Degradation: What is it? (11 Most Important Signs)

Causes of degradation

Having analyzed what degradation means, let’s move on to the reasons that can cause this phenomenon.

Loneliness. Scientists have proven that lonely people, those who have suffered the death of a loved one, are subject to gradual degradation. This is due to the fact that a person is depressed, he develops apathy, lack of interest in life, passivity, and there is a misunderstanding of life guidelines. Lonely people are also often subject to gradual degradation, in most cases these are pensioners: they begin a kind of preparation for death. People renounce interests, hobbies, and stop adapting to the dynamically developing world. This phenomenon is theoretically called delayed suicide.
Feeling of uselessness. When a person’s potential and abilities are not fully realized, personal disintegration occurs. If a person stops seeing a personality in himself, then he will not develop it in himself, and this is a clear example of degradation.
Feeling of uncertainty, especially after several failures in a row. For some, it creates a desire to fix everything and still achieve their goal, while for others, on the contrary, a state of apathy arises.
Spiritual poverty, cruelty, lack of will are direct prerequisites for the formation and development of personality degradation.
Addictions such as drug addiction, substance abuse, and alcoholism are serious problems that cause dullness in a person. For example, to understand what it means to degrade from an addiction, let’s look at alcohol degradation.

Alcohol as a provoking factor

Alcohol addiction is becoming the scourge of society, which provokes rapid disintegration of the individual in working age and deprives society of its full-fledged member. Not enough attention is paid to what scientists and doctors have been saying for a long time: even a small amount of alcohol is deadly to brain cells.

The whole danger of degradation in alcoholism lies in the fact that a person cannot fully give himself a full account of what is happening to him, to understand that he is losing his own “I”.

With frequent or constant consumption of alcoholic beverages, after about 5-6 years, alcohol dependence or alcoholism occurs, which leads a person to mental and social degradation.

Personality degradation in alcoholism occurs in three stages.

First stage

First, dependence is formed on a psychological level. A person is looking for ways to relieve stress, an opportunity to “relax.” But the insidiousness of alcohol is not taken into account: the volume of alcohol consumed is not controlled, and over time, a person is not so responsible about the quality of alcohol-containing drinks consumed.

Priorities change, a person loses interest in self-education and development

If you switch a person’s attention in time to factors that stimulate a positive goal, you can stop alcohol degradation, prevent its further development and, after rehabilitation, return the person to a full life

Alcohol addiction

Physically, a person becomes dependent on alcohol, which has become a “natural” need of the alcoholic’s body, as valid as the need for food and sleep.

Without drinking alcohol, a person becomes aggressive and uncontrollable

He loses professional skills, copes much worse with both the physical and mental tasks assigned to him, loses the ability to highlight key information, concentrate attention, and quickly respond to what is happening. As a result, the risk of industrial and domestic injuries increases

A person’s range of interests narrows to ways to get alcohol. The sense of shame is lost, the ability to feel guilty for unseemly acts committed, one’s own behavior, deceit and hypocrisy appear. Because of this, disharmony arises in family relationships.

An alcoholic is vulnerable; it seems to him that others are unfair to him. In some forms of alcohol addiction, a person suffers from low self-esteem.

Complete degradation

Alcohol degradation reaches its highest point: complete disability, social alienation, self-absorption sets in. A person does not come out of a state of intoxication for a long period of time, called a binge. His brain loses many of its functions, which affects the ability to think rationally, remember information, and objectively perceive reality. Speech is simplified to template phrases. A person suffers from mental and neurotic diseases, but is often unable to recognize his pathological dependence. Many internal organs undergo irreversible changes.

Without the help of doctors - a therapist, a narcologist and a psychotherapist - treatment of alcoholic personality degradation will be ineffective.

How to treat regression in alcoholism

The development of alcohol degradation can only be stopped with the help of a complete and irrevocable refusal to drink alcohol in any form. Alcohol addiction is a severe, deadly pathology. This disease not only takes away a person’s physical and mental health, but also mercilessly destroys socialization.

Treatment of degradation due to alcohol dependence falls under the competence of experienced psychotherapists. The addiction to drinking alcohol itself can be cured by a narcologist. The main condition for such therapy is the presence of a conscious desire of the addict to give up alcohol and return to a normal, healthy life. This attitude will greatly facilitate the task of doctors and help the sick person to rehabilitate more quickly.

Alcoholic dementia

The pathology develops over a long period of time (over fifteen to twenty years) and occurs due to constant exposure to alcohol, a toxic substance for tissues. Alcohol-containing drinks have an effect both independently and indirectly by reducing the performance of the liver and cardiovascular system.

Many alcoholics, during life or after death, have atrophic foci in the cerebral hemispheres, which indicates the last stages of a sluggish inflammatory process, in which there is an active proliferation of connective tissue.

The symptoms are almost the same as those of other types of dementia: deterioration of memory, attention, speech, motor activity, and perception of the outside world.

When diagnosing alcoholic dementia in the early stages, the reverse process is possible with complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages. However, due to indifference to one’s own health and unwillingness to have patients themselves examined, such cases are quite rare.

The prognosis depends on the duration of the disease and the individual characteristics of the body. The disease usually ends in complete personality degradation and death.

Personality degradation

A phenomenon that is in the spotlight and is being studied by many scientists from completely different sciences and fields. Man by himself does not contain the potential for destruction, but such cases are still observed. What does personality degradation mean? This is, first of all, the appearance of two important signs - depression and apathy. A person begins to lose balance, learning ability, the desire to understand the world around him, develop, and constantly be in dynamics.

What does human degradation mean? This is the process of loss of inherent qualities and properties of a person; feelings, judgments, and abilities inherent at birth are lost.

Memory, ability to concentrate, deteriorates, lack of interest in life and the world around you

Definition of the concept

Personality degradation is a process of mental regression. It is easy to imagine it as going down the stairs. A person loses mental stability and the tendency to critically evaluate himself.

