Ushakova

When the Dutch psychologist Ap Dyksterhouse received a professorship at the University of Amsterdam, he began looking for a house in Amsterdam. At that moment, the housing market was on the rise, and realtors came up with the most convenient way for themselves to sell apartments. On the appointed day, all potential buyers simultaneously came to the “browsing”, and the first one who agreed to pay the price named by the owners signed a contract on the same day and became the owner of the home. In conditions of such fierce competition between buyers, there was no time to think. Dycksterhouse made the decision to buy the house within 10 seconds while inspecting the bathroom. He stayed up all night after that, wondering if he had made the most expensive mistake of his life. Fortunately, the purchase turned out to be successful. However, the researcher continued to reflect, there is something deeply wrong in accepting such important decisions lightning fast, without hesitation. The entire experience of previous generations rebels against this, cast in sayings like “Don’t cut from the shoulder” and “Measure twice, cut once.” Dycksterhouse decided to experimentally test which decisions would be the most successful - those made as a result of reflection, or those made intuitively, without thinking. The experiment involved three groups of students who had to choose their housing from four proposed options. The description of each apartment consisted of 12 attributes. The best option included 8 positive attributes (for example, low price, big square

The first group of participants was asked to choose the best option after thinking about it for five minutes. Participants from the second group had to immediately name the option they liked best. And the third group, having read information about four apartments, received a distracting task. Five minutes later they had to choose the best accommodation, but they had no time to think - they were busy solving puzzles. The result of the experiment showed that thinking is still better than giving an answer immediately: among those who thought about the answer, 47% chose the optimal option, and among those who had to make a decision immediately - only 36%. But the best results were shown by those who solved puzzles that were in no way related to the task - among the subjects of the third group, 59% chose the optimal option.

The researcher explains this result by “unconscious thinking.” At the moment when our consciousness is occupied with extraneous tasks (solving puzzles, maneuvering through city traffic jams or washing dishes), we do not stop unconsciously thinking about a decision that is important to us. After some time, we unexpectedly come to the correct conclusion, although we did not even consciously evaluate possible options. The advantages of unconscious thinking over conscious thinking are explained by the fact that consciousness has a limited volume (only about 7 pieces of information at a time), while the resources of the unconscious are potentially limitless. In addition, the quality of conscious choice can be negatively affected by our interest in the outcome of the decision. When deciding simple tasks this interest helps us by improving attention and reducing the likelihood of accidental errors. But when the task is complex and our future depends on its solution, we begin to worry, are afraid of making a mistake, and as a result, more often than not, we make one.

Popular wisdom, by the way, recognizes the advantages of “unconscious thinking,” arguing that the morning is wiser than the evening, that is, that the unconscious will develop the right decision while we sleep.

Apocryphal stories about scientific discoveries Archimedes, Newton and Mendeleev also confirm the power of the unconscious mind, which continues to work when we wash ourselves in the bath, indulge in an afternoon rest in the garden or sleep soundly at night. And the British mathematician and philosopher Alfred Whitehead even said: “The statement that we should cultivate the habit of thinking about what we do is often repeated in textbooks and in speeches.” famous people and is a completely erroneous platitude. The exact opposite is true.”

To confirm the benefits of “unconscious thinking,” Dyksterhouse and his colleagues conducted another series of experiments in which participants had to choose one of forty products in an online store. Products were conditionally divided into three groups: simple, which were described by only four attributes (for example, shampoo or towel), products of medium complexity, whose descriptions included 8 attributes (shoes, CD), and complex, whose descriptions consisted of 12 attributes (camera , Furniture for kitchen). Participants had to either spend 4 minutes thinking about their choices or spend 4 minutes solving puzzles. As expected, in the case simple choice conscious thinking led to a more successful outcome, and in the case of difficult choices, unconscious thinking was more effective. For tasks of moderate difficulty, no difference was found between conscious and unconscious thinking.

It turns out that conscious reflection is only necessary when buying soap and socks, and when buying a car and an apartment it is much more useful to trust your intuition. But does this mean that reason and logic are not needed at all in life? The authors of the theory of unconscious thinking admit that intuition is powerless when solving those problems where it is necessary to follow strict rules (for example, mathematical ones). In addition, new research has recently emerged that questions Dycksterhouse's methodology. John Pine and his colleagues from Duke University (USA) note that Dycksterhouse's experiments have two significant limitations. First, the time participants were given to think was strictly specified and may have exceeded the time that would normally be required to make a decision in a real situation.

