Atlas syndrome: I carry the weight of the world on me

Do you often feel like you have the weight of every task and responsibility on your shoulders? Do work, life, family and even your own thoughts weigh you down, but you still insist that everything is under your control? This mental state defines what is known as Atlas syndrome, a reality that appears more frequently than we think.

There are many people who walk around the world with the moral obligation to “be able to do everything.” They are aware that they are at the limit of their strength, they know that it would be appropriate to delegate and even more necessary to rest. However, this is how they understand life and how they have always been: taking responsibility for tasks and acquiring commitments that exceed their personal resources, but that they nevertheless need to carry out.

This type of dynamic usually occurs in those who, as a child, had to take on tasks that were not appropriate for their age.. Taking care of younger siblings or even taking responsibility for parents or grandparents is something that modifies in a certain way one’s personality and the vision one has of oneself. We delve into it.

What is Atlas syndrome?

In Greek mythology, Atlas was the young titan whom Zeus condemned to having to carry the weight of the bow of the heavens on his shoulders.. He did it as punishment after he led, along with the rest of the titans, a war against the Olympian gods. That rebellion went wrong and Atlas was punished with that penalty in the vicinity of his own kingdom, the garden of the Hesperides. A location that many place in the Strait of Gibraltar.

Well, as happens when trying to describe psychological realities, it is common to turn to legends or classic figures from stories. In this case, Atlas syndrome also does not reflect any clinical entity that appears in diagnostic manuals.. However, it does exemplify a very specific reality that describes all those people who “burden” excess responsibilities on themselves.

Lost childhood and children acting as adults

The British psychology magazine dedicated a research article to this topic in 2011. Psychologists LZ Vogel and Savva Stavrola delved into Atlas syndrome to discover that It appears, basically, in people who did not have a real childhood. They were children who, for various reasons, were forced to play the role of adults by having to take care of younger siblings, parents or grandparents.

These early experiences generated high anxiety in them. In most casesthey could not meet all the needs and demands of their environment, they saw themselves overwhelmed and this undermined their self-esteem and self-concept..

Assume responsibilities to reinforce personal image

Caring for others, ensuring the well-being of others, working to meet the needs of others… Those who get involved in these goals from an early age end up understanding life in this way. Atlas syndrome defines those people who understand their existence by assuming excessive responsibilities.. Doing so is a way to reinforce your self-esteem, to maintain your identity.

They are personalities that neglect their needs to prioritize those of others. They do not connect with their psychological and emotional realities, they leave them aside because the only thing that matters is working, performing, reaching out to everyone—except themselves.They are not very assertive. They are incapable of setting limits and saying “no” when something is asked of them. As pointed out in the previously mentioned study by psychologists LZ Vogel and Savva Stavrol (2011) Atlas personalities present excessive sensitivity and concern for the physical and emotional well-being of others.

Atlas syndrome and mental health

Those who live for decades displacing their needs and turning their faces to their psychological realities do not reach a successful conclusion. Atlas syndrome correlates with mood disorders such as major depression. Panic disorders and anxiety that result in stomach pains, headaches, vomiting, etc. are also common.

On the other hand, it is important to highlight one aspect. This reality is very common in men, the social construction of masculinity and the idea that “they should be able to do everything” are an additional motivation to take on situations of high mental exhaustion. The suicide rate among men is higher than among women and behind this hard data, this problem is often hidden.

How to act when I think that everything is my responsibility?

It is not easy to learn to let go of weight, to delegate and to focus on one’s own needs when we have spent our whole lives focused on others. The idea of ​​linking self-esteem to personal image and how productive we are is not healthy.. Nor is it important to stand as the sole providers of well-being, resources and happiness of our own.

The myth that we must “be able to do everything” is a bad slogan that has been sold to us and that we have assumed without thinking.. A physical and mental pressure that translates into losing your life little by little and day by day. It is not healthy, logical or acceptable. Therefore, it is necessary to reformulate many of the mental schemes that we have validated without questioning ourselves.

Something like this necessarily happens when you have to go to psychological therapy, because in many cases After Atlas syndrome there are neglected depressions, unattended mental conditions. Let’s not leave it for tomorrow. No one can or should take responsibility for others if they do not first take responsibility for themselves.

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