My internet friend hasn’t seen the point in anything for a long time. How can I help him?translated

Reader question:

Any activity and interaction seems to him useless and pitiful in its essence. Usually in such a situation people kill themselves, but he continues to suffer aimlessly every day, as if in the hope that one day he will get better. How can I help him?

Psychologist's answer:

Gleb TKACHENKO

psychologist

Your friend has someone who notices his condition and is looking for help for him. And loneliness can make this condition even worse. And your connection itself may already mean a lot to him.

Try to honestly see the limits of what you can do to help.

You cannot want to live for another person. It is also impossible to put meaning into it by someone else’s will, and words that are guaranteed to save do not exist. And it’s not your fault that you didn’t find them. The role of a rescuer is dangerous because a person takes responsibility for someone else’s life, gradually becomes exhausted and still cannot save another.

You write that he “continues to suffer aimlessly every day.” But look at his days differently. Every morning, in a state in which he does not want to live, he decides to live again. And this requires enormous daily work, and there is no weakness or inertia in it. And from your “as if in hope”...