In this state, the intellect, physical body and sensory-emotional sphere of a person suffer. In addition to the fact that he does not learn new things and does not strive to become better, his previous skills and abilities are lost and become unimportant. Individuality dissolves, interesting character traits are lost.

In simple words, the personality ceases to exist - only the organism remains, in need of satisfying basic needs.

What is degradation?

It is generally accepted that human degradation is the gradual destruction of personality. We are social creatures and need the support of our own kind. At the same time, for the growth and development of personality, new knowledge, impressions, and events are needed. If we lose the opportunity to learn something new, we find ourselves in a limited world, and our needs are gradually narrowed to the most primitive. And aspirations and aspirations turn into a set of base instincts.

The same applies to mating, sex becomes promiscuous, and partners become random. Control over actions is lost, the line between good and evil is erased. A person becomes capable of murder even without a reason.

Critical thinking disappears, as does the feeling of responsibility for one’s actions. A degraded person can be dangerous to others.

Sometimes degradation creeps up unnoticed and it can happen to anyone. It is so arranged by nature that acquiring new knowledge and skills also forms new neural connections in the brain, which contributes to its effective functioning. If interest in life is lost, due to apathy, depression or for another reason, there is a risk of becoming a degenerate. Of course, not like binge alcoholics and drug addicts, to a much lesser extent.

It has been noticed that even women who have been on maternity leave for a long time begin to degrade. Their interests are narrowed to the family circle, and new information concerns exclusively one area. If there is no diversity, we partially degrade as professionals in our field and lose valuable knowledge and skills. The same thing happens to pensioners. Leaving your job means unexpected freedom and time to occupy yourself with something. Production tasks are being replaced by TV series and alcohol.

In old age, the brain already loses some of its functions, and such “leisure” provokes its gradual decline. It has been noticed that people who are engaged in creativity and science (artists, designers, architects, scientists), even in extreme old age, maintain clarity of mind until the end of their lives and continue to develop, although according to the laws of nature it should happen differently. "Degradation" literally means moving backwards. There is no point of balance. We either move forward and develop, or we retreat and degrade.

Abraham Maslow's theory

Abraham believed that degradation goes through stages such as:

There is a feeling that you have become completely helpless, unable to influence events, and you begin to shift responsibility onto other people, the government, the weather, etc., considering yourself just a “pawn” in this world, unable to change anything. Psychology has a name for this behavior - the phenomenon of “learned helplessness.”
The process of forming needs for recognition, security, aesthetics and others stops; only physiological, so to speak, primitive ones become the only important ones.
The splitting of the world into “good” and “evil”, or “white” and “black”. Therefore, they try to exclude contacts with “bad” people, eventually withdrawing into themselves altogether.
He confuses reality with his imaginary world, after which he may well take the blame for some misdeeds and crimes on himself, without tracking the fact that he did not commit them in the first place.
Obsession with one’s ideas, categorically rejecting proposals to revise them, as they are incorrect and destructive.

Degradation - what does it mean in simple words

Degradation is a process opposite to development. The personality loses its mental balance, its characteristics.

In relation to a person, the concept is used in the context of deterioration in mental activity, performance, spirituality and other components of the human personality.

When a person begins to work worse, does not keep up with progress, or performs his duties poorly, he degrades.

In a normal state, a person should be active, efficient and cheerful. If there are any deviations from the norm, or if there is a loss of interest in life, a person feels completely different.

This may indicate personality degradation and the presence of mental disorders. Symptoms include irritability, depression, and decreased attention.

These signs are not as scary as their consequences. Severe consequences include complete apathy, dementia, and a tendency to alcohol. Alcoholism kills a person’s brain, the individual loses himself and stops communicating in society.

The main reason for the aging and death of society is the destruction of social ties between small groups of a society divided into small parts. Social evolution (progress) promotes the unification of people into large groups: clans, tribes, states, a single capitalist world community, a planetary state, a civilization within the solar system, within one galaxy, and so on. The total population (A) in each of the social groups is consistently increasing. For social regression The direction of movement from the highest to the lowest is characteristic; this is a process of degradation, a gradual fragmentation of the collective into groups of earthlings inhabiting the distant planets of the Galaxy, into separate families scattered across different galaxies. If in the process of development the mass of civilization decreases, it means that society is regressing. In the future, humanity expects a process of total social regression, which is expressed by a decrease in the density of space society to zero. A synonym for social regression is involution, a process opposite to progress. The main manifestation of social involution is the physical separation of people up to the creation of conditions of prolonged loneliness, and as a consequence of this, another process arises - the mental degradation of a person. With social involution, a tendency toward disunity, division, and fragmentation of humanity into small groups manifests itself. The process of occupation of outer space leads to the fragmentation of the population into smaller and smaller social groups: galactic civilization, planetary “state” → group of people → family → single people. The cosmic life of mankind in social terms is a regression, since the density of the human mass begins to decline sharply.

a ) Intelligence arises and improves only in a team. No team - no intelligence. This is especially noticeable if you isolate from the team not an adult who already has a solid store of knowledge on social issues, but a child who has not yet learned the rules of behavior in society. For example, in India there have been cases where a she-wolf carried a child into the forest. The child lived for several years, ate among a wolf pack, and completely adopted wolf habits: biting, eating without using his hands, crawling on all fours. The ability for logical thinking in such children was completely lost. A child raised by a wolf pack had only a shell, the appearance of a person. However, in terms of behavior, it was a wolf! If you take a child away from the collective (let this happen in 3,000,000 AD) and surround him with soulless computers (the equivalent of giving him to be raised by a wolf pack), then he will also turn into a wild animal (a wolf) without even basic intelligence. Reason, knowledge and intelligence are not inherited!!! Of course, it would be wonderful if all the knowledge of the father and mother were inherited by the son and daughter. Unfortunately, a newly born child adopts from its parents only a humanoid “form, not content,” not reason, knowledge and intellect. Intelligence arises in the process of living and studying among people, within a team.

