A wake-up call for us all

When the time trap snaps shut

Depression, burnout, anxiety: the consequences of too much time pressure can be extremely negative.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/Krakenimages.com)

Illnesses such as burnout and depression are on the rise. It is important to press the stop button before nothing else works, advises scientist and psychologist Thomas Fuchs. He was a guest at the Vorarlberg Chamber of Labor. 

Around one in four employees in Austria is affected by depression, anxiety or other mental disorders. Almost half of employees feel under a lot of pressure - work intensification, multitasking, constant availability, high demands on themselves, but also the multiple crises of the present and fears of the future are to blame. The prescription of antidepressants has increased sevenfold since 1981. Mental illness is a consequence of our fast-moving times. Thomas Fuchs, psychiatrist and professor at the University of Heidelberg, warned of this in the "Knowledge for Life" series organized by AK Vorarlberg. Fuchs researches and treats the effects of acceleration and time pressure in our lives. His remarks are like a wake-up call. "Since industrialization, everything has been moving faster and faster, but we end up in traffic jams more and more often." His core message: our society has maneuvered itself into a time trap.

Stress has serious consequences
What does he mean by that? "It's the constant striving for efficiency, productivity and speed." We have become slaves to the clock. Instead of consciously experiencing time, we rush from one task to the next - always with the feeling that something or someone is breathing down our necks. In the process, we lose our sense of quality time: the moments that really fulfill and enrich us. Fuchs summarized this observation under the term "frantic standstill" - a state in which, paradoxically, nothing really changes due to constant acceleration. "Although we move and act faster and faster, the basic quality of life and the feeling of meaningfulness often fall by the wayside." This phenomenon makes it clear that speed alone does not lead to progress or fulfillment, but often simply increases stress

Thomas Fuchs recommends pausing every now and then and taking a deep breath to get out of the time trap.

(Bild: AK Vorarlberg)

A key topic of his presentation was the health consequences of the time trap. "Depression is the dark shadow of modernity." Fuchs pointed out that it is no coincidence that burnout and depression have increased significantly in recent decades. "If we constantly put ourselves under pressure to be faster and better, our inner balance is thrown off," he explained. Burnout is often not just an individual problem, but a symptom of our society. "It is obvious that something is wrong with the temporal order of our society. Time is out of joint. We live in a culture that celebrates exhaustion as a status symbol. If you are tired, you are considered hard-working. If you burn out, you've sacrificed yourself for the cause." These thought patterns need to be broken in order to live healthier lives in the long term.

Mindfulness as a way out
Depression, in turn, is often a reaction to the feeling of meaninglessness that can arise from constant acceleration. "We are running faster and faster, but we often no longer know what for. Without goals that really mean something to us, life becomes empty." Of course, Fuchs didn't just want to leave his audience with an analysis of the time trap. "There are ways out," he emphasized. One of them: mindfulness. Fuchs advocated experiencing the moment more consciously again. "Sometimes it's enough to just stop and do nothing. But you have to learn that again first." It's about seemingly banal things - such as the power of breathing to slow down. A walk without a cell phone, an evening without a screen or a moment to simply think.

Restructuring the day is one of the most important therapeutic measures in the treatment of depression and burnout. "Structures in which there are also times when you can pause and start again." Fuchs also questioned the unchecked dynamics of capitalism. Resistance to a certain de-rhythmization of life is needed. "24-hour opening hours and Sunday shopping are natural enemies of cyclical and therefore human time." The time trap is not a law of nature. It's up to us whether we allow ourselves to be determined by it - or whether we regain control over our lives. "It's all about returning to the present. Just as we arrive at each exhalation without having to plan the next breath, because it happens by itself."