;
• Due to illness, the child is admitted to the hospital without his mother.

The above cases are open maternal mental deprivation. There is also a hidden form. It is characterized by psychological tension in the mother's relationship with the child in her physical presence. This is a wrong relationship. In what cases can they be observed?

• when children are born into a family with a small age difference, and the mother is simply physically unable to pay attention to the elders as needed;
• if a woman suffers from a physical or mental illness that prevents her from fully caring for her baby and communicating;
• when there is an atmosphere of tension or hostility between parents in the family;
• if the mother is overly keen on the scientific approach to raising a child and absolutely does not listen to either her intuition or the individual characteristics of her baby.

Maternal deprivation is always experienced by children who were born as a result of an unwanted pregnancy, which influenced the formation of attitudes towards them.

Psychologists note that the foundations for the development of pathological conditions are often laid in children under the age of 3 years. This is the period that is especially important for establishing emotional contact with the mother. If this does not happen, the risk of auto-aggression, depression and lack of perception of the outside world increases. In adolescence and adulthood, such a person does not perceive himself and is not able to build normal social relationships with other people. There is a version that maternal mental deprivation may underlie a number of autism spectrum diseases.

A little about each type of disease

Sensory deprivation can be triggered both by some extreme circumstances and by physical disabilities of a person. Separately, maternal deprivation is considered, which contributes to mental and physical retardation in the first years of children’s lives due to lack of communication with the mother or other adults. Such sensory and emotional deprivation leads to mental development disorders and emotional impoverishment.

Social deprivation occurs due to forced, involuntary or voluntary exclusion. However, the boundaries of this type of deprivation are quite wide, as they may include, among other things, pedagogical deficits. In conditions of forced isolation, a person finds himself cut off from his usual environment against his own will, for example, by getting lost in the deep forests of the taiga, etc.

Forced isolation involves the purposeful placement of an individual in closed groups (hospitals, correctional facilities, etc.). There are also individuals who choose voluntary isolation for themselves, becoming hermits. It is worth emphasizing that even complete social isolation does not mean that a person truly feels unhappy due to fatal deprivation.

From the point of view of various sciences, the phenomenon of sleep deprivation is of particular interest. Insufficient or absent satisfaction of sleep needs often occurs when the body is influenced by factors such as insomnia, various mental disorders leading to sleep disorders, etc.

There is also a theory that sleep deprivation can be used as a very effective treatment for depression. Previously, depriving a person of sleep was used as a method of torture during interrogations. In any case, it should be understood that voluntary or forced sleep deprivation can lead to exhaustion of the body and other extremely negative consequences.

Sensory, emotional, maternal deprivation, like its other types, can be obvious and hidden. Thus, obvious deprivation can be observed in all prisoners in prisons or children in orphanages, but one may not even be aware of hidden deprivation, since it arises under apparently favorable circumstances. Also, one person can experience several hardships at once.

Emotional deprivation

Emotions play an important role in shaping personality. They shape the character of behavior and help to adapt to society. Throughout its development, an individual changes in the emotional sphere, adapting to various circumstances. Emotions help a person understand his role in life and influence consciousness, thinking and perception.

Emotional deprivation leads to the fact that the individual does not perceive the entirety of the social sphere, and the area of ​​cognition becomes limited. Such factors cannot but influence normal psychological development.

There is an opinion among psychologists that the fundamental moment for the formation of a positive attitude towards life is the conscious desire of parents to have a baby. In this case, a beloved baby is born, in whose subconscious the correct perception of himself and those around him is already embedded.

The next important stage in personality formation is the period of early childhood. If at this time he is surrounded by people who cannot sufficiently show the correct emotions, prerequisites arise for the development of deprivation disorders. A healthy psychological atmosphere in the family, an emotional connection between parents and child is the key to the formation of a positive attitude towards surrounding things and circumstances. Emotional deprivation is typical for those people who were brought up in an environment that was too emotionally volatile. This leads to social hyperactivity and difficulty establishing stable interpersonal relationships.