Adults who had already acquired a sufficient amount of social knowledge, but by the will of fate, were alone for a long time (tens of years), for example, on a desert island (Robinson Crusoe and others) suffered less personality degradation. Criminals who have been kept in solitary confinement for decades without books, communication, radio or television are subject to mental degradation.

Each of us is only a “candidate for the honorary title of Man,” and he becomes a real thinking Man after saturating the brain with social knowledge, after being raised by parents, school, institute, after receiving exact and humanitarian knowledge at school, university, after a long practical life among “ bad and good people. The human world regulates and fills the child’s brain with social and rational content. I would like to quote the statement of Alexander the Great, who highly appreciates the knowledge that his teacher Aristotle passed on to him: “I honor Aristotle, calling him my father, because if I owe my life to my father, then I owe Aristotle everything that gives it value.”

b ) Individual production leads to economic independence, autonomy, and economic independence contributes to the emergence of spatial isolation of people from each other. With the existence of mass commodity production, social ties between people are supported by the economic dependence of people on each other. In the modern world, all people are connected to one another by thin threads of economic relationships. Some people create, others sell, others deliver, fourths manage, fifths protect, sixths manage, sevenths finance, eighths treat and teach, ninths entertain with songs and sports games, and so on. In the existence of mass commodity production, all people are united by economic ties with each other, one specialist is needed by another. Due to the economic dependence of “every person on all other people on the planet,” close social ties arise within society. With mass commodity production, society necessarily needs capital, profit and exploitation, which must be assessed as a negative characteristic of these (exploitative) production relations. Mass commodity production unites all people on the planet into a single producing and consuming collective (into a single conglomerate), which must be assessed as a positive characteristic of exploitative production relations. The era of exploitation has an extremely beneficial effect on humanity due to the strengthening of collectivism, due to the impact of social ties between people in terms of “per unit of outer space.” Social ties during the existence of exploitative industrial relations are unusually strong. For the purpose of learning, a modern young man becomes a member of the team of a school and university; when he falls ill, he turns to doctors; when building a house, he turns to construction specialists; when traveling by train, a person becomes a member of the team of a carriage and compartment; when flying on an airplane, a temporary team appears in the cabin of the plane. . In the production team, production connections arise with colleagues and the owner of the enterprise. At night, a person is with his family. Modern people live in a group, throughout the day they are surrounded by people with whom they have communication and spiritual connections (industrial, scientific, friendly, love, hostile, and so on).

The social unity of society is instantly “broken” with the emergence of individual space production. Individual space production based on total automation creates conditions for individual activity outside the team. Production ceases to be a process in which thousands of workers participate for the purpose of collective creation. Each family will have a space rocket with the entire complex of production processes from the extraction of raw materials to the production of material goods (in any quantity). No one will buy anything from each other, no one will produce anything for another person who also has his own individual production. All specialists will be replaced by computers, cybernetic devices and robots. A state of complete economic isolation of each person from society, from other people, will arise. Such concepts as “common goals”, “common cause”, “national values”, “generally accepted forms of behavior” and so on are eliminated. Total economic and social individualism will emerge. A person will create only for himself, and not for the sake of the happiness and convenience of life of other people. Selfishness, individualism, egocentrism and excessive pride will become the main character traits of the cosmic man. The absence of the need for economic ties between people with the advent of individual production will have a powerful detrimental effect on the intellectual health of society.

It is interesting to note that individual production will provide an abundance of material wealth for humanity and eliminate exploitation. This must be seen as a very positive impact on society. At the same time, individual production will create conditions for complete economic isolation from society of every person in space. This property of individual production will lead society to destruction. Individual production contains two opposing properties: good and bad; in this object the struggle of two opposites (good for society and bad) is “deeply hidden and veiled.”

c ) What is the mortal danger in the indomitable process of dispersing cosmic society into small and minute components? The fact is that the disunity of civilization ultimately leads to the disintegration of the human collective. The team once made a Man out of a monkey! Sociologists have proven the primary role of collective labor in the emergence of man. Without activity in society, among other people, a person would never have developed speech, writing, science, technology, art and thinking in general would not have been able to develop. The cosmic laws of the material evolution of society have significant differences from the modern laws of economic development. On the surface of the planet there is a process of increasing population density, and in space the opposite process will occur of a rapid decrease in the density of the “human mass” due to the separation of humanity in space. The social unification of people in the space age will be replaced by the reverse process of degradation of society from the severance of social ties . The main reason for aging is the cessation of social contacts, the elimination of “live” communication between people. Removing groups of people millions of light years from each other will lead to complete social isolation of these small groups, since no types of television or radio communications are possible at such distances. This gives rise to the social death of society and causes the decay of civilization from within. The destruction of the social system of connections, the death of the collective will lead, first of all, to the death of the mind and intellect. If a small child is taken away from the team and “given to be raised by a wolf pack,” then he will completely lose his intelligence. If an adult is isolated from the group, then after several decades of “voluntary loneliness” he will completely lose interest in life, his desire to create, create, produce will dry up, the ability for logical thinking will be lost, and the development of intelligence will stop. There is a direct connection between the collective and the intellect: no collective means no intellect. Similar connections between “society and intellect” will operate as long as humanity exists. If a child is given “to be raised by computers and robots,” the result will be the same - after 20 years (an adult) he will completely lose the incentive to be creative, the meaning of further existence will disappear! Cosmic people, just like modern people, need to live among society in order to become intellectually developed. In medical terms, the loneliness of a cosmic man will lead to an epidemic of mental illness, which the author called anti-socialization. Humanity will be destroyed by a mental illness, which is in many ways similar to schizophrenia. The main symptom of schizophrenia (as well as antisocialization) is the pathology of logical thinking and the pathology of true reflection of the processes of existence, the absence of a purpose for existence and the inability to carry out purposeful actions. Excessive development of the intellect (mind), combined with the specific conditions of human existence in outer space (with loneliness), will cause degradation of highly developed intelligence, leading humanity to the emergence of an epidemic of “cosmic schizophrenia”. “Cosmic schizophrenia” is a social disease, not a biological or medical pathology. To cure “cosmic schizophrenia” you do not need drugs or brain surgery. To cure the disease, you only need to change the living conditions of the cosmic man, replacing loneliness with the development of man within the team. But, unfortunately, man will never be able to change the conditions of existence in space. Chemical matter (mineral raw materials) in the Universe has a dispersed distribution (it is dispersed, scattered), and humanity will always strive for an abundant supply of mineral raw materials in order to create an abundance of material wealth from it. The thirst for a rich and prosperous life leads to the massive absorption of cosmic raw materials by humanity, which, in turn, will lead to the dispersion of civilization throughout the gigantic volume of the Universe and to the degradation of the mind, that is, to the death of cosmic society! The death of society will occur in 3 billion years far from Earth, in other galaxies. From what once came the emergence of society, from what will happen in the future will be its death. Due to the emergence of the collective, society arose, and due to the collapse of the collective, the death of society will occur in space. Both during the emergence of humanity and during its death, the collective is the main reason for the evolutionary process of the perfection of Intelligent matter. Social processes depend most of all on the laws of economics; economic expediency will lead to an unacceptable deformation of social laws. An insurmountable dialectical contradiction arises: economic progress causes social regression and the death of society.