This could lead to the famous effect that folk psychology calls “overdoing it.” Everyone school teachers It is well known that thinking too long about a correctly solved problem leads to unfounded doubts and “correction” of the correct answer to the wrong one. Secondly, the tasks themselves, which were given to participants in Dycksterhouse's experiments, consisted of comparing positive and negative attributes and choosing an option with maximum number positive and minimum quantity negative attributes. In real-life situations, each attribute has a different weight. For example, a car may have many positive attributes and only one negative one. But if this attribute is an unaffordable price, then all further comparisons are meaningless.

Pine and his colleagues conducted another series of similar experiments in which they modified the instructions to the participants. The first group of participants had to think about the task for a fixed amount of time, the second group had to think as long as necessary to make a decision, and the third group received a distracting task, as in the Dycksterhouse experiments. The second important change concerned the task itself. Instead of positive and negative attributes having equal weight, participants were asked to choose from the same number of attributes that had not only different consequences (winning or losing), but also different amounts of winning or losing. Participants chose one of four lotteries they would like to play. Each game was described by twelve events that could occur with equal probability as a result of the balls falling out (for example, winning $2 or winning $13). That is, the attributes had not only different signs, but also different weights. As in Dycksterhouse's experiments, participants who thought for a fixed time performed worse (21% correct answers) than participants in the "unconscious thinking" condition (37%). However, participants whose time to think was not limited in any way showed the best result (52%). Their thinking time ranged from 8 seconds to 5 minutes. The average time to think was 17 seconds. Moreover, those who made a decision faster than the average time gave 74% correct answers, and those who thought longer gave only 30%.

The authors of the experiment explain their results not so much by the advantage of intuition over reason, but by the detrimental effect of too much thinking on the quality of decisions. In addition, intuition works worse than conscious thinking if the value of each attribute is added to the enumeration of attributes. The “mindless mind” easily distinguishes between winning and losing, but has trouble seeing the difference between winning $2 and winning $13.

Should we rely on intuition and unconscious thinking to make decisions? complex decisions? The question is still open. But one thing is clear: if you really think, then quickly, otherwise you begin to doubt and change the right decision to the wrong one. And second: if the solution concerns mathematical or legal issues, that is, it involves following strict rules, intuition alone cannot be done. At a minimum, a calculator and the Criminal Code are required.

Dear surgeons. This is not even my question, but a cry for help. I ask you, if you know, then write me an HONEST answer to this question. And I ask HONESTLY, because both the attending physician and the surgeon who performed the operation on my mother on January 17, 2012, probably cannot tell me the BITTER TRUTH. But the fact is, on January 17, my poor, sick mother had an operation to replace the aortic valve and 3 shunts were replaced. Only something went wrong, the operation went on for 14 hours. Afterwards, the doctors said that everything had been replaced, but the mother was supposedly in a coma. And the next morning they began to look for donor blood. Because the mother’s own blood was supposedly very liquid and did not clot well .And that same morning they performed a second 7-hour operation. They explained to me why, but I didn’t understand anything. And since that time, the mother has been in intensive care. She seems to have blood leaking somewhere in her heart. Now 10 different tubes have been removed from the mother’s body, and one of them, the one that is removed from under the heart, is constantly blood drips. About half a glass per day. She also doesn’t breathe on her own, but through a tube in her mouth. 3 days ago I took her hand, it was very sweaty, and my poor mother’s body was very swollen. I now remember how I saw her, and I didn’t recognize my mother, and now the tears are flowing from the eyes. I called her mom, mom, but she opened her eyes for a second and closed them. Of course, she doesn’t realize what’s happening to her. Then why do the doctors say that mom’s brain seems to be fine. And the doctors explain to me that now there is one main problem. The fact that THEY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO RETURN MOM'S CONSCIOUSNESS. And yesterday the temperature suddenly rose to 40 DEGREES. Mom was immediately covered with pieces of ice, and by the morning they were told that there was supposedly some kind of infection. Today the temperature was brought down to 35-36. And the doctors keep saying that they cannot bring mom to consciousness, but they still don’t understand why this is so. And here’s something else I didn’t say. It’s like my mother had a “carnography” procedure before the main operation, and they did it too with unsuccessful consequences. They did it somehow through the inguinal vein. But then this vein also did not heal well. Blood oozed from it all the time into the body, and therefore the leg became swollen. The doctor who did it explained that it was because the blood vessels were already brittle due to age. Mom is 74 years old.
And now the 17th day has passed since the operation, and all this time my mother has been in intensive care. The doctor’s condition says “stable and serious.” The poor mother has tubes inserted from everywhere. She is breathing from a machine, but her heart is working on its own. Her blood pressure is normal. Doctors say that the brain is working, AND HERE IS MY MAIN QUESTION FOR YOU. WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO MOM. I HAVE NO TEARS LEFT TO CRY. DO YOU THINK MOM WILL RETURN CONSCIOUSNESS OR MOM WILL BE SO QUIET IN SLEEP AND WILL LEAVE. Thank you in advance for your honest answer. Best regards, Nestor....