If in childhood the person was deprived emotionally, another type of deviation is formed. Various complexes develop, a feeling of melancholy and loneliness appears. Emotional hunger also drains the body physically. Such a baby begins to lag behind in development. If a person appears in his life with whom a close emotional connection is established, a feeling of attachment appears, the situation can change dramatically. A striking example would be children from an orphanage who end up in a family where a healthy psychological climate reigns. If at the stage of forced isolation from society and lack of attention they experience sensory deprivation, then in the case of acquiring full-fledged parents, healing occurs over time. Physical and mental indicators improve, their perception and attitude towards the world changes.

Social deprivation

Social deprivation in psychology is the absence or lack of opportunity to communicate with others and be part of society. When personal contacts with society are disrupted, a person experiences a mental disorder, which serves as a pathogenic factor and leads to the development of painful symptoms.

There are several types of social deprivation: forced, voluntary, involuntary and voluntary-forced. It all depends on the person who initiates it.

Forced isolation is the separation of a person or group of people from society due to insurmountable external circumstances. These circumstances do not depend on their will and the will of society. An example of such isolation would be the crew of a sea ship ending up on a desert island due to the wreck of their ship.

Forced deprivation in psychology is the isolation of an individual or group of individuals from society, regardless of their will, and often in spite of it. An example of such deprivation is imprisonment or participation in closed social groups, which does not imply a change in the social status of the individual (army, orphanage, etc.).

Voluntary social deprivation in psychology is the distancing of individuals from society of their own free will. An example of people who have resorted to such isolation are sectarian monks and so on.

Voluntary-forced deprivation occurs when, in order to achieve a certain goal, a person or group of people resorts to narrowing contacts with society. Sports boarding schools provide an excellent example of such isolation.

Why this method works

Our body functions in accordance with certain biological rhythms: daily, monthly, seasonal, annual. For example, the 24-hour circadian rhythm is governed by sleep patterns, changes in appetite, body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, and changes in metabolism. Read more about circadian rhythms >>>

In a healthy person, all periodically occurring processes are strictly coordinated and synchronized. And in a state of depression, the normal rhythm of many periodically occurring processes is disrupted: - a characteristic symptom of depression is often insomnia; — women usually experience menstrual irregularities; — diurnal changes in mental state during depression also, as a rule, have their own characteristic rhythm: most often in the morning, melancholy and lethargy are more pronounced, appetite is more reduced, and in the evening the severity of depressive symptoms usually decreases.

All this suggests that one of the pathogenetic mechanisms of the depressive state is the mismatch and desynchronization of cyclically occurring biochemical and physiological processes. Sleep deprivation is an attempt to restore their coherence, to resynchronize, changing the order of important biological rhythms. And this attempt is very often crowned with success.

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……………………………Depression and sleep disorders >>>Causes of depression and sleep >>>

General manifestations

Deprivation is divided into different types, but they all have common features:

1. Increased anxiety.
2. Increased dissatisfaction with oneself.
3. Decreased activity.
4. Sudden mood changes.
5. Unmotivated aggression and so on.

Although there are many different types of deprivation, they all have some common manifestations:

• increased anxiety;
• heightened feeling of dissatisfaction with oneself;
• decreased vital activity;
• frequent mood changes;
• unmotivated aggression, etc.

It is also worth taking into account that emotional deprivation and any other forms of it can have varying degrees of severity. As a rule, in most cases, a person succeeds in unidirectional influence by satisfying his other needs.

Childhood deprivation is always experienced most acutely, often becomes the subject of study and requires correction by specialists.

1. Children have more basic needs than adults;
2. the child does not have the opportunity to “endure” or find compensation, an alternative to the unmet need;
3. The emotional-volitional sphere in children has not yet been formed; all experiences occur brighter and stronger than in adults.

The child is completely dependent on the parents or other substitutes who are with him. In this regard, all childhood deprivations affect the course of subsequent life.

Separation from the mother can have the strongest derivational effect on the baby:

• in cases where the mother initially abandons the child;
• if the mother or baby gets sick and has to be separated;
• when the child lives with other relatives for a long time;
• in cases of entering a nursery at too early an age.

There can be many similar situations, but the essence is the same - any separation from the mother is stressful for the child.

Psychology identifies cases of hidden maternal deprivation, when the mother is close to the baby, but cannot give him enough love and attention.