After the death of intellect, the cosmic man himself will undoubtedly die, since Man without enormous knowledge will not be able to fight for existence in space. What social meaning is included in the concept of “the process of degradation of society from the elimination of social ties”? Cosmic Man loses his sense of social belonging. As has already been proven above, the removal of a person from collective life leads to intellectual degradation. It is precisely because of the pronounced degradation of personality that it can be argued that the lonely life of a cosmic person will certainly cause a reverse process of the development of society in social terms. However, humanity will not be able to avoid “intellectual degradation and cosmic isolation” in the future, since economic evolution will force man to move further and further away from planets with compact human habitation. The evolution of humanity in space will put it in conditions under which Man will have the only opportunity to acquire an abundance of material wealth - if he flies as far as possible on his space rocket from the compact habitation of people.

Outer space will cause groups of people to separate from each other! Space is the road to the cemetery. But for humanity there is no other way! Economic laws that cruelly and uncompromisingly govern society always win . The social desires of humanity (and even more so the desires of individual people) will be completely ignored by the global, economic laws of material evolution. The social desire of slaves to become free was ignored, the social desire of the communists to destroy the exploitative capitalist system and create a non-exploitative society was ignored. There is no doubt that humanity's most cherished social desire for eternal existence will not be fulfilled (and will be ignored in the future). Each of us (and humanity as a whole) wanted the eternal life of society to exist, without the phenomenon of aging, without the social death of society, so that “our bodies and souls would live forever in happiness and pleasure on earth and in heaven.” This would be great, but it will never be implemented in practice. NEVER. The eternal existence of someone or something can only be dreamed of by people who deeply believe in global goodness and universal justice. It’s a shame for Humanity, but it, obeying the instinct of material abundance, will “rush” after a rich and materially secure life into the cold and endless expanses of space, and will die there. Reason will leave people, and they will love comfort and wealth more than their lives. The infinity of the Universe will absorb a small, well-equipped and ordered world, which is called society. Society will dissolve (in the literal sense of the word) in infinite space, the collective and all social ties will be destroyed.

It is impossible to avoid the social tragedy of mankind (death), since in theory and practice only the following path of development of mankind is possible. Modern humanity strives for a comfortable, rich and prosperous life, and this is only possible in a society where production operates intensively, providing more and more new goods every year. The material evolution of society on Earth requires every year more and more mineral resources per capita. Humanity will never resist the desire to “live better,” but that would be stupid. The “raw materials policy” described above will lead civilization to the fact that by the year 3000, all mineral deposits on Earth will be exhausted. Humanity will be faced with a choice: to perish, or to begin consuming mineral raw materials from other planets of the solar system. Humanity will have no other choice. After absorbing the mineral resources of the planets of the solar system, humanity will be forced to develop the mineral resources of the planets of other star systems. Thus, humanity will gradually be “drawn” into the space era of development, into the space “race” for mineral raw materials. Further, humanity will not be able to avoid fragmentation into small parts , and groups of space migrants will not be able to resist the process of separation into independent family units. The disastrous process of dispersion of civilization across endless outer space, the process of asocialization, will begin. The result of the ultra-high scientific and technological development of society will be social degradation and death of space society. Is it possible for humanity to resist social and economic aging? No, his efforts to “overcome aging” are obviously doomed to failure, just like the fight against aging of any individual person.

As can be seen from the reasoning, the ruthless laws of economic evolution “require” the death of society. Humanity, submitting to the unbridled desire for material abundance, will unnoticedly move towards its destruction. Humanity will not be able to follow a different “evolutionary path”. The fate of space society is predetermined - to slowly grow old, without stopping the production process for a second, and to die quietly in the depths of the Universe. Space is the road to the cemetery. But for humanity there is no other way!

Therefore, let's rejoice in the fact that we temporarily exist, temporarily enjoy available material goods, and in this historical era we have the opportunity to communicate with other people. The fate of future generations of space society is difficult and turbulent, since its essence lies in a more brutal struggle for existence in space compared to our “soft” struggle for a decent life on the fertile Earth. Our great-grandchildren will have more material wealth. In this regard, they will be happier than us, but it will not be very easy for them to “support on their shoulders” the achieved level of development of a powerful cosmic civilization, maintaining the “dynamics of progress” with all their strength, often through numerous sacrifices. The level of freedom of primitive people is thousands of times greater than that of modern people, and the level of freedom of modern people is thousands of times higher than that of people of space civilization. In this regard, our great-great-grandchildren will be unhappy, defective, “crushed under the oppression” of their excessive development.