I am grateful to all the people who are taking part in my trouble. This is my mother’s condition today. I also want to remind all kind-hearted people and doctors that my mother had the operation already on January 17, 2012. Today, February 2, the attending doctors say that what for Initially, the operation was performed, i.e. replacement of the aortic valve and, in the process, 3 shunts were installed. In general, all this is already working normally. The heart is already working on its own. We started feeding the mother liquid, through a tube, directly into the stomach. She pees normally too. But she only breathes with the help of a device, for example, at 5%, and 1% herself. She still doesn’t have the strength to breathe completely on her own or I don’t know what. The tube from under the heart was removed, it is now used to suction blood from the lungs. The air from the device tears some veins in the lungs, hence the blood. They say that the heart is already working normally. But the temperature today is again 38%. And the doctors also say that my mother has some kind of “brittle” vessels and veins. Tomorrow morning I’ll take the chicken broth again. BUT THAT’S THE MAIN THING I’M WAITING FOR, and the doctors are trying to do, IS TO RESTORE HER CONSCIOUSNESS, THE MAIN TROUBLE IS THAT the doctors themselves are not they know how to bring mom back to this world. I ask the Lord to return my mother to me, because he knows that she lives all her life as a kind, honest person, and a wonderful mother......

And - not a single communist. Why are there communists? In general, there is not a single candidate for successor from the left flank. Some are right. And the people are silent. Nobody is indignant. True, most people don’t care about this game of succession, but even those who are interested do not think about the ideological essence of the candidates, but discuss who is better: Ivanov or Medvedev, Sechin or Shuvalov... And only very few realize that each of them is Putin 2, Putin 3, Putin 4, and maybe even Yeltsin 2.

So, at first glance, liberals really have no reason to doubt the strength of their power. But they doubt it! How else can we explain that during the pre-election year anti-Soviet and anti-communist propaganda on television sharply increased? Moreover, along with the real shortcomings of the Soviet government and the criminal acts of individual Soviet leaders, a lot of lies, slander, and idiotic inventions are being spread. Everything is like in 1996.

Why? But precisely because their confidence in their positions is feigned. Because they understand: no matter how much the rope twists, the end will come. The end is retribution for what was done to the country. This is retribution. This is a trial of criminals.

But why, one might ask, lie so shamelessly? After all, it was in Soviet history a lot of real negativity. And then, for every negative fact from the seventy-year Soviet history, there are a dozen negative facts from their ten-year Yeltsin history. So they invent, so they compose a bunch of all sorts of fables, hoping to win, if not by the reliability of the facts, then at least by their quantity.

So, both future judges and future defendants are busy collecting documents on the eve of the upcoming trial. But this is not enough! We also need arguments. After all trial is a competition between the prosecution and the defense. And in such a competition, the winner is the one who not only has more serious and reliable documents, but also more convincing arguments.

Meanwhile, the criminal clique has already begun in earnest to prepare arguments in its defense. I want to draw your attention to one of these arguments, because this argument is quite serious: it, of course, is unlikely to push the judges to accept an acquittal, but it may well mitigate the punishment. What kind of argument is this?

The argument is this. Yes, they admit, the reforms failed. Yes, the country is plunged into disaster. Yes... Well, and so on. That is. Liberals admit that the results of the reforms are terrible. But, they say, no one could have foreseen this result. They, you see, wanted the best. Their intentions, you see, were very, very noble. But that's how it happened. Like, don't judge them harshly.

Well, what's it like? In my opinion, it's quite stupid. In any case, such a position may make some people feel sorry for it. Well, what can you do, noble people decided to introduce democracy, freedom and many other good things into the country. Yes, they didn’t calculate it. And no one warned: they say, you are going the wrong way, comrades!

And here I want to offer future judges our argument, a counter-argument, so to speak. And if the court preparers take my argument seriously and orchestrate it with enough examples, then it will be a killer argument.

My argument is this. I maintain that all the democrats’ lamentations that they did not foresee such results are a vile lie. I argue that several years before the reforms began, liberals were warned about all negative consequences such reforms.

They have been warned!!!

Warned by whom? First of all, of course, by the communists. Here I can clearly hear the loud laughter of the readers. And really, what did the warnings of the communists mean to the liberals when it was the communists and communism that the liberals fought against?

In addition, the communists based their forecasts in accordance with Marxism. But Marxism was then declared an empty utopia, a pseudoscience. Now all those predictions have come true completely. The communists insisted that capitalism was not the future, but the country's past. Today, even many Democrats admit that the country has been set back decades, or even a century.

The communists recalled the views of Marx and Lenin on private property. Lenin directly said that private property divides people, that private property is war. So what do we have? Because of this very private property, for the past decade and a half, streams of blood have been flowing throughout the country, and there is no end in sight.