These could be situations such as:

• there are a large number of children in the family, parents are physically unable to devote time to each;
• mother has limited capabilities due to health conditions (sick, disabled);
• the mother is unstable from a psychological point of view: she is depressed, constantly under stress, etc.;
• The family is alcoholic and socially disadvantaged.

Unwanted children, children, in families where parents treat each other without respect, etc. receive a lack of love.

Deprivation also accompanies children raised without a father. From a certain time, the child realizes that there must be a dad and that other children have him.

Communication with peers is also important for minors. Deprivation of this need leads to social deprivation. There are examples where children of wealthy and famous parents were deprived of communication with their peers. They received an excellent education and upbringing, but adapted to society worse than children from traditional families.

Externally, deprivation of needs in children manifests itself in the same way as in adults, only more directly and vividly.

Anger and rage

The situation is familiar to everyone: the child was not bought a toy or candy in the store. He may start screaming and crying. In the most severe cases, the baby becomes hysterical and tears out his hair.

In any case, deprivations experienced in childhood are more difficult to bear and have deeper consequences than deprivations that occur in adults.

How does deprivation manifest itself?

Depending on the type of disorder, different signs may be observed. But there are a number of common symptoms that indicate the disease:

• constant feeling of dissatisfaction;
• aggression;
• increased anxiety;
• depressive states;
• decreased activity;
• loss of interest in familiar things.

In itself, depriving a person of his usual benefits does not provoke a disorder. Deprivation is caused by the attitude of a particular person to certain circumstances. For example, if you limit the food intake of a person who practices fasting or a special diet, then this will not become stressful for him. But if the same thing is done to an individual who is not used to such things, it will cause him physical or emotional suffering. Deprivation is the psychological inability of an individual to adapt to circumstances that have changed.

Features of manifestation in children and adults

Anger and rage

The most important problem considered in psychology and pedagogy is the deprivation of children. Of course, man is the most developed creature on our planet, but even he, during infancy, is extremely helpless due to the lack of ready-made behavioral forms.

Deprivation of children at an early age leads to the fact that their success in understanding society decreases, difficulties appear in communication with others, which subsequently greatly affects the effectiveness of human life.

Social deprivation of orphans activates the formation of undesirable traits in them: infantilism, dependency, self-doubt, low self-esteem, and lack of independence. All this slows down the process of socialization of the child.

Deficiency of conditions, objects or means can be chronic, partial, periodic and spontaneous. Long-term deprivation of a child delays its development. Due to the lack of sensory stimuli and social stimuli, the child's mental and emotional development is distorted.

In order for a child to develop fully, he needs constant incentives, the deficiency of which leads to stimulus deprivation.

Due to unsatisfactory conditions for learning and mastering new skills, as well as the chaotic arrangement of the external environment, which does not give the child the opportunity to comprehend and control what is happening, cognitive deprivation occurs.

Contact with an older environment, the main member of which is the mother, leads to the formation of a healthy personality, and its deficiency leads to emotional deprivation. Under the influence of emotional deprivation, the child becomes inactive, loses indicative activity, does not strive for development and weakens physically.

Maternal deprivation in psychology is a destructive process that remains strong at all stages of child development. It can lead to low self-esteem of the child and loss of the opportunity to establish healthy relationships with society.

The result of a violation or slowdown in the development of a child, which occurs as a result of one or another type of deprivation, is called hospitalism.

Deprivation in childhood

The above types of deprivation are most acute in childhood, due to the presence of a large number of different needs in children. In addition, the development of this condition is facilitated by the lack of ability to compensate for one’s own deprivations. It is very important to pay attention to the fact that the presence of the problem in question in childhood can directly affect the development of the child.

Having emerged from infancy, a child begins to experience the same needs as an adult. One of the simplest needs that is important in personal development is communication. It is through communication that a person acquires various skills, develops his own perception of the world around him and increases his level of intelligence. This is why psychologists focus on the importance of communication with peers for a child. A lack of communication is observed in children who do not attend kindergarten, which in the future can lead to problems associated with adaptation in society. This phenomenon is referred to using the term “social deprivation”.

