Depression on Sundays. The Sabbath Commandment as Psychotherapy

Many of you have heard of “weekend depression.” The mood curve of the entire planet “pleases” with its predictable sameness, it’s scary. The mood curve of the vast majority of people slowly rises as early as Thursday evening, reaches a peak on Friday evening, stays high throughout Saturday, and falls into a hole on Sunday morning. There, in the pit of depression, many of us sit all Sunday, and our “Monday is a hard day” is just echoes of a hellish Sunday. Many people joke: Why does my Monday morning begin on Sunday afternoon? This is a bitter joke. Where do we spend our Sunday? Who dared to steal this beautiful day from us?

To answer this question, we must turn to the very first Abrahamic religion - to Judaism and its commandment to “keep the Sabbath.”

“Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your handmaid and the stranger may rest.” (Shemot, 23:12)

Later Abrahamic religions moved the Sabbath. Christians - on Sunday, Mohammedans - on Friday. But the essence of the commandment does not change much. Six days a week - work and hustle. On the seventh day, rest from all “for yourself” activities and don’t dare to fuss, sit quietly, like Buddha.

Moreover, on this seventh day it was prescribed (again strictly) not just to “do nothing,” but to turn one’s gaze to the lofty, to the spiritual. Do not engage in idle talk, but, for example, read soul-helping books, go to a sermon in church, and help the poor.

It was believed that a person’s life is very difficult; he simply has no time to “think about his soul.” And so on for six days in a row. But one single day was a luxurious gift to everyone, everyone, even the poor and beggars. On this day, everyone could afford to be an “intellectual”, an “aristocrat of spirit”, a “philosopher”, a “leisure class”, a person reflecting on the meaning of life and lofty matters, instead of plowing through slave labor to pay off debts, like usually.

It was a strict gift - a person was obliged to spend Sunday (Saturday) this way. And the employer, in turn, also did not have the right to force his employee to violate the “seventh day of rest.”

There was no weekend depression back then. On the contrary, everyone loved Sunday. Even when it was the only day off.

What happened to us? It’s all very simple – it has become uninteresting for us to think about the spiritual. But I didn’t want to talk about this, but about this - how to make the seventh day of the once commanded forced rest a psychotherapeutic practice, which, in fact, it has always been?

To do this, we need to turn to the origins, to the commandments of the Torah and commentaries on the Torah.

Two types of work: avoda and melacha

When the Torah talks about the commandment to keep the Sabbath, the word “melakhah” is used for the concept of “work”, not “avodah”.

Although in Hebrew both words, melacha and avoda, mean work. But with nuances.

Out of my ignorance, I always believed that on the Sabbath it was especially prohibited to work for profit, to earn money (avodah). Well, for example, you can’t take work home from the office in order to receive a bonus and promotion from your boss, saying that I’m smart and diligent, unlike you.

In general, I believed that the Sabbath specifically forbids - avoda - work for profit, for a salary, for candy.

But the rabbi explained everything to me. It turns out that no one even thinks about talking about such work as avoda on Saturday - it is so obvious that “it is impossible”!

It wouldn’t even occur to a fool to clarify that the seventh day of rest from business prohibits “making money” or engaging in “business.” (And I'm a fool).

No! The Torah only speaks about the prohibition of labor called melacha!

Prohibition on the work of Melach on the seventh day

The work of melacha is creative work. Creative work, masterful work, skillful work. Melacha is when we... improve something, perfect it, put it in order, or create something new that did not exist before. And all this is impossible.

This, it turns out, is the kind of work that the progenitor of all Abrahamic religions and European spirituality forbids us to do!

You may scream - how is this possible? What about my hobbies? Don’t I serve God by embroidering an icon or even just - peonies - with a cross? Can't I wash my windows for the glory of God? How about playing a song on the guitar? And here it is. You can't. That is, you can, but you will get a weekend depression.

And now a powerful psychotherapeutic practice begins, an exposition of its essence, and you yourself will understand everything.