Today, some democrats are beginning to cautiously quote both Marx and Engels, and Lenin. But in those pre-reform years, the democrats, of course, could not and did not want to listen to the opinion of the communists. Moreover, the Democrats had strong support in this regard among a significant part of the population. Yes, we must admit that by the end of the 80s, irritation against the communists had already arisen in society.

And there were reasons for this. On the one hand, powerful anti-communist propaganda put pressure on people’s consciousness. On the other hand, the communists themselves tried a lot to discredit the ideas of communism and Marxist teaching in general in the eyes of the population.

So let us not be surprised that the Democrats did not heed the warnings of the Communists then. This was entirely within the logic of the political and ideological struggle, and the Democrats can hardly be blamed for this.

Go ahead. Okay, they didn’t listen to the opinion of the communists. But they did not listen to the opinion of Orthodox ideologists! Which may seem strange: after all, the democrats, in defiance of the communists, have all become devout. Let me make a reservation right away: I personally am an atheist. I don't believe in God. But from the point of view general history of humanity, it cannot be denied that all world religions contain large layers of information about history, culture, and art. That every religion carries within itself the essential features of the mentality of the people who have accepted this religion as their spiritual basis.

Let me note that, when speaking about Orthodox people, I do not at all mean priests. For us, and not only for us, the church is a kind of business. With all the inherent vices of business. No, I mean sincerely believing people. Among them there are many very educated writers and historians.

So they warned that capitalism is incompatible with the foundations of Orthodoxy, they warned about the harmful consequences of forced capitalization Russian society. This position was most clearly expressed in the magazine “Our Contemporary”. This magazine was known for its anti-Sovietism, anti-communism, which seemed to appeal to the democrats.

Why didn’t the democrats listen to the opinion of the ideologists of Orthodoxy? Yes, because Orthodoxy for democrats was just a masquerade costume covering their essence. The Democrats were not interested in Orthodoxy as such, but in the church. On the one hand, the church was destined to serve, along with the media, as an instrument for fooling the population. On the other hand, believers, whose number always increases during periods of unrest, were a good addition to the democratic electorate.

And yet, at least for appearances, the Democrats could support the position of “Our Contemporary”? No, they couldn't. Judge for yourself. The magazine introduced the column “The Market: Panacea or Trap?”, where it argued that it was a trap. Could the Democrats tolerate this when for them the market was father, son and holy spirit all rolled into one? They did not argue with the magazine, but simply did not notice his position.

Personally, I was interested in the article by Yu. Borodai with a very eloquent title - “Why Protestant capitalism is not suitable for the Orthodox.” (“Our Contemporary” No. 10, 1990) So why? Therefore, the author explains, Orthodoxy is based on the ethics of equality, community, and compassion.

And capitalism is mixed with the Calvinist doctrine of the chosenness of a separate category of people. According to Calvin, God predestined some people to eternal life and others to eternal death. According to Calvin, God's chosen ones, for the sake of achieving personal success, are allowed everything, even crimes. And those who are not admitted into the circle of the chosen ones will not be saved by piety, prayers, or deeds. They are the rejected ones.

So, the ideologists of Orthodoxy warned that the intention to plunge Russia into capitalism would cause a split in society. Did reformers heed these warnings? Of course not. Orthodox writers were concerned about the fate of the country, the fate of the people, while the reformers thought only about their personal fate.

The reformers saw themselves, of course, not in the camp of the outcasts, but in the camp of God’s chosen ones. Well, in fact, look at the faces of Yeltsin, Chubais, Gaidar, Nemtsov, Berezovsky, Abramovich and so on. and so on. Don't you see divine halos above their heads? Do not their gazes radiate divine light? True, their God is different, not the same as that of believers. Their god is the golden calf.

So it was in vain that Orthodox authors frightened future reformers with the horrors of Calvinist doctrine. It was this doctrine that was right for the reformers. It was in full accordance with this doctrine that they divided society into a handful of God’s chosen ones, who are allowed everything, including the naked plunder of the country. And to the rest of the people, to the outcasts, who, according to Calvin, are doomed to eternal death, which the reformers accepted for execution, killing a million Russians a year.

However, the fact that the reformers ignored the warnings of the ideologists of Orthodoxy also cannot be a serious argument in the court of History. Russia is a secular state, and a person’s commitment to one or another religious doctrine is still a matter of every person’s conscience.

But now I will reveal the main trump card, that is, the main argument against the reformers. An argument that Democrats are powerless to counter. The fact is that the reformers also did not listen to the warnings of those people to whom they could not, had no right not to listen. These were warnings from their camp, from their like-minded people.

The Democrats were warned... by the Democrats!