There is also pedagogical deprivation, which manifests itself in the form of a lack of interest in learning. Many children have difficulty learning at school due to low interest in science and difficulty mastering various skills. Having this problem can lead to a serious personality disorder in the future. It is during the school years that the foundations of personality are laid, such as desire, perseverance and patience.

Possible complications

The consequences of deprivation and restrictions can be very diverse. Sensory deprivation leads to insomnia, aggression, loss of appetite and, ultimately, exhaustion of the body. Emotional deprivation and sleep deprivation are fraught with similar complications. Severe isolation can lead to mental disorders.

Almost always, a person under restrictions is prone to aggression, which can be directed both at others and at himself. This leads to suicide attempts and auto-aggression, expressed in bad habits and somatic diseases.

The consequences that can be caused by various kinds of deprivation and restrictions are quite diverse. Sensory deprivation often leads to unmotivated aggression, insomnia, loss of appetite and, as a result, exhaustion of the body. Sleep deprivation, emotional deprivation, and other types of it are fraught with similar consequences.

In the most severe cases, when a person is forced to be in strict isolation, the mental side of health can suffer greatly. So, for example, prisoners in solitary confinement, people in certain extreme conditions, often suffer from hysterical and delusional disorders, psychosis, and depression.

Almost always, a person in conditions of deprivation experiences outbursts of aggression, which can spread to others or himself. This can be expressed in attempts to harm oneself, commit suicide, as well as hidden forms of auto-aggression, manifested in bad habits, addictions, somatic diseases (hypertension, peptic ulcers, etc.).

It is interesting that social deprivation and some other types of it can trigger unique protective mechanisms in the human body. So, if an individual is alone for a long time, it is likely that he will begin to talk to himself. Hallucinations in such situations often become a way to compensate for sensory deprivation.

Notes

1. ↑ 123
   Sensory deprivation // Soviet military encyclopedia. - M.: Military Publishing House of the USSR Ministry of Defense, 1980. - T. 7. - P. 325.
2. Stuart Grassian Psychiatric effects of solitary confinement, September 1993, Madrid v. Gomez, 889F.Supp.1146.
3. Karen Franklin Segregation Psychosis Archived October 5, 2010.
4. Harold I. Schwartz, Death Row Syndrome and Demoralization: Psychiatric Means to Social Policy Ends J Am Acad Psychiatry Law 33:2:153-155 (2005)
5. Leave no Marks. Enhanced Interrogation Techniques and the Risk of Criminality. - Human Rights First & Physicians for Human Rights, 2007. - ISBN 1-879707-53-5.
6. Sensory Deprivation: How to Boost Your Creativity and Clear Your Mind? (Russian). lpgenerator.ru. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
7. What is Sensory Deprivation? Sensory deprivation is... Self-knowledge.ru. samopoznanie.ru. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
8. ↑ 12
   Sensory deprivation - description. psyfactor.org. Retrieved July 4, 2017.
9. Sensory deprivation: what it is, symptoms and treatment (Russian). depressio.ru. Retrieved July 4, 2020.

When will it get better after deprivation?

Improvement occurs gradually during the first sleepless night, but the beginning of positive changes may go unnoticed.

Maximum relief from depressive symptoms usually occurs between 9 and 12 a.m., i.e., at the time that is usually the most difficult for patients with depression. The feeling of life returns, speech inhibition disappears, the person becomes sociable and active. But over the next few hours, the previous depressive state gradually returns. For some, this can happen suddenly - “like a switch was turned on.”

In the evening after deprivation, falling asleep usually occurs easily; the next morning, symptoms of depression are less than usual - and they will gradually decrease as the procedure is repeated. The first signs of improvement are an increase in the severity of daily fluctuations, then an increase in the duration of “light intervals,” and then a final reduction in depressive symptoms. Appetite and sleep improve, interest in work and what is happening appears.

Anxiety subsides more slowly, and motor impairment persists for a longer period of time. Ideatorial manifestations turn out to be the most persistent, although their character changes significantly: ideas of low value, self-blame, and hopelessness give way to thoughts and statements containing anxious fears, uncertainty about the future, getting stuck in difficult everyday situations, which sometimes outwardly has the character of obsession. Subsequently, the condition is completely normalized, and full-fledged criticism of past depressive experiences appears.