What should each of us know, feel, sense on Saturday (the seventh day)?

Each of us, if we want to live without depression, must leave our “Human command post” strictly once a week. Don’t even pick dry leaves from flowers in a pot. Taking the burden off your shoulders white man”, the shepherd of Nature and stupider people, and recognize their “smallness” in this world.

A person must, as it were, “step aside” and allow this world to live without the intervention of man and his Mind, at least for one day.

The seventh day is the day of complete harmony between us and the world. To do this, on the seventh day we accept the world as a whole and do not change anything in it. As if... we wave our hand at the unswept floor and say: “I surrender to the will of God!”

Torah scholars say that the seventh day is a rehearsal or demo version of that Other world in which we will all find ourselves after our earthly life will end. This “other world” is called Olam Ha-ba or the World to Come.

And to be honest, this is not a “rehearsal,” as I put it, but a real “miraculous” manifestation, a manifestation of That world in This, ours.

That’s why when we don’t leave the world alone, but continue to “improve” it and ourselves, we commit terrible sin and stupidity - we do not give the opportunity for That world to manifest itself in This.

Why does the earthly world need to invite the Other World, the World to Come, Ola A-ba, once a week?

How can I say this... for disinfection, or something...

Well, since the Other World cannot manifest itself in the earthly world (because of us who do not rest on the seventh day), then living in our earthly world is getting worse and worse.

Olam ha-ba - perfect peace. But if you are blind, deaf and stupid, then you can even pass by perfect world and not notice it anywhere.

Therefore, on the seventh day we must learn to experience the world as perfect. Then we will not pass by Olam Haba in due time.

We must, by an effort of will, leave this earthly world without our brilliant improvements - once a week. To do this, we must repeat as a koan or as an affirmation the mysterious words of the great Rashi: “for you, all the work has already been done.”

On the seventh day we learn to feel gratitude to the Master and gratefully use only what he has in store for us.

Modern readers of the weekly Torah chapters speak about this generally harshly, like this:

“By resting on the seventh day, doing only spiritual activities on this day, we show that we do not consider ourselves the masters of the world. We proclaim the Lord of the world – the Most High.”

You're a guest, relax

Imagine that you were cordially invited to spend the night, the table was set for you, and the bed was prepared for you. You came knowing that the owners were waiting for you and did their best.

And so you begin demonstratively - wash their plates and forks, ask for a fresher kitchen towel, and then say, “well, I don’t eat this at all, I won’t eat this at your place, boil me a couple of eggs, no, I’ll cook it myself, otherwise you’ll cook some more”... Then you go to the bedroom, take your bed linen out of your bag and disgustingly remake the bed - with your linen.

From the point of view of the sages of the Torah, this is approximately the same behavior as a person who allows himself on the seventh day - creative work aimed at improving the world - the work of melacha.

Ability to relax

The ability to relax, to “let go of the situation”, that’s what the Sabbath commandment is! This and only this is the purpose of the commandment, and not a ban on working for profitable money, of course.

In yoga, the same relaxation is facilitated by the Shavasana pose - the “Dead Man” pose. The same as Saturday, Shabbat in Judaism.

In Zen, it is the practice of non-action - wei wu-wei.

Now do you understand how to prevent and treat the common problem for all modern earthlings - weekend depression?

Elena Nazarenko

Has it ever happened to you that here it is, a long-awaited day off, and you are overcome by some kind of melancholy, uncertainty, thoughts about your place in life and the meaning of life? Not all people are susceptible to weekend neurosis, but for some, the weekend turns into torture. Why is this happening? Let's figure it out.

The term “weekend neurosis” (Sunday depression, weekend depression) was introduced in the 20th century by the Austrian psychiatrist and psychologist Viktor Frankl. Weekend neurosis is an anxiety state that occurs when the usual main (usually work) routine ceases. This condition appears at the end of the working day, at the end of the week, during sick leave or vacation, on long holiday weekends ( New Year, May days). This is an existential problem.