If you remember, one of my articles was called “Not All Democrats Are Equally Mean.” In that article I divided the Democrats into different categories, but the main divide was between honest and dishonest Democrats. Honest democrats, in the sense of theory, were complete like-minded people of Yeltsin and his team.

They were also sure that socialism, and even more so communism, was a utopia. They too became disillusioned with Marxism. They also believed in the saving role of the market, in the need to turn Russia onto the capitalist path of development.

Of course, I do not share the views of this category of democrats, but, nevertheless, I cannot deny them respect. They wanted the best for their country. They sincerely believed that they were right and wanted to help the authorities carry out reforms as painlessly as possible for the people. The main thing is that they did not pursue selfish goals.

There are many well-known names among honest democrats: Shmelev, Lisichkin, Pinsker, Piyasheva, Sakharov, Selyunin... Nowadays newspapers and magazines of the pre-reform era are read with particular interest. If you remember, these were the years of the newspaper and magazine boom. I personally subscribed to a dozen newspapers and the same number of magazines.

Articles by Shmelev “Advances and Debts”, Piyasheva “Where are the more magnificent pies?” were discussed in society, like the next episode of “Seventeen Moments of Spring” once was. And not only in society, but also in the press. Before Tsipko had time to publish his anti-Marxist articles in the journal Science and Life, he was immediately convicted of scientific dishonesty by O. Latsis (democrat) and R. Kosolapov (communist).

Shmelev argued with Abalkin, Piyasheva with Shmelev... In general, the discussions were in full swing, but what were they in full swing for? It seemed that people were simply reveling in freedom of speech, but did their speech influence real life, no one is interested. In fact, why are discussions on political and economic topics? To influence the policy of the authorities, to point out to the authorities the error of a particular step. This is how, for example, discussions took place about the NEP under Lenin.

We often say: Lenin introduced the NEP. But this is not entirely correct. Read the newspapers of that time. Lenin spoke to different audiences, convinced, proved, and answered questions. He listened to objections. Some of them he refuted, some he agreed with. He invited peasants to his place to find out their opinion.

As a result of such multilateral discussions, the NEP became such a well-developed program that politicians and economists are still surprised: how it was possible to achieve such success in the economy in a couple of years. But there is nothing to be surprised at, because scientists, and advisers, as they say, from the plow, and officials, and people's commissars, and the Predsovnarkom itself - all worked for the interests of the country. Everything useful and positive that was developed during the discussions went into action and therefore gave good results.

But it is not clear why the perestroika discussions were held. The discussions were on their own, and the activities of the reformers were on their own. Scientists said: we cannot rush, reforms must be carried out very carefully. The reformers were in a hurry as if they were on fire.

Scientists said: we need to think through the order of steps. Indeed, due to confusion in the order alone, unexpected breakdowns can occur. The reformers sneezed at any order. They invented the expression “shock therapy,” which meant: break everything at once, destroy it, and the market itself, my dear, will put everything in its place.

Well, okay, we decided to abandon socialism and build capitalism. What should have been done? Convene a conference of scientists - supporters of capitalism. And hold this conference for a month, two, three - in a word, until each step of the reform is comprehensively thought out, until all options for possible consequences are considered.

What was done? Nothing. Scientists - Abalkin, Sukhotin, Latsis, Shmelev, Shatalin, Piyasheva (note: these are all marketers!) developed methods, ways to overcome difficulties, argued with each other, wrote appeals to the government, Yeltsin, warning about the consequences of an anti-scientific and hasty approach to reforms. The answer is zero attention.

And now, when all the most alarming and gloomy forecasts have come true, when only the mentally ill can deny the fact of the complete failure of liberal reforms, the Democrats, foreseeing the inevitability of retribution, are urgently hiring lawyers. It is up to them, the lawyers, to prove that the reformers wanted the best, but it didn’t work out.

Perhaps the most eloquent lawyer is Tsipko. You, of course, have seen him on TV more than once at all kinds of political parties and reality shows. He acts as an angry denouncer of the Yeltsin regime, and many take his denunciations at face value.

But this is nothing more than a fancy dress. In fact, his goal is exactly the opposite: to whitewash the Yeltsin regime, to justify Yeltsin’s thug reformers. Here in front of me is “Literary Newspaper” No. 21 for 2001. The newspaper opened the column “Ten years that shocked...”. It was opened three months before the ten-year anniversary of the August 1991 events, so that by the round date everyone would have time to speak out.

The column opens with Tsipko’s article “Blinding and Punishment.” As you might guess, this is an allusion to Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment. Only in Dostoevsky the criminal is a specific person, Raskolnikov, and he suffered the punishment.

