“Many people don’t stop so as not to feel, so as not to realize that they are involved in a search that makes no sense,” he says.
On the occasion of the celebration of the Founding Headquarters of Vigo (Policarpo Sanz, 24), we spoke with Javier García Campayo. The psychiatrist at the Miguel Servet University Hospital, professor in Psychiatry at the University of Zaragoza and director of the Master of Mindfulness at the same university, has assured that “returning to simplicity is what connects with happiness”.
Are we living too fast and is that hurting us?
We are the most stressed society throughout history and stress at this time in medicine is considered to be the cause of a large number of diseases. If one wants to live less he has to be stressed, that shortens life.
We know the recipe, but it is difficult for us to put it into practice.
It is difficult because, in some way, we have put happiness in external objects. The consumer society has convinced us that it is necessary to have a series of things, objects, to be happy and, of course, getting them means earning money, working, dedicating a lot of time… It’s a whiting that bites its tail. One is involved in that “rat race”, as the Anglo-Saxons define it, and it is difficult to stop and look, because everyone does the same thing, everyone expects that of us, and it is difficult to stop and ask yourself: what is the point? my life, why don’t I prioritize what is really important?
Precisely, not being clear about the meaning of life, is it what generates so much stress?
We are not clear about our meaning in life, something I insist on a lot in the book. At the end of life, what is important is not everything we have achieved financially or the success we have achieved, but rather what we have loved and have loved, that is, interpersonal relationships, and the feeling of leaving the world something that worth it the sorrow.
If you want to live less you have to be stressed, that shortens life.
Have we lost the ability to enjoy the little things?
Happiness is precisely in the small things: enjoying a child’s smile, having a coffee with a friend, a walk in the park… We are always looking for things that can be bought with money, showing off in the social networks that we are happy… It is a kind of meaningless race. Returning to simplicity is what connects us to happiness.
Build our happiness on a house of cards…
Yes. And that, in the end, gets us nowhere, because we put happiness in something external and, when we achieve it, we get tired quickly. And we look for something else and another and another, in an endless process. If one is able to realize it, he stops compulsively searching and dedicates himself to connecting with himself.
Are we afraid to analyze ourselves, to listen to ourselves?
Many people don’t stop so as not to feel, so as not to realize that they are really involved in a search that makes no sense.
He maintains that “mindfulness” It is a great preventive tool.
People who practice mindfulness have less risk of developing psychological diseases (also physical, because they are closely related); But, in addition, mindfulness is considered the psychotherapy of choice for recurrent depression.
How does it work?
What it teaches you, in some way, is to let thoughts pass, not to want to throw them out, but not to get trapped by them either. This allows you to navigate the world, even if adverse circumstances arise, in the most satisfactory way possible. And it is a training that everyone can develop.
All?
Yes. It is a matter of spending five or ten minutes training in these attention techniques. We are the society with the shortest attention span and well-being and happiness are closely linked to a stable mind, one that is not continually jumping from one place to another compulsively looking for things.
What are the benefits?
One of the main demands of patients in consultation is to be given something to stop thinking. They cannot bear to be continually thinking, ruminating. The benefits that you will see are that this continuous chatter decreases, there is more and more tranquility and one is not constantly in the past or the future, but in the present, enjoying what is happening. They notice everything more intensely, even the flavors in food, the smells… Everything is more pleasant, satisfying and calm. There is a feeling of peace and well-being that floods everyone’s life as soon as they have been practicing it for a few months.
New technologies fill us with noise, leading us to continuous hyperstimulation.
That has been one of the big changes in recent years, which makes the new generations more distracted, requiring more continuous stimulation. Teachers say it, that keeping the kids’ attention in the classrooms now costs much more.
Proposals proliferate to limit young people’s access to cell phones. What do you think?
I think it would be good practice. But, effectively, it has to be a social issue, that the entire society is aware that it is harmful to young people and that everyone, or almost everyone, agrees on that. Not that it is done in one class yes and in another, no; or in one school yes and in another, no. It should be a collective acceptance. It makes no sense for a kid to have a cell phone before the age of 16 because he is not prepared for the whole issue of social networks and all that continuous stimulation.
Are there still false myths about “mindfulness”?
There are myths like you have to clear your mind or things of that type. But it is simply about training yourself to pay attention to a point and, if you leave that point, return again and again. That is what trains and calms the mind.
Could it help alleviate the high statistics of medicalization to treat mental health problems?
Many times I offer both: mindfulness or other psychotherapies and pharmacological treatment. It also happens that, on many occasions, people do not want the effort. We live in a society that seeks quick results and pharmacological treatment, on many occasions, achieves it. It is more effective and longer lasting in the long term, but it requires effort.
Is there hope for a future with better mental health?
Psychological discomfort is very broad and widespread, but there is more social awareness among institutions and people; There is also more individual search for that well-being with their own techniques (mindfulness, yoga, exercise…), which means that people are taking more and more responsibility for their own health. I believe that this is a positive and hopeful aspect, but it is true that, in general, the expectations, due to the type of stressful life we lead, are that psychological discomfort will continue to grow.