Not all people suffer during the holidays. But some especially active participants in society are subject to reflections on the meaning of life, the value of themselves and work, etc. That is, for them, the day off is a time of analysis and rethinking.

Risks

Weekend neurosis is a dangerous condition. It is fraught with complications such as suicide. Other consequences include irrational models for getting out of the situation: spending the weekend with alcohol, watching TV series, eating food, etc. As a result, the day passed - the fatigue remained, as did the inner emptiness.

There is no consensus on how pathological the desire to work constantly is. Some psychologists argue that some people really need to be constantly active. Others are of the opinion that this is a pathological inability to relax and rest, which is dangerous due to psycho-emotional and physical exhaustion.

In other words, people who are accustomed to neurotic vanity do not know how to live differently. They have a specific concept of comfort. However, everyone knows the expression “movement is life,” so I think this is a matter of individual personal characteristics.

Signs

Weekend neurosis has two main characteristics:

• and, turning into panic, a feeling of danger;
• depression, boredom, a feeling of inner emptiness in moments of inaction or solitude.

Some people think that they forgot to do something or experience an internal feeling of tension and the need to run somewhere. This includes dizziness and headaches, sleep disorders (including insomnia), lethargy, apathy, muscle pain and tightness, colds or other illnesses.

In an attempt to kill time and mask loneliness, people:

• recruit work from home;
• they go shopping in search of something (they don’t know what);
• they start repairs that, in general, are not needed;
• go to cafes, bars, clubs, call friends, go on a visit, etc.

In general, a person tries to do everything not to sit quietly at home.

Who is susceptible to weekend neurosis?

Why is it that for some people a day off is a long-awaited joy, while for others it is torment? It's all about . Weekend neurosis is experienced by those people who cannot remain alone with themselves and their lives. Such people load themselves up with activities as much as possible, inventing tasks and entertainment, but if one day they find themselves alone, outside the turmoil that masks the inner emptiness, they will experience a state similar to depression. Thus, awareness of the meaninglessness of life and one’s own inner emptiness is the cause of weekend neurosis.

There is a second category of people susceptible to weekend neurosis: businessmen and careerists, that is, those people for whom a forced day off means stagnation in development. Some people work “from bell to bell”, perceiving the weekend as a gift. Other people develop regularly. It has been noted that people with higher education who regularly improve their competencies, invest a lot of effort, time, energy, and money into themselves and their lives.

However, sometimes phrases about the desire to develop and grow as much as possible are a manifestation of rationalization, that is. Sudden business trip? Great! Going out on a day off? Certainly! It really helps professional growth, career, but the question is how beneficial it is for health and. If workaholism and other excessive activity are a disguise of some kind of dissatisfaction, an attempt to compensate for something, then it will not work for a long time.

However, those who “rewind” deadlines at work are susceptible to weekend neurosis, especially on Sunday evenings. In this case, it is caused by a negative attitude towards work. If a person spent the weekend enjoying himself, and in the evening he realized that tomorrow he will return to his unloved job and “survive” for another week, then neurosis will not be long in coming.

Thus, the following are susceptible to weekend neurosis:

• people for whom work is;
• people who do not see meaning in their work and are not satisfied with it;
• workaholics, people who cannot rest (unable to relax).

Reasons

In psychology, there is an opinion that weekend neurosis occurs in those people who are afraid to see something in their life and have some problems. During the daily hustle and bustle there is no time for this, and in moments of solitude all the problems are striking:

• dissatisfaction with oneself and work;
• crises;
• unpleasant emotions and feelings, including old ones that have accumulated over the years (resentment, disappointment);
• inability to self-organize and plan one’s own life;
• fears, etc.

And even through everyday worries, notes of melancholy can flicker. Why? Because I'm tired of it. Everything is the same: grocery shopping, cleaning, long-postponed household chores. And so week after week - a wheel for the squirrel. As a rule, an existential crisis begins with such awareness. And if loneliness is still evident, then neurosis consumes the person headlong.