But Tsipko has no specific criminals. There are some blind people who commit crimes out of ignorance. True, the punishment, as depicted by Tsipko, is quite real, but for some reason it fell not on those who committed crimes, but on millions of innocent people. Let's see how Tsipko sees the outcome of Yeltsin's rule.

“Our privatization was a steal, for next to nothing, and sometimes they simply took away the people’s property for free.”

“During the reforms, a significant part of national sovereignty was lost, the military and economic security countries".

“It is difficult, while remaining in harmony with conscience, with an elementary moral sense and being in sound mind, not to admit that, at least for today, our anti-communist revolution has taken much more real benefits from the people than it has given.”

"Our anti-Soviet revolution caused enormous destruction of public life."

“We must admit that the communist regime we hated was a more humane system than the one that, with our help, was created on its ruins.”

As a great schemer would say, “explains it well, dog”!

However, I foresee a question: how can you call Tsipko a defender of the Yeltsin regime if he criticizes it so mercilessly? I answer. Yes, Tsipko’s attacks against the Yeltsin regime look quite sincere, this is something like public repentance.

But this, I assure you, is not repentance, but just a lawyer’s trick. The main task of Tsipkov’s article was different, namely: to relieve the criminals of their personal guilt. Show that their plans were noble, but they were unable to realize these plans, since they were unable to foresee all the consequences.

Tsipko’s article is replete with such words and turns of phrase: “as it turned out, the time has come to understand, we did not see the obvious, now it is obvious, then it seemed to many why it was not visible, now it has become clear...”. And so on. The words are all genuine, so I, slightly deviating from the rules of quotation, put them all in quotation marks.

In the meantime, the following question arises: if you, democrats, theorists and practitioners of liberalism, could not foresee anything, then this means that you are stupid and uneducated people. So why did they take on such a serious matter, which even outstanding figures are not always capable of?

Now the question is: why did Tsipko need to make himself and all the leaders of the Yeltsin period, to put it simply, look like fools? And then, they don’t judge people for stupidity. Of course, the very fact of the frivolity with which unprepared people took on radical economic reform great country, can be considered a crime. But it is difficult, almost impossible, to prove this in court.

Tsipko reasoned: it was better to be branded a fool than to be convicted of the most terrible crime - the destruction of one’s country. And Tsipko was not the last spoke in the wheel in the matter of destruction. He wrote one article after another, in which he distorted Marx and Lenin, undermining the roots of the ideology familiar to the people and thereby weakening their will to resist.

Review

Fainting is a sudden temporary loss of consciousness, usually accompanied by a fall.

Doctors often call fainting syncope to distinguish it from other conditions involving temporary loss of consciousness, such as a seizure or concussion.

Fainting is very common, with up to 40% of people losing consciousness at least once in their lives. The first fainting episode usually occurs before the age of 40. If the first episode of loss of consciousness occurs after age 40, this may indicate a severe chronic illness. The most common neurogenic syncope is most often observed in adolescence in girls.

The immediate cause of syncope is a disruption in the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the brain. Its functions are temporarily impaired, and the person loses consciousness. This usually happens in a stuffy room, on an empty stomach, with fear, severe emotional shock, and in some people, with the sight of blood or a sudden change in body position. A person may faint from coughing, sneezing, or even while emptying the bladder.

First aid for fainting should be to prevent the person from falling and protect him from injury. If someone feels bad, support them and gently lay them down, raising their legs up, or sit them down. Provide fresh air by opening windows and unbuttoning your collar. Try not to create panic in order to avoid large crowds of people, crowding and stuffiness. When fainting, consciousness usually returns within a few seconds, less often within 1-2 minutes, but some types of fainting require emergency medical attention.

If the person does not regain consciousness within 2 minutes, call ambulance by calling 03 from a landline, 112 or 911 from a mobile phone.

Symptoms of fainting

Fainting is usually preceded by sudden weakness and dizziness, followed by a brief loss of consciousness, usually lasting a few seconds. This can happen when a person is sitting, standing, or standing up too quickly.

Sometimes loss of consciousness may be preceded by other short-term symptoms:

• yawn;
• sudden sticky sweat;
• nausea;
• frequent deep breathing;
• disorientation in space and time;
• blurred vision or spots before the eyes;
• tinnitus.

After a fall, the head and heart are at the same level, so blood reaches the brain more easily. Consciousness should return in about 20 seconds; less often, fainting lasts for 1-2 minutes. A longer absence of consciousness is an alarming signal. In this case, you need to call an ambulance.

After fainting, you may feel weak and confused for 20 to 30 minutes. The person may also feel tired, drowsy, nauseated, and have abdominal discomfort, and may not remember what happened just before the fall.

Fainting or stroke?

