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<\/div>Like many people, my mental health took an enormous hit during the covid-19 pandemic. I felt lonely and lost, unsure of the direction of my life. Mundane tasks like making my bed became overwhelming, and I was uninterested in activities that once brought me joy. I wasn\u2019t sad, but I wasn\u2019t happy either. I was just\u2026 existing.<\/p>\n
Actually, I may have been languishing, says Corey Keyes<\/a>, a psychologist at Emory University in Georgia and advisor to the World Happiness Report<\/a>. Keyes has dedicated his career to understanding this particular state of mind and, crucially, how to avoid it.<\/p>\n In his new book, Languishing: How to feel alive again in a world that wears us down<\/i><\/a>, Keyes argues that while mental illness<\/a> is a problem, so is the absence of mental well-being. He spoke with New Scientist<\/i> about what languishing is, why it is a concern and how we can all work towards flourishing instead.<\/p>\n Grace Wade: What is languishing?<\/b><\/p>\n Corey Keyes:<\/b> Languishing is the absence of well-being. It is when people feel they have nothing positive going on in their lives. No meaning. No mattering. No warm, trusting relationships. No happiness<\/a> or joy. Yet it doesn\u2019t necessarily mean negative emotions like sadness or fear. People who are languishing almost feel nothing. They describe it as being numb or dead inside. I call languishing the neglected middle child of mental health, since it falls between mental illness and mental well-being.<\/p>\n How is languishing different to<\/b> depression<\/b>?<\/b><\/p>\n Only one symptom overlaps between depression and languishing<\/a>, and that\u2026<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n