THE EXPERIENCE OF BOREDOM: IMPLICATIONS FOR OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY

Antonietta Corvinelli, Ph.D. OTRac668@nyu.edu212boring.com

April 10, 2008

Department of Occupational Therapy

Department of Occupational Therapy

THE BOREDOM EXPERIENCE

Gustave Courbet, Portrait of JoCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Department of Occupational Therapy

THE BOREDOM EXPERIENCE

• TRY ASSESSMENTS• DISCUSSION• ENIGMATIC PROBLEM• BACKGROUND• METHODS• INTERVIEW ACTIVITY• RESEARCH• IMPLICATIONS FOR OT• ASK DR. TONI –

THE BOREDOM EDITION

Edgar Degas, Self PortraitCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Department of Occupational Therapy

GOALS

• Introduce boredom

• Conversation

Edgar Degas, Self-PortraitCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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ENIGMATIC PROBLEM

Gerbrand van den EeckhoutYoung Man in a Broad-rimmed HatCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION

• 11 Million in US (SAMHSA, 2006)

• 40 - 60% Relapse (NIDA, 2007)

• Sensation – Seeking (Zuckerman, 2005)

• Boredom in Treatment

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BACKGROUND cont’d

• Boredom & Substance Use (Johnson & O’Malley, 1986)

• Boredom Proneness Scale (Farmer & Sundberg, 1986)

• OT & Flow (Sabari, 2004)

• Theoretical Underpinning

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THEORETICAL INFORMATION

OPTIMAL AROUSAL

SENSATION-SEEKING

NORMAL & DISORDERED

BOREDOM

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OPTIMAL AROUSAL (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997)

Dynamic Elements

Flow Anxiety Boredom Apathy

Static DefinitionsStatic Definitions

Anxiety

Flow

Boredom

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SENSATION - SEEKING THEORY (Zuckerman, 2005)

High Sensation-Seeking

Low Sensation-Seeking

Emile Bernard, Breton LandscapeCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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FENICHEL

Normal Boredom

Pathological Boredom

Vincnet van Gogh, L’Arlesienne: Madame Joseph-Michel GinouxCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• What is boredom?

• How is boredom experienced?

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METHODS

• GROUNDED THEORY APPROACH

• PARTICIPANTS

• TWO INTERVIEWS

• CONSTANT COMPARATIVE METHOD

• TRUSTWORTHINESS

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Interview ProtocolDescribe how you started using drugs or alcohol.Describe a typical day beginning when you wake up.Please take a moment and imagine yourself in a situation that you found

to be boring (or a situation in which you were bored).When you say you’re bored, what do you mean?Tell me about an activity that you find boring.What do you do when you feel bored? Please tell me about a situation in the past week when you felt bored.Please tell me about situations of boredom before you started using

substances.Please tell me about situations of boredom while you were actively

using.Describe how becoming infected with HIV has changed your life.Please tell me about when you feel depressed.Please tell me about a time when you were not bored.

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PARTICIPANTS

• 6 Males; 2 Females

• 1-10 rehabilitation attempts

• Intravenous speed-balling

• 50% denied boredom

Alphonse Mucha, Study for a Decorative PanelCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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FINDINGS

• Stillness

• Battling Boredom

• Keeping Busy & HIV

Napoleon Sarony, Oscar WildeCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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STILLNESS

“Yeah, that’s what I mean by when I shut off, when I’m ready to lay down and relax, it’s mostly like after ten [o’clock]. See, ‘cause normally I watch the news. Boredom means, when I shut everything off. Silence to me is boredom. ‘Cause I’m used to talking or, reacting, doing something, writing, but when it’s quiet time, it’s boredom to me.”

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STILLNESS

“I’m never bored, because I’m not boring. There’s always something I need, or ought to, or could be doing. Maybe that’s

why I have clutter…. Boredom is actually not having anything I want or need to be doing, to keep busy…. It’s [marijuana] my crutch. I see it as taking the edge off of my anger. Maybe that’s where the boredom comes in for me. Sometimes when things, jobs, are tedious or mindless, or, painful, if I have a joint [marijuana cigarette], I can go ahead and do this. Or I can handle it if I smoke up a joint. I can clean up for example. Or declutter. ”

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STILLNESS

“No [I’m not bored lately]. I’m too tired to be bored….Boredom as far as boredom running around or, things to do, I’m not bored, that way….I’m kind of overwhelmed with different things I’m trying to do and, things I need to do and, try to put things into place. This appointment, that appointment, seeing family and my nephew’s going in the army so I’m trying to make some time somewhere to see him within the next few days. And Mother’s Day’s coming up. Spend some time with my moms. Mars, my boyfriend. I have to make time for him too….I mean physically or mentally bored? I can always sit down and plan something or put focus on what I’m going to do for the next week. And put my paperwork together or, arrange how I’m going to do things….”

