by You can actually die if you give up on life, new research has revealed.
Dr John Leach, a senior research fellow at the University of Portsmouth, said his study showed ‘give-up-itis’ was a genuine medical condition. He says it usually happens when a person suffers something traumatic and believes there is no escape, with death being the ‘only rational outcome’.
He said if the condition is not overcome then death normally occurs three weeks after the first stage of withdrawal. Dr Leach said the stages of give-up-itis were social withdrawal, apathy, lack of motivation, lack of pain response and psychogenic death, which he described as ‘disintegration of the person’. He added: ‘Psychogenic death is real. It isn’t suicide, it isn’t linked to depression, but the act of giving up on life and dying, usually within days, is a very real condition often linked to severe trauma.’ Dr Leach said his study, published in Medical Hypotheses, suggests that give-up-itis could stem from a change in the part of the brain that governs how a person maintains goal-directed behaviour.
He said: ‘Severe trauma might trigger some people’s anterior cingulate circuit to malfunction. Motivation is essential for coping with life and if that fails, apathy is almost inevitable.’ Dr Leach said the most common interventions is physical activity or a person being able to see a situation is at least partially within their control, both of which trigger the release of the feel-good chemical dopamine. He said: ‘Reversing the give-up-itis slide towards death tends to come when a survivor finds or recovers a sense of choice, of having some control, and tends to be accompanied by that person licking their wounds and taking a renewed interest in life.’
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Dr John Leach, a senior research fellow at the University of Portsmouth, said his study showed ‘give-up-itis’ was a genuine medical condition. He says it usually happens when a person suffers something traumatic and believes there is no escape, with death being the ‘only rational outcome’.
He said if the condition is not overcome then death normally occurs three weeks after the first stage of withdrawal. Dr Leach said the stages of give-up-itis were social withdrawal, apathy, lack of motivation, lack of pain response and psychogenic death, which he described as ‘disintegration of the person’. He added: ‘Psychogenic death is real. It isn’t suicide, it isn’t linked to depression, but the act of giving up on life and dying, usually within days, is a very real condition often linked to severe trauma.’ Dr Leach said his study, published in Medical Hypotheses, suggests that give-up-itis could stem from a change in the part of the brain that governs how a person maintains goal-directed behaviour.
He said: ‘Severe trauma might trigger some people’s anterior cingulate circuit to malfunction. Motivation is essential for coping with life and if that fails, apathy is almost inevitable.’ Dr Leach said the most common interventions is physical activity or a person being able to see a situation is at least partially within their control, both of which trigger the release of the feel-good chemical dopamine. He said: ‘Reversing the give-up-itis slide towards death tends to come when a survivor finds or recovers a sense of choice, of having some control, and tends to be accompanied by that person licking their wounds and taking a renewed interest in life.’
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