There are two more popular reasons:

• Focus on requirements and someone else’s needs (“I have to”, “it’s customary”, “everyone does it”), the lack of one’s own internal guidelines is the main cause of weekend neurosis. A person does not know what he himself wants. The situation is worsened by the presence of perfectionism and increased responsibility. Often a person feels bad for wasting time on himself or views it as missed opportunities (a matter of priorities).
• Sometimes anxiety before the weekend is a reaction to a “losing” weekend in advance, that is, a person knows that he will have to do something he doesn’t want to do. For example, go to a formal meeting with relatives. I think everyone knows firsthand how burdensome an upcoming unwanted event can be. Until it passes, it is very difficult to maintain a positive attitude. Thus, neurosis is experienced by people who know what they would like to do on the weekend, but for some reason cannot. Or is it still possible to cancel an unwanted meeting?

What to do

You might be advised to fill your free time with a new hobby, taking self-development training, or something else, but Viktor Frankl called this a neurotic escape, not a solution to the problem. The solution to the problem is to review priorities and arrange them in such a way that work is not the only thing that fills life.

The work sphere is not the only aspect of life; workaholism probably hides problems in some other area, for example, the inability to build close relationships or a mismatch in the individual’s self-concept. Among the main aspects of human life are psychological, physical, social and professional. For a harmonious life, it is important that they all combine with each other and do not conflict with the inner “I”.

Actually, the inability to relax is a symptom of many psychological problems. You can only cope with the inconsistency between spheres of life or inner “I” with the help of a psychoanalyst, but you can independently try to describe what exactly you are experiencing, what you are afraid of, what you want. It is also useful to master relaxation.

Afterword

Free time is the realm of the embodiment of our desires and our needs, and not someone else’s. Discomfort in free time is experienced by people who do not know own desires. They are used to acting in someone else's interests and fulfilling duties.

If on Mondays you wake up groaning, and immersing yourself in the workday costs enormous effort, rest assured, you are susceptible to Monday depression.

It's no surprise that we hate Mondays. They always seem to sneak up on us just when we've truly relaxed and started enjoying the weekend. This is the least productive day of the work week. Carla Wood, business coach and founder of All Strategy, says it doesn't have to be that way.

Follow these tips to reduce depression and feel better these days of the week.

1. Start Monday on Sunday evening

Wood believes that the reason Mondays are so hard is the difficulty of switching from the personal rhythm, attitude and lifestyle that we lead on the weekends.

« We live at our own pace. The need to speed up causes a feeling of overwhelm, the same feeling when we see an insurmountable mountain in front of us that we are forced to climb at the beginning of the week", she says. While you're enjoying every second of freedom on Sunday night, just a couple of minutes of mentally preparing for the week ahead will help you overcome Monday depression.

2. Start with priorities

Make a list of tasks for the next day and put them on your calendar. Instead of starting the week with a blank slate, remind yourself of your priorities for the day. This will help avoid stupor due to the onslaught of tasks that usually hits you on Monday morning. Scheduled department meeting or project team, which sets the week's priorities, will help everyone dive into work without difficulty.

3. Start your day with something that gives you energy

Go for a run or to the gym. This start to the day will get your body moving and give you a boost of creative energy until the evening. Feeling low on Monday doesn't mean you hate your job or are depressed.

« Most likely, you are simply stuck and have not caught the momentum of the coming week." explains Wood. Any activity that helps increase your energy will get you back on track where you can be productive.

4. Communicate with colleagues

When you arrive at the office, first consider the opportunity to chat with your colleagues. A simple exchange around the water cooler can sometimes be a powerful incentive to get started. " That's why I look forward to Monday and communicating with colleagues, instead of sitting at my desk and collecting my thoughts for half a day" says Wood.

5. Find a mentor

If Monday depression hits you too often, it may be a symptom of a deeper problem. Wood recommends that entrepreneurs, especially those working alone, find a mentor and talk to them about their goals and how to achieve them: “ This will allow you to see a different perspective and look at your work more responsibly».