CONCLUSION. The category “space” (in relation to cosmic humanity) contains the unity of two opposites: the abundance of mineral raw materials (economic plus) and its dispersed location, which in the distant future will lead to the destruction of the collective and Humanity as a whole (social minus). In the material world, everything that is once born will certainly perish after time. Life begins with the process of separation of Man and society from wild (cosmic) nature; the death of civilization is the merging of society with the gigantic, plasma-chemical SPACE! Humanity “emerged” from Space and Nature, and after billions of years the entire mass of civilization, together with Humanity, “will return there.” In 3 billion years, the entire “mass of Humanity and society” will merge with lifeless, eternal cosmic matter into a single whole!

MOLOSTOV V.D.
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Personality degradation - what is it?

“Degradation” is not only a definition used by psychologists. This word means decline, development with the opposite sign. This happens when a certain object loses its inherent good qualities, positive characteristics, and falls one step or several steps lower.

As for human degradation, it means a loss of mental balance, a final decrease or significant deterioration in the ability to work and any other manifestation of oneself. Gradually, everything useful that a person has learned in the process of life disappears, the boundaries between the concepts of “good” and “bad” are erased.

Not only the ability to think adequately, but also to feel and respond emotionally to events is under threat. Gradually, interest in understanding the world around us, the desire to learn, to learn something new disappears. And what is well known does not bring joy.

Little by little, all positive emotions disappear, replaced by indifference to one’s own life and to the lives of loved ones. Responsibility ceases to be felt, one’s own and other people’s feelings lose meaning.

Such personal disintegration is more often observed in the elderly, but it can also begin in able-bodied people who are still far from retirement. There are more than enough pensioners who lead active lives and maintain clarity of thought, and at the same time there are young people who have nevertheless lost their human appearance - there are plenty of examples.

A person affected by degradation loses the ability to develop, does not pay attention to any norms and prohibitions, and his behavior goes beyond the scope of moral concepts. Figuratively speaking, only a physical shell remains of a person, and it becomes difficult to call him alive in spiritual terms.

Signs of a depressed person are noticed by those around him: his gait changes, his posture deteriorates, sloppiness appears - unwashed clothes, torn shoes. There may be sudden weight gain or loss.

Little by little, all human hobbies and interests are reduced to satisfying the most primitive needs, and even physical survival may at some point be in jeopardy.

What is “degrade” and where did this word come from?

This verb comes from a noun that refers to the gradual deterioration over time of the characteristics of an object, substance or person due to external or internal influence. In simpler words, degradation is the gradual destruction of a person or something else.

This term is in most cases used as an antonym to the word “progress”.

The noun “degradation” came into the Russian language during the time of Peter I. Then it had a slightly different meaning. In those years, every military or civil servant knew very well what it meant to “degrade” and was very afraid of it, since this noun signified dismissal from service or demotion with deprivation of ranks.

Although a similar term degradatio in the meaning of “degradate” or “demote” existed in Latin, it came to Russian through the mediation of Polish - thanks to the word degradacja.

At the beginning of the 20th century. the word took on a slightly different meaning from its French counterpart dégrader, meaning "decline or deterioration", and thus gradually acquired its modern meaning.

Alcoholic syntonic type

A person who drinks develops optimism, cheerfulness, and is usually in an upbeat mood. To himself he seems beautiful, worthy, prosperous, and those around him are also usually assessed complacently. Everything would be fine if such an approach helped limit alcohol intake and contributed to a person’s personal growth. But that's not true.

Such a person is sociable, but indiscriminate in contacts. He can easily talk about himself, but such frankness is perceived as excessive, intrusive, and is often directed at unfamiliar people.

Example. Anton, “alcohol experience” – 14 years. Likes to visit establishments and events where you can eat and drink deliciously, and sit at the table. If possible, does not miss birthdays, celebrations, holidays, anniversaries of relatives, acquaintances and colleagues.

Talkative, sociable, not averse to gossip, tries to look caring and helpful. Offers toast and pours more for the neighbors at the table. He disturbs guests, “pulling” them out to dance, participate in competitions, etc. He usually has a naive and benign appearance.

After drinking, he becomes clingy, obsessively asks questions, compliments women, tries to joke, not noticing that some of his jokes are frankly vulgar and greasy. Confident in his rightness, the correctness of his conclusions, he becomes caustic and verbally aggressive when someone doubts the truth of his judgments, cheerfulness or goodwill.

He really doesn’t like to admit he’s wrong. Sincere repentance after “extra” words or actions was not noticed behind him. However, he never crosses certain boundaries in aggressive behavior and is not prone to fights. He can bring new casual acquaintances home, introduce them as his friends, and give them money.

Methods of influence should be based on the cheerfulness of a person of this type. Joy is always an opportunity to get rid of illness. If a person feels that his joy is needed, that he can realize himself in this area, there is a real chance for change.

These people need to be captivated, preferably by example, they need to be taught etiquette, conversation, methods of argument, shown the prospects and possibilities of reason and knowledge. Such people, as a rule, love enthusiasts, but more “punchy” and enthusiastic than themselves. They respect good specialists, masters of their craft. They can forgive such people both tediousness and severity.

How to deal with degradation

If degradation is not stopped in time, you can smoothly sink to the bottom of life, from which it can be very difficult to get out. Once the degradation has barely begun, you can stop it on your own and start the reverse process. But you won’t be able to cope with advanced degradation, especially aggravated by chemical addictions, on your own. You need the help of loved ones and qualified treatment.

read books

The simplest and most universal way to stop degradation is reading. But only if it has not reached an advanced stage.

Do you feel like you have stopped developing lately? Pick up a book immediately. Reading not only fills our memory with new information, but also develops important parts of the brain.

You just need to approach the choice of literature with all responsibility. Second-rate pulp novels, meaningless detective stories, and memoirs of pop stars are unlikely to help stop the regression; rather, on the contrary.

Russian and foreign classics, scientific works on philosophy, ethics, history, biographies of great and successful people, encyclopedias, and self-development books are perfect.

