Digital consolation: robots are taught to support people in grief
Chinese experts have developed a robot capable of replacing the inconsolable relatives of a deceased person. Androids with silicone skin can copy specific people in appearance, voice and manner of communication. The developers believe that doppelgangers will alleviate the pain of a loved one's departure. How such experiments can affect the human psyche, why it is important to live through grief and how long the adaptation process lasts — in the Izvestia material.
Devastating grief and bright sadness
Clinical psychologist and body therapist Sergey Volkov, in a conversation with Izvestia, calls loss one of the most difficult psychophysiological processes.
—Evolutionarily, nature has created a neuropsychic attachment mechanism—the one we call love," he explains. — At the primitive animal level, this is the choice of a mate, and for humans, it is the creation of strong family ties. The body has to adapt to new conditions when communication breaks down — not only because of a person's death, but, for example, due to relocation or termination of pregnancy.
We feel bad when we lose someone, because loss is not only an emotional, but also a neurological process, the expert emphasizes. In psychology, it is called "grief", but not as an emotion, but as a gradually developing systemic way of adaptation. The feeling of mourning for the departed should be replaced by quiet sadness, and then leaving will not be perceived as difficult and traumatic. At the same time, unlike bright sadness, grief is a very destructive feeling, the editorial interlocutor adds.
"We can't choose whether to enter into grief or not — it doesn't depend on our will or consciousness, just as hormone production doesn't depend on us," the clinical psychologist notes. — We can only go this way — there is no choice. Another question is how long this will last. It happens that people, trying to avoid mental pain, postpone grief for decades, turning their lives into endless suffering.
Reaction to grief
Normally, a person usually experiences the loss of a loved one, eventually accepting it, emphasizes psychiatrist Alexei Vilkov. This reaction, he says, usually lasts 2-3 months.
— And if the grief is prolonged and lasts for more than 4-5 months, then we can already talk about depressive experiences — these are the statistics of clinical diagnoses. The support of specialists is already needed here," the Izvestia interlocutor emphasizes.
The psychiatrist advises to seek help even in the first month of the grief reaction, if it is beyond the strength of the person. Signs of such experiences include high emotional instability, tearfulness, sleep disorders, severe anxiety, fear of death, and rejection of loss.
Sergey Volkov also recalls the concept of "deferred grief" — when the grieving process did not begin or was abruptly interrupted by circumstances. For example, when a relative of the deceased was organizing a funeral, counting money, calling the registry office and choosing a coffin while everyone was crying and saying goodbye.
— If a person is crying and hysterical in grief, these are normal reactions. It's not normal if he's calm, that's where you need to think about helping," the clinical psychologist warns. — Deferred grief is dangerous because it imperceptibly but greatly changes a person's behavior. He can become much more cold, whiny. People are often diagnosed with depressive episodes in this case, but not systematically and incoherently.
It is impossible to stop such reactions other than after experiencing grief, the expert warns.
"Let me remind you that grieving is a neurological process that allows a person to come to terms with loss and move on," the body therapist emphasizes. — Without accepting the loss, it is very difficult, for example, to start a new relationship, because the old ones have not stopped for the brain yet. And this is a common cause of psychosomatic infertility, when, after termination of pregnancy, a woman tries to forget what happened, but for her body it is a grave loss, in fact, the death of a child.
What is a substitute figure?
Meanwhile, a Chinese company that has developed robot doppelgangers plans to transfer 100 samples for psychological support programs. According to Alexey Vilkov, it is too early to say whether such devices will help to come to terms with the loss of relatives. Everything is individual here.
— For some, a copy of a loved one will be a positive reminder of them and will help them cope with their worries. For others, on the contrary, it will cause even more anxiety, because it will remind them of the untimely departure of a person and the strong negative emotions associated with it," the psychiatrist warns.
He believes that only practice and experience will show how such robots will be perceived in practice and whether they will become a necessary attribute, unloading the human psyche.
— The future is coming very quickly now — everything is changing rapidly, it is unlikely to predict anything, — says the interlocutor of the editorial board. — Therefore, the question of the harm or benefit of such robots is still rhetorical, but the perception of this development, I emphasize once again, will always be individual.
By the way, Chinese robots, as substitute figures, have their own historical analogies. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, posthumous photographs were distributed in Europe. The dead were photographed as if they were alive — they were dressed up, seated in armchairs, and even placed for group photos next to relatives using special holders. The dead had pupils painted on their eyelids or, opening their eyes with the help of improvised means, they gave their eyes a healthy shine.
This tradition was formed for the reason that people did not always have time to capture during their lifetime, or the family did not have the opportunity to make a group portrait until that moment. Sometimes it was impossible to distinguish the living from the dead in the images. The need for such photography disappeared when people had the opportunity to be photographed more often during their lifetime.
"Such inventions have been normal since ancient times," says Sergey Volkov. — It looks different in different cultures. In Tibet, for example, a man comes into the family and lives the life of the deceased for a week — responds to his name, sleeps in his bed, eats from his dishes. In our culture, it is customary to keep photographs and commemorate the deceased. This is all a very big technology for passing grief. As for robots, only the complexity of the technology is changing.
A clinical psychologist sees the point of such rituals and substitutions in reducing the shock state of relatives.
— Everyone has a different type of nervous system, and some people cannot accept the loss at the level of neurology. They need someone to smoothly introduce them to the grief process. And after that, he gradually "excluded" this "symbol of a person" from their lives, since they themselves cannot do this," he explains.
Sometimes such substitutions become a factor in denying loss, when a person consciously does not accept the death of a loved one, is sure that he is still alive and even provides evidence of this, adds the Izvestia expert. If a person stubbornly refuses to acknowledge the fact of someone's death, then he may indeed need psychiatric help. Outwardly, it looks like madness, but, unlike diseases, this process is reversible, points out Sergey Volkov.
— Blurred consciousness or such severe forms of distortion due to severe shock do occur. I once saw a mother who was sure that her dead daughter was just hiding, playing hide-and-seek with her. At the same time, when she directly stated that she was dead, her mother began to cry, that is, she understood what had happened, but at some point she abruptly calmed down and declared: "No, she went for a walk with dad," the specialist recalls.
According to the source, this woman had no control over what was happening to her, as her psyche was protected from complete destruction.
— And for her, the doll, which she talked to like a daughter, became a way out for a while. After a month and a half, she gradually accepted the fact of her child's death and returned to a normal life," says the clinical psychologist.
Experts emphasize once again that everything is individual and therefore there is no consensus on replacement figures. But Alexey Vilkov believes that it is still better to experience loss in the old-fashioned way — a person accepts the death of a loved one, "works through" it, gets used to the loss and lives an ordinary life again, remaining in the present.
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