Loss of consciousness can occur during a stroke - a cerebrovascular accident. A stroke, unlike fainting, always requires emergency medical attention and is life-threatening. A stroke can be suspected if a person does not regain consciousness for more than 2 minutes or if after fainting the victim has the following symptoms:

• the face is skewed to one side, the person cannot smile, his lip has drooped or his eyelid has drooped;
• the person is unable to lift one or both arms and keep them upright due to weakness or numbness;
• speech becomes unintelligible.

Causes of fainting (loss of consciousness)

Loss of consciousness during syncope is associated with a temporary reduction in blood flow to the brain. The causes of this type of circulatory disorder are very diverse.

Disruption of the nervous system as a cause of loss of consciousness

Most often, loss of consciousness is associated with a temporary malfunction of the autonomic nervous system. This type of fainting is called neurogenic or vegetative syncope.

The autonomic nervous system is responsible for unconscious body functions, including heartbeat and blood pressure regulation. Various external stimuli, for example, fear, the sight of blood, heat, pain and others, can temporarily disrupt the functioning of the autonomic nervous system, which leads to a drop in blood pressure and fainting.

The work of the autonomic nervous system is also associated with a slowdown in heart function, which leads to a short-term decrease in blood pressure and impaired blood supply to the brain. This is called vasovagal syncope.

Sometimes the autonomic nervous system becomes overloaded during coughing, sneezing or laughing and loss of consciousness occurs. This kind of fainting is called situational.

In addition, fainting may be associated with prolonged standing in an upright position. Typically, when a person stands or sits, gravity causes some of the blood to flow downward and pool in the arms and legs. To maintain normal blood circulation, the heart begins to work a little harder, the blood vessels narrow slightly, maintaining sufficient blood pressure in the body.

In some people, this mechanism is disrupted, and the blood supply to the heart and brain is temporarily interrupted. In response, the heart begins to beat too fast, and the body produces norepinephrine, a stress hormone. This phenomenon is called postural tachycardia and can cause symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, sweating, rapid heartbeat and fainting.

Carotid sinus syndrome

The carotid sinus is a symmetrical area on the lateral surface of the middle part of the neck. This is an important area, rich in sensitive cells - receptors, which is necessary to maintain normal blood pressure, heart function and blood gas composition. In some people, syncope (fainting) can occur when there is an accidental mechanical impact on the carotid sinus - this is called carotid sinus syndrome.

Orthostatic hypotension is a cause of fainting in the elderly

The second most common cause of fainting can be a drop in blood pressure when a person stands up suddenly - orthostatic hypotension. This phenomenon is more common in older people, especially after 65 years of age.

A sudden change in body position from horizontal to vertical leads to the outflow of blood to the lower parts of the body under the influence of gravity, causing blood pressure in the central vessels to drop. Typically the nervous system regulates this by increasing the heart rate, constricting blood vessels and thus stabilizing blood pressure.

With orthostatic hypotension, the regulatory mechanism is disrupted. Therefore, rapid pressure recovery does not occur, and blood circulation in the brain is disrupted for some period. This is enough to cause fainting.

Possible causes of orthostatic hypotension:

• dehydration is a condition in which the body's fluid content decreases and blood pressure decreases, making it harder for the heart to stabilize, increasing the risk of fainting;
• diabetes mellitus - accompanied by frequent urination, which can lead to dehydration, in addition, high level blood sugar damages the nerves responsible for regulating blood pressure;
• medications - any medications for hypertension, as well as any antidepressants, can cause orthostatic hypotension;
• neurological diseases - diseases affecting the nervous system (for example, Parkinson's disease) can cause orthostatic hypotension.

Heart disease - the cause of cardiac syncope

Heart disease can also cause disruption of the blood supply to the brain and lead to temporary loss of consciousness. This type of fainting is called cardiac syncope. Its risk increases with age. Other risk factors:

• pain in the heart cell (angina);
• suffered a heart attack;
• pathology of the structure of the heart muscle (cardiomyopathy);
• abnormalities on the electrocardiogram (ECG);
• repeated sudden fainting without warning symptoms.

If you suspect that fainting is caused by heart disease, you should consult a physician as soon as possible.

Reflex anoxic spasms

Reflex anoxic convulsions are a type of fainting that develops after a short-term cardiac arrest due to overload of the vagus nerve. It is one of 12 cranial nerves that runs down from the head into the neck, chest and abdomen. Reflex anoxic seizures are more common in young children, especially when the child is upset.

Diagnosis of the causes of fainting

Most often, fainting is not dangerous and does not require treatment. But in some cases, after fainting, you should consult a doctor to find out whether the loss of consciousness was caused by any disease. Contact a neurologist if:

• fainting occurred for the first time;
• you regularly lose consciousness;
• injury due to loss of consciousness;
• you have diabetes or heart disease (such as angina);
• fainting occurred during pregnancy;
• before fainting, you felt chest pain, irregular, rapid or strong heartbeat;
• during blackout, urination or defecation occurred involuntarily;
• you were unconscious for several minutes.