This is an ideal option that not everyone will have. And sometimes after the first deprivation and the next day after the first sleep after a sleepless night, depressive symptoms may increase slightly. There is nothing wrong with this and it does not mean that this method is not suitable for you. After a few sleepless nights, improvement will begin.

Contraindications to deprivation

The method has virtually no contraindications, but is not recommended during acute or exacerbation of chronic diseases, as well as with elevated (more than 200 mm Hg) blood pressure.

Rules for the procedure

The vast majority of people experiencing depression suffer from insomnia, so their body constantly lacks a good night's rest. Depriving such patients of even a few hours of sleep causes severe stress, in response to which the production of catecholamines increases - special substances responsible for regulating the most important physiological processes in the body and maintaining emotional tone. Its increase inevitably affects the general psychological mood of a person, thanks to which one can cope with depression and melancholy.

Before the procedure, you need to get a good night's sleep - but only at your usual sleep time.

Thus, sleep deprivation is one of the most effective ways to remove a person from a depressed state, allowing, if all established rules are strictly followed, to get rid of the symptoms of blues and apathy in a short period of time. The procedure for artificial sleep deprivation itself is as follows:

1. One day before the start of deprivation, you should stop taking medications and folk remedies with a sedative effect.
2. If we are talking about total sleep deprivation, on the day of the procedure the patient needs to wake up at his usual time and not go to bed throughout the day, night, and then the next day.
3. During deprivation, you should forget about even short-term sleep, which is easier to do by alternating active and passive activities. At the same time, it is better to avoid TV and books, especially late at night (from midnight to 2 o’clock) and in the morning (from 4 to 6 o’clock). At the same time, you can stay active by turning on all the lighting in the room so that twilight or complete darkness does not induce sleep.
4. You can have a light snack at night, but you should avoid consuming large amounts of carbohydrates, as well as tea or coffee.
5. The next day, to cope with bouts of drowsiness and slight lethargy, you can take a walk in the fresh air or do light exercise.
6. The next night's sleep should occur at the usual time and last about 10-12 hours, since wakefulness lasting more than 38-40 hours can result in adverse health consequences in the form of symptoms of non-acute psychosis.

In addition, before the procedure itself, it is better to try to get a good night’s sleep so that the body has enough strength to carry it out.

Traditional treatments for insomnia

Normal sleep is an integral part of the proper functioning of the whole body. Prolonged insomnia depletes the body. A person suffering from disorders may no longer distinguish the line between dreams and reality.

Important! Treating insomnia should begin with its root cause – depression. As a rule, the treatment approach should be comprehensive

Improving sleep with effective sleeping pills

Medicines that are aimed at improving sleep have a clear goal - to overcome anxiety, relieve tension, stress and chronic fatigue. When taken correctly, the functioning of the nervous system is normalized, the pulse is regulated, the mood improves and the entire body gently relaxes.

List of over-the-counter sleeping pills:

It is worth noting that there are several types of insomnia (endrogenic, melancholy, latent, apathetic, anxious), and each type is prescribed a separate drug.

Above is a list of medications for those who rarely experience insomnia.

If you have tried many drugs and nothing helps you, then you need to pay attention to stronger sleeping pills (Corvalol, Aminazine)

Herbal preparations

This method of treatment is also available to everyone, since the products are based on herbal ingredients and are freely available. There are many different new generation medications that are most actively used today to normalize sleep.

Let's look at the most effective ones:

Practical remedies have no side effects. However, there are cases when, if taken incorrectly, symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea appear. In such cases, you should stop taking the medicine.

Tranquilizers

Tranquilizers are aimed not only at improving sleep, they also relieve anxiety, restlessness, tension and nervous system disorders.

The medicine prescribed by your doctor should be used strictly according to the instructions or recommendations of a specialist.

Antidepressants

Insomnia is one of the symptoms of depression, so there are some antidepressants that will not only improve the quality of sleep, but also eliminate stress, anxiety, and worries that are caused by a depressive state.

Important! Antidepressants are prescribed by a psychotherapist, since any medicine has its side effects and in order not to worsen the condition by self-medication, it is better to seek help from a doctor