Tidy up your appearance

Appearance is the first to suffer when degraded. Therefore, it is best to start crawling out of the hole with him. Here is a checklist that will help you tidy up your appearance, which has suffered during the regression:

Maintain good hygiene. Shower - daily, brush your teeth - twice a day, wash your hair - when dirty.
Throw away clothes and shoes that have lost their appearance. These are things with stubborn stains, stretched knees, faded patterns, and holes. And also shoes that can no longer be repaired.
Put in order those things that are left. Get rid of pellets, wash off stains, iron thoroughly. Clean your shoes and treat them with special products.
Watch your nails. Trim and remove dirt promptly.
Don't slouch. A hunched back reveals you as a person crushed by life.

Learn to think positively

Pessimists are more susceptible to degradation than optimists. Emotional distress leads to psychological and then physical distress. Therefore, you need to literally pull yourself out of despondency by the scruff of the neck. There is no one else to do this.

Luckily, positive thinking is just a habit that anyone can develop. You need to start with spring cleaning in your own mind. Uproot all negative attitudes that, like weeds, prevent beneficial seeds from sprouting.

“I won’t succeed”, “I won’t achieve anything”, “Life is pain” - you need to get rid of all this garbage.

Then you have to learn to control your thought flow. It's not easy, but the result will pleasantly surprise you. Every time some unpleasant thought appears in your mind, immediately block it, not allowing it to grow like a snowball. Gradually, such thoughts will become less and less, and they will be replaced by positive and constructive ones.

Observe moral standards

Moral guidelines have been formed over thousands of years and are deeply imprinted in the collective consciousness. Even if you try to deny them, your brain knows on an unconscious level what is right and wrong, and judges your every action according to these criteria.

Many consider any norms to be a relic of the past and a useless framework that limits individual freedom. In fact, all these rules, on the contrary, are designed to strengthen the personality and make a person stronger.

If you become seriously interested in ethics, you will find that moral standards are the same in all developed cultures. You can turn to any religion and take the fundamental principles as a model. For example, the idea of the seven deadly sins in Christianity.

Mind your manners

Move from ethics to etiquette. Start watching how and what you say, how you behave in public places. Get rid of swearing, filler words, jargon and other verbal garbage. Be polite, tactful, courteous, moderately restrained. Stop talking loudly and laughing, because this is a sign of bad taste.

Get rid of bad habits

Of course, if it was bad habits that led you to complete degradation, then this advice will be useless. But in cases where the degradation is not so advanced and you are able to control yourself, take a step towards a healthy lifestyle.

Give up cigarettes and alcohol, reduce your consumption of coffee and other stimulants. This will not only improve your health, but also increase your self-confidence. The realization that you yourself got rid of a destructive habit through an effort of will gives a tremendous boost to your self-esteem.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself

When a person realizes that he has seriously neglected his life, he wants to feel sorry for himself, so small, weak and defenseless. You shouldn't do this. Complaining will only make the problem worse. On the contrary, you need to gather all your strength into a fist and start doing at least something to pull yourself out of the swamp.

When we feel sorry for ourselves, we personally acknowledge our weakness and worthlessness. And change can only be done from a position of strength.

Seek help from specialists

In the most advanced cases, it will not be possible to stop the destruction of personality on your own. This is especially true for degradation caused by alcohol addiction. You need to recognize your limitations and seek help from a doctor or psychotherapist.

Spiritual degradation

This is a very serious problem that modern society faces more and more often. What does spiritual degradation mean? This is a decline in morality, in which people forget the basic values laid down since the formation of society. These include kindness, sincerity, dignity, empathy. Money comes to the center stage; it creates a deceptive feeling of happiness, security, joy, because it can fulfill any need. In fact, this is not so, money accelerates the process of degradation of society. People increasingly think that they don’t have to work to get money and a decent life, but this is not true. Along with this, the level of cultural needs decreases, we notice less and less the beauty that is around us, we stop enjoying what is nearby. The spiritual degradation of society gradually leads to decay and ultimately, the collapse of society.

Etymology of the word

The word degradation is borrowed from the Polish language (degradacja - from the Latin degradatio “demotion, gradual decline”) - a derivative of degradare “to go down”, in turn formed using the prefix de “down” from gradior “to step”

A number of dictionaries erroneously show that the word degradation is borrowed from the French language. In fact, this word was borrowed from the Polish language in the Petrine era in the meaning of “demotion, deprivation of ranks.” A new meaning of this word “decline” took shape in the Russian language under the influence of French and other Western European languages in the 20th century.

In the 20th century, not a new word appeared, but a semantic neologism - instead of the original meaning of “demote,” the word began to be used in a new sense - decline, gradual deterioration, loss of valuable properties and qualities in different areas (degradation of society, degradation of culture, degradation of art, soil degradation and etc.).

Types of alcoholic dementia

Depending on the location of the dead areas of nerve tissue, several types of dementia are distinguished, each with its own distinctive characteristics.

Subcortical

The main manifestations include a violation of cause-and-effect relationships, fixation on imaginary problems, the inability to sensibly assess life situations, the so-called tunnel (narrowed) consciousness.

A person with such a pathology falls into dementia slowly. In the first stages, even for those closest to him, changes in his intelligence are not obvious

Frequent disturbances in the emotional state, pettiness, and irritability are noteworthy. The patient freaks out for no apparent reason, is offended like a child, and may cry for no reason. Possible sleep disorders, withdrawal, fearfulness, lethargy, depression, depressed state

During conversations, the meaning of what was said takes a long time to reach a person. In severe cases, inappropriate behavior appears: fear of being in an empty room, uncontrolled gluttony, causeless aggression, hostility, prolonged insomnia. Memory functions are usually the last to be affected in this type of dementia.

Possible sleep disorders, withdrawal, fearfulness, lethargy, depression, depression. During conversations, the meaning of what was said takes a long time to reach a person. In severe cases, inappropriate behavior appears: fear of being in an empty room, uncontrolled gluttony, causeless aggression, hostility, prolonged insomnia. Memory functions are usually the last to be affected in this type of dementia.