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STILLNESS

“I mean, I think we’re all livin.’ I mean we’re breathin,’ we’re functioning. We’re walking around. We’re alive. We have souls, but to me if you’re stayin’ in your box, the role, whatever your social position is in life, to me that’s not living. To me living is going beyond yourself. And maybe living somewhat on the edge, but not in a destructive way, but always challenging yourself to push yourself beyond who you are. Struggling, doing things that you don’t know how to do. To me that’s living. And doing things that you know how to do, to me that could get very boring. It’s not satisfying. It’s not gratifying. It’s just like if you worked in a machine shop and anytime the machine came by you said “Boom!” That’s boring (silence). It’s an unfulfilling way of living life. That’s dead to me. Being bored is being dead. Living, the other part of living, is, as I said, growing and developing. To me that’s living.”

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NEW FLOW?

A gradual growth in learning

Theoretical Flow Struggle

Quick new learning in succession

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BATTLING BOREDOM

“I didn’t think about boredom because I was too busy chasing money to do drugs. That was basically how I spent my days. Weren’t bored. Every day was different. But basically the same, being that I had to, the end result had to be that. Make money for the drugs.”

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BATTLING BOREDOM

“At the beginning [coming back out [of jail]! Coming home [from the detoxification unit, and the four month incarceration from violating parole by using drugs], I was bored, I wasn’t doing anything. I wasn’t making any money….It [boredom] felt like I was dead and so like, I wanted me a drinks and I get maybe about this much of E & J, a brandy. And I thought I’d be alright, but after I drink that little bit, it tasted nasty. It didn’t taste good. And I don’t like the way I feel and I throw it away. And I said I really don’t know why I wanted it….It [drinking] was something to do. And then I was hanging around with a few of my peers that wasn’t get[ting] high at all. All they do is selling drugs getting money.”

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BATTLING BOREDOM

“No, I’m not bored. (silence). I like to keep my mind busy always …. When I feel bored, [You know enjoying different things]. I call my friend, I call my mother. Speak with somebody. You know (silence). I try to keep my mind [in a] positive way. No[t] in [a] negative way. This [is] the way I am. I do my volunteer job or I do my [political] meeting. I enjoy every day of my life. Like before I used drugs. I’m coming back to my roots.”

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BATTLING BOREDOM

“Sometimes my tape [memories] plays when I’m bored. I like to keep busy. I maybe, to keep from being bored! I keep busy to keep from being bored! Because sometime boredom brings back memories of things that I did, and where I did, and what I did and, what was happening [getting raped, losing my apartment, losing the respect of my family]…. It [Watching TV] takes my mind off being bored. It’s a different focus spot. Focusing on the TV. [Instead of] Focusing on, my shoulda, woulda, coulda’s, my tapes [memories] (chuckling). But basically I’ve learned that I can’t keep distracting myself either. I have to go through it. And know that I can go through it, without going back out there [to cocaine]. You have to practice there too….Boredom can be good because it teaches you how to deal with things. Because if I react on it [boredom], I might be drugging again. It’s [boredom is] an easy way for me to go back.”

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BATTLING BOREDOM

Johannes Vermeer, Woman with a LuteCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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BATTLING BOREDOM

“….I mean I just ran for office. Something that I never thought I’d ever do. Particularly when I was out there shooting drugs…. That’s very exciting. I mean that

could be, get boring too. Now if you did it, for six months, a year and that’s all you did, that could get pretty boring. But I didn’t have to keep doing that. I could do something else…. There’s always kind of something to do.”

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KEEPING BUSY & HIV

“[Being active] [Being politically active] It’s challenging and, at times, very stressful. But different elements of it are just very gratifying too. And sometimes it feels overwhelming too. Resting, that’s the biggest thing about it [being active]. Not trying to do too much in one day. Try to, balance your week or, few days that you have. That's basically it. Making sure I eat and take my medication properly. Which sometime can be an issue. And that's another thing that [I] have to fit into to all of this, which, because I'm on the go a lot. I don't cook. Hardly. Actually, I probably get my best meals here. Even though we complain all the time about the food, but it’s, the most balanced that I think I would get, because if I’m going to a store, or if I'm whipping stuff up at home, it'll be a sandwich or, something not as nutritional as could be.”

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KEEPING BUSY & HIV

“And sometimes I get more bored, when I’m sick [fatigue, pain]. ‘Cause then I don’t feel like, getting up and doing nothing. I’m kind of sick so I don’t feel like doing excessive [house] work or excessive running to keep myself busy. So I’m just sitting there. My tapes [memories] are just running [through my head].”

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IMPLICATIONS

• Struggle vs. Flow

• Novel skills

• Exploration of wants

• Practice Framework

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CONCLUSION

• Keeping Busy

• Keeping Meaning

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaus, Bust of a BacchanteCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

• Dr. Jim Hinojosa• Dr. Ruth Segal• Dr. Perry Halkitis• Participants• Mom & Dad & Aunt

THANK YOU!

Carpeaus, “Self Portrait”Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Department of Occupational Therapy

Ask Dr. Toni

THE BOREDOM EDITION