A bad case of depression on Mondays may be a result of being overworked. A mentor will help determine the true cause.

6. Get enough sleep

Gretchen Rubin, the author of the “Happiness” project is of the opinion that severe stress on Monday caused by lack of sleep.

40% of Americans, according to a sociological survey, sleep much less than the recommended seven hours. The thing is that American workers use the weekend to complete routine tasks that they don’t have time for during the week. But such attempts to catch up are not always successful.

7. Don't forget to turn off the TV

Her second piece of advice concerns television viewing. If you have a favorite movie, watch it. But when you're done, turn off the TV. If you fall asleep on the couch flipping through channels, it's no wonder you feel groggy.

People often claim that they watch TV because they are too tired to do anything else. But then they lie in front of the TV until midnight instead of falling asleep. "You should just go to sleep," Rubin says.

8. The same should be done with the news - turn it off

There is a type of people who are addicted to news. They are consumed by the process of following new details, especially when something dramatic happens. Psychosomatic condition at the same time it also worsens sharply. The author advises spending no more than 20 minutes studying the news in order to keep abreast of events, and then switch off, literally and figuratively.

This conclusion is confirmed by a recent study. People who followed the 2013 Boston Marathon, which was bombed, experienced more severe stress than those who were at the scene at that moment.

9. Don't put off fun until the weekend.

Often we get so bogged down in our responsibilities that we cannot and do not want to find time for entertainment on weekdays, hoping to then “break away” on the weekends. These deferred positive experiences include meeting friends. But weekends come with their own worries, and it’s not easy to fit everything put aside into two days.

You need to be open to meetings, says Rubin. It is useful to communicate with friends in the middle of the week, go to training and morning walks. Then neither weekdays nor holidays will leave you feeling like you have lived in vain.

Irina Silacheva , especially for E-executive.ru

Bymaterials: BusinessInsider.com, Huffingtonpost.com

You woke up on Sunday morning and, it would seem, you should feel joy and peace because you don’t have to go anywhere today. But instead you feel tension, your nerves are on edge. Is this a familiar state? About 65% of people around the world feel approximately the same at least once a month. On Sunday morning, they are unhappy that they will have to go to work tomorrow; this necessity depresses them and spoils their mood for almost the whole day. Hence the weekend depression.

A bad mood turns into malaise.

But that's only half the story. The pathological fear of the inevitability of Monday turns into physical symptoms: the heartbeat quickens, breathing quickens, sweating increases, a headache begins, and diarrhea is possible. Nervousness, irritability and restlessness increase. Against the background of this picture, many people experience insomnia; some fall asleep quite easily, but wake up several times in the middle of the night, remembering that tomorrow they need to complete routine tasks - this happens to schoolchildren or students the night before an exam.

What to do and how to get rid of weekend depression. Instructions for action.

This problem definitely needs to be dealt with. Start doing this on Friday, from the moment when you are still at work, but have already begun to get ready to go home. Open the calendar of your tasks for the next week and feel the pleasure with which you will complete them, starting on Monday. Mentally prioritize all tasks, think how important it is to complete them. If there are any papers, arrange them according to the principle “from simple to complex.” Before leaving, take a look at your workplace and smile, rejoicing in the realization of your own importance.

If all this doesn’t help, isn’t it time to quit your unloved job, since it causes you so much grief? Find something more suitable.

When you get home, think about what you will do on the weekend. Go out of town, enjoy watching your favorite movies and reading at home fiction? Or maybe visit your parents? Find pleasure in everything, relax not only physically, but also mentally. To do this, choose a time to be quiet. Meditate is a great way to distract yourself from worries and worries.

If you have some work planned for the weekend, rest often in between. If you don’t have time to complete them all, don’t worry. When you are busy doing various things and there is no time left for yourself, dissatisfaction and fear of Monday comes. Therefore, learn to be a happy person.