We recommend reading Personality degradation in alcoholism in men

Cortical

It has a severe course. The main symptom is memory impairment. A sick person completely loses the ability to remember new information and cannot remember many events from the recent past. Memory loss due to damage to parts of the cerebral cortex affects the most important areas of life: a person becomes distracted, stops recognizing loved ones, forgets his own place of residence, his name, and loses everyday skills. The condition is often accompanied by clinical signs of Korsakov's syndrome: the appearance of false, including the most fantastic, memories. The patient realizes that he is a different person or talks about events that actually did not happen.

Multifocal

Necrotization of areas in most parts of the brain - thalamus, cerebellum, myoclonus - is manifested by disturbances in perception, thought processes, and behavioral reactions. At first, the person becomes distracted and sloppy, starts talking, and behaves strangely. Then he gradually loses the ability to navigate in the surrounding space, speak coherently, write, and serve himself. There is complete degradation of personality. This form of dementia progresses very quickly - the patient can completely lose intelligence within a few months.

The line between types of brain damage is very thin - starting with behavioral disturbances and aggressiveness characteristic of subcortical dementia, the disease can develop into a multifocal form with disruption of all parts of the central nervous system.

On the importance of strong willful efforts

In fact, it is easy not to become a degenerate. Just volitional efforts must be feasible. It wouldn’t occur to you to lift 100 kilograms in the gym when you yourself weigh 50, right? You need to take a feasible weight. It is much easier to implement a small habit than a large one. And when it already becomes a part of you, then it can be cultivated. The main thing is to plant the seed and constantly water it . And then it will become a huge tree that will bear very tasty fruits. And remember - willpower is a muscle that can and should be trained.

In the world, a huge number of people die due to lack of self-control (they drink themselves to death, commit suicide, die from a heart attack due to eating food rich in cholesterol), do not repeat their example. Indeed, the body will not thank you if you abuse anything. This is precisely the first symptom of degradation.

Personality degradation

What does human degradation mean? This is the process of loss of inherent qualities and properties of a person; feelings, judgments, and abilities inherent at birth are lost.

Memory, ability to concentrate, deteriorates, lack of interest in life and the world around you

Movement is life!

If you don’t want to learn from personal example what human degradation is, try to always be active. Regular walks, sports - all this will make your life shine with new colors. Remember, perhaps you have long wanted to try some unusual type of fitness or take up dancing? Don't deny yourself this pleasure! People who are easy-going are especially positive and cheerful. Train yourself to agree to all interesting spontaneous invitations. Try to spend more time in nature, in city parks, and also visit cultural and entertainment places.

Degradation is a synonym for the words regression and deterioration. In order to prevent it, it is necessary to constantly develop. Go to the theater or cinema, exhibitions and other events. Discover new genres and art directions.

Prevention of degradation.

Lack of development leads to degradation, but is explained by many reasons: the need to think about today, low motivation, loss of interest in life, downshifting or other tricky words. But sometimes your own development is stopped by your own laziness. Even if we want to stay where we are, we have to make an effort. But if you’re really stressed, why not just maintain the same level, but regularly bring something new to life.

We have collected 6 tips from motivational speakers, speakers and sages that will help you start growing above yourself right now.

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Get up earlier than usual.

Every morning is a clean slate and a new opportunity to change your life for the better. That's why most self-development tips start with revising and replacing your morning rituals. Getting up early, 1-2 glasses of water, a healthy breakfast, morning meditation, physical exercise or simple stretching will help wake up your body and brain and set you up for a productive day. Immediately after this, you can take on the most difficult task - willpower and creativity are at their maximum.

Read, expand your vocabulary.

It has been scientifically proven that language affects brain development and shapes thinking. It’s amazing how rich, metaphorical, filled with quotes and beautiful comparisons the language of the classics is. And how dry, colorless speech has become now. But the ability to understand the world depends on how we speak. Reading is not just a useful habit, but a way to expand your vocabulary, improve your analytical skills, improve your concentration and empathy skills, and give you moral superiority over those who don’t read.

Invest in your development.

You can learn everything, even what you didn’t dare to dream about as a child. New skills that will make the brain more flexible and help in life will be beneficial: speed reading, mnemonics, public speaking, improvisation, presentation art. For your mood, outlook, sense of beauty, and the ability to be an interesting conversationalist, you can master cooking, drawing, playing a musical instrument, and photography.

Avoid foods that kill your brain.

Many successful entrepreneurs adhere to the principles of proper nutrition. Which is not surprising, because unhealthy foods not only lead to obesity, but also reduce the brain’s ability to learn, impair memory and speed of information processing, and lead to senile dementia. In addition, stomach problems lead to a sharp decrease in happiness hormones, leading to depression and mental disorders. Refusal of sugar, trans fats, preservatives in favor of nuts, greens and fish will invigorate the brain and hormones.

Take a mental health test

Review the list of sites you visit daily.

Severe Internet addiction causes the same brain changes as drug addiction. But a computer is just a thing that everyone uses in their own way. Using a phone, one takes photos of food, while the other goes on a virtual tour of art galleries around the world or takes online courses. In order not to fall into the sad statistics of those obsessed with virtual life, scientists recommend asking yourself the question: how and why do I use the Internet? But it’s even better to review the list of sites you visit and remove those that make your brain lack initiative.

Forget about age.

Life is a period limited in time and resources. As long as we are alive, there will be resources for growth

The only question is the desire and readiness to use them, no matter how long you have lived and how much is left until the end of your life

Conclusions:

Degradation is a downward movement, the opposite of progress and personal development.
Degradation looks like a crutch - a person relies on an invented reality and is afraid to throw it away.
It is impossible to stop new technologies. But instead of scrolling through sites, you can use them for learning and self-development.

Take the self-esteem test

How not to fall yourself

There are a few simple tips that will help you prevent falling into the social ranks:

Constantly develop yourself. Remember that one of the levels of degradation is skills. Therefore, constantly upgrade your abilities to be useful to people. This is where we need to start. If you do not consciously develop, then the likelihood of degradation increases significantly.
Train your willpower. Meditation helps very well in this matter, since it teaches you to direct attention to what is needed.
Develop good habits. A strong will is good, but a person gets tired from putting in too much effort. Therefore, cultivate habits that will then automatically develop you: read, communicate with interesting people, work, spend free time with loved ones, eat right, play sports, think positively. It seems trivial, but try to do it systematically. After a while, you won’t be able to live without it, and besides everything else, your standard of living will increase significantly, as well as your authority in the eyes of others.

