Utopia Syndrome

Authors like Watzlawick et al. (1974) explain the formation of problems and their possible causes. One of the causes that can generate the formation of problems would be the utopia syndrome.

Each person has a perspective on how things are and, almost more importantly, how they should be. Where there is a discrepancy among these postulates, a change is required to end or shorten that dissonance.

What is utopia syndrome?

Human beings have an inherent tendency towards meaning: in other words, they seek meaning in their life. The utopia syndrome referred to by Watzlawick et al (1984)  refers to the disagreement that humans experience between “being” and “having to be”.

In relation to this concept,  the authors speak of potentiality, that is to say of this disagreement which requires to generate a change. Therefore, we can deduce that the human being has resources that he does not use or that he does not yet know.

When we have very high expectations, problems can arise. For example, existential despair can arise. The utopia syndrome would be  one of the forms of this despair.

Authors like Kierkegaard, Dostoyevsky and Camus refer to this concept, which implies the belief that life has meaning. However, it must be discovered in order to survive. When the person recognizes that there is a meaning, he tries to define it in a utopian way  and this affects the instruments and the path on which he chooses to move forward to achieve change.

The three forms of utopia syndrome

Simplifiers don’t see a problem where there is one. Utopians see a solution where there is none. Quite often extremism in solving human problems seems to lead to behavior referred to as utopia syndrome, which can take three forms:

• Introjective: faced with the painful feeling of personal inaptitude, derived from the impossibility of achieving one’s goals, psychiatric consequences appear (flight, withdrawal, depression, suicide, etc.). When the goal is utopian, the mere fact of considering it is a pipe dream. The person ends up feeling guilty for their incapacity.

• Harmless: this second variant is less dramatic and has a certain charm because it is a pleasant delay compared to the utopian objective. Poets like Constantino Kavafis have described this attitude as that of a navigator who enjoys the journey, even if the road is long.
• Projective: The basic ingredient of this attitude is the rigid conviction that you have found the truth. And, therefore, to take responsibility for changing the world. Through a good dose of persuasion and hope, the person will try to get others to accept his truth, sometimes obtaining the totally opposite result.

Detail of the three forms of the syndrome

The “I should” are heavy. They are typical of introjective utopia because the mind map is normally quite rigid. When this obligation is very strong, the objective does not materialize and the paths to reach it become confused and diffuse.

Stevenson’s aphorism “ Better to travel full of hope than to reach the goal”  very well represents the harmless utopia,  also known as dilation or delay. People in this category are eternal travelers who never manage to finish their trip, such as perfectionists or eternal students.

We all like to be heard. We also like when others share our ideas. However, this is not always the case and we have to accept the fact that each person has their own truth. When a projective utopian fails to be accepted or listened to, he thinks it is due to acts of bad faith. Or to people who seek to destroy his ideas.

To conclude, let us quote Karl Popper who warned us that utopian schemes inevitably lead to new crises. In other words, he pointed out that  coming up with a utopian, ideal and abstract goal was easier than solving concrete problems.

Our thoughts

Generally, dystopian novels present a society of the future which finds itself in a deplorable or totalitarian situation for several reasons …