It all starts with willful efforts, but they must be used wisely. Scientists have found that self-control is a resource, the reserves of which also need to be restored from time to time. So use it well by forming good habits.

Possible reasons

Single people are more prone to personal disintegration than married or cohabiting people. Prolonged stay in depression leads to personal decline, sometimes to suicidal attempts.

In addition, regression of personal development is one of the symptoms of various mental illnesses and neurotic disorders. Thus, regression of intellectual and personal development can be observed in schizophrenia, epilepsy and traumatic brain injuries.

Most often, personality deformation is observed in those who suffer from alcohol or drug addiction. In this case, personal degradation will be accompanied by somatic symptoms and problems in the functioning of the nervous system.

Additional Information. Alcoholism can be both a cause of personal degradation and a bitter consequence of the collapse of a person’s psychological structure. The same goes for gambling addiction.

Alcoholism and degradation

Apathy and personality disintegration can occur when a person has experienced severe emotional stress: the death of a spouse, loss of a job. Some regression in personal growth is observed among people after retirement: they lose their usual connections with colleagues, fall out of business communication and “lag behind” the pace of life of working friends and relatives. In addition, carelessness and the absence of daily work responsibilities will relax the brain and help reduce the expression of socially significant personal qualities of a person.

Spiritual degradation is becoming an urgent problem in modern society. It occurs as a result of devaluation of love, lack of compassion, disregard for moral standards, and self-centeredness. Young people today are degrading, since reading fiction has ceased to be an interesting activity for them. Their jokes are flat, their topics of communication are banal, their judgments are superficial and frivolous. They tend to destroy themselves with electronic cigarettes and spice.

For your information. A rare visit to cultural events, theater, cinema, and concerts can provoke spiritual degradation.

Fighting methods

A person with degradation must realize his problem and try to change something in his life, change his attitude towards himself, change his priorities, attitudes, and worldview.

Therapy should be aimed at eliminating the consequences caused by personality degradation. Psychological assistance is mandatory, and the support of relatives is also important.

In addition to working on yourself, psychotherapy can be represented by:

hypnosis sessions;
group therapy;
cognitive behavioral therapy.

If this condition is a consequence of mental disorders affecting the brain, in particular the development of senile insanity, then the patient may be prescribed special drugs that maintain degradation at a certain level; atrophy is an irreversible process.

What is degradation or disintegration of personality

Personality degradation is a collective term that implies the presence of psychological and physiological pathological processes that interfere with a person’s normal life and work.

Personality degradation in the definition refers to a decrease in activity and performance, personal regression as a result of mental imbalance and passivity. Degrading, a person loses socially significant qualities, his judgments and conclusions become primitive. He loses the ability to create something new, to generate ideas.

With a split personality, a person’s sphere of interests narrows, and he experiences difficulties in social adaptation. Mental processes malfunction, as a result of which a person becomes irritable. The characteristic features of the behavior of a degenerate are weakness of character, carelessness, insanity, and dementia. Gradually, a person loses contact with the world around him, the natural need for recognition and communication is replaced by indifference and a craving for loneliness. The pathological process also has a negative impact on a person’s professional activity.

Characteristic symptoms and signs

Volitional personality traits - what is it in psychology, their formation

The process of personal disintegration can be detected by the following symptoms and signs:

In character, such traits as deceit, anxiety, grumpiness, and stubbornness come to the fore.
Untidy appearance, neglect of personal hygiene rules.
Loss of faith in one's strength and importance. A person is convinced that everything is decided by the stronger. He believes that life depends on circumstances, and not on his own activity. It is useless to argue with fate; you should not try to change something.
Apathy and indifference. Human activity is aimed only at satisfying physiological needs.
A clear division of people into “us” and “strangers”. The circle of contacts is sharply narrowing.
Lack of tolerance for other people's opinions. The degenerate considers his point of view to be undeniably correct.
Limited vocabulary. A degrading person has difficulty in describing an object or phenomenon in detail. There are few adjectives in his speech. He has difficulty describing his emotional state and makes mistakes in understanding the expression of emotions and moods in other people.
Presence of alcohol, gaming or drug addiction.

Alcohol personality distortion

Important! Attentive attitude towards a person and a timely response to changes in his behavior can stop degradation.

Stages of alcoholism

The immediate human desire to drink more and more with everyone, and the resulting inability to control one’s own behavior, can be conditionally divided into several stages

At the first stage, a person drinks more and more each time, which leads to a certain loss of self-control.

The following condition appears:

swagger in behavior;
inability to remember some events;
bad feeling;
sleep problems.

At the same time, he himself zealously condemns alcoholics, believing that he is just a hobby, which he is ready to end at any moment.

This stage is already chronic, in which there is a persistent desire to drink, since alcohol is now the only hobby, and the morning hangover now becomes obligatory, which, of course, leads to binge drinking. Here the need to drink is already manifested at the physiological level, and a sober person already becomes angry and depressed.

The second stage is called the late stage, during which disturbances in the functioning of the body occur. Degradation in this case already occurs at the physiological level, as brain cells are destroyed. Problems with speech, coordination and thinking are pronounced here.

Already literally at the second stage, a person begins to form a so-called alcoholic character, which manifests itself as:

lack of critical perception of one's own life;
decreased intelligence;
increased emotionality;
tearfulness;
deceit;
inability to communicate and behave adequately in society.

Judging by all the symptoms of personality changes listed above in alcoholism, the degradation of a drinking person is noticeable, which is obvious.

In addition, over time, in order to return to his favorite state of intoxication, he begins to consume much cheaper alcoholic products that are surrogates, such as colognes, medicinal tinctures, pharmaceutical alcohol, and so on. Of course, this further aggravates the state of poor health.