During the diagnosis, the doctor will ask about the circumstances of the fainting and recent illnesses, and may also measure your blood pressure and listen to your heartbeat with a stethoscope. In addition, additional research will be required to diagnose the causes of loss of consciousness.

Electrocardiogram (ECG) is prescribed when it is suspected that fainting was caused by heart disease. An electrocardiogram (ECG) records the heart rhythms and electrical activity of the heart. Electrodes (small sticky discs) are attached to the arms, legs and chest and are connected to the ECG machine using wires. Each heartbeat creates an electrical signal. The ECG notes these signals on paper, recording any abnormalities. The procedure is painless and takes about five minutes.

Carotid sinus massage performed by a doctor to rule out carotid sinus syndrome as a cause of fainting. If the massage causes dizziness, irregular heart rhythm or other symptoms, the test is considered positive.

Blood tests allow you to exclude diseases such as diabetes and anemia (anemia).

Blood pressure measurement in the supine and standing positions to detect orthostatic hypotension. With orthostatic hypotension, blood pressure drops sharply when a person stands up. If the test results reveal a medical condition, such as heart disease or orthostatic hypotension, your doctor may prescribe treatment.

First aid for fainting

There are certain measures that should be taken when someone is fainting. It is necessary to position the person in such a way as to increase blood flow to the head. To do this, just put something under your feet, bend them at the knees or lift them up. If there is nowhere to lie down, you need to sit down and put your head between your knees. Doing this will usually help prevent fainting.

If a person does not regain consciousness within 1-2 minutes, you need to do the following:

• lay it on its side, supported by one leg and one arm;
• tilt your head back and lift your chin to open
  Airways;
• Continuously monitor your breathing and pulse.

Then you should call an ambulance by calling 03 from a landline phone, 112 or 911 from a mobile phone and stay with the person until doctors arrive.

Treatment after fainting

Most fainting episodes do not require treatment, but it is important for your doctor to rule out possible medical conditions that may have caused the loss of consciousness. If the latter are detected during examination, you will need treatment. For example, if diabetes is detected through diet, physical exercise and medications can lower blood sugar levels. Treatment of cardiovascular diseases associated with fluctuations in blood pressure, rhythm disturbances or atherosclerosis also minimizes the likelihood of recurrent syncope.

If fainting is of a neurogenic nature or is situational, then you need to avoid those causes that usually lead to loss of consciousness: stuffy and hot rooms, excitement, fear. Try to spend less time standing on your feet. If you faint at the sight of blood or medical procedures, tell your doctor or nurse so they can do the procedure while you lie down. When it is difficult to determine what situations cause you to faint, your doctor may recommend keeping a symptom diary to record the circumstances surrounding your fainting.

To prevent fainting caused by carotid sinus syndrome, you should avoid putting pressure on the neck area - for example, not wearing shirts with a high, tight collar. Sometimes, to treat carotid sinus syndrome, a pacemaker, a small electronic device that helps maintain a regular heart rhythm, is placed under the skin.

To avoid orthostatic hypotension, try not to change your body position suddenly. Before getting out of bed, sit up, stretch, and take a few calm, deep breaths. In summer, you should increase your water consumption. The doctor may also recommend eating smaller meals in small portions and increasing salt intake. Some medications may lower blood pressure, but you should stop taking prescribed medications only with your doctor's approval.

To stop the drop in blood pressure and prevent fainting, there are special movements:

• crossing legs;
• muscle tension in the lower body;
• clenching your hands into fists;
• arm muscle tension.

The technique of correctly performing these movements needs to be learned. In the future, these movements can be performed after noticing symptoms of impending fainting, for example, dizziness.

Sometimes medications are used to treat after fainting. However, drug therapy must be prescribed by a doctor.

Additionally, syncope can create a dangerous situation in the workplace. For example, when handling heavy equipment or dangerous mechanisms, when working at height, etc. Issues of work ability are resolved on a case-by-case basis with the attending physician after completion of the diagnosis.

Which doctor should I contact after fainting?

Using the NaPopravka service you can find a good neurologist who will diagnose possible reasons fainting and suggest treatment if necessary.

If your episodes of loss of consciousness are accompanied by other symptoms not described in this article, use the “Who Treats It” section to choose the right specialist.

Localization and translation prepared by Napopravku.ru. NHS Choices provided the original content for free. It is available from www.nhs.uk. NHS Choices has not reviewed, and takes no responsibility for, the localization or translation of its original content

Copyright notice: “Department of Health original content 2019”

All site materials have been checked by doctors. However, even the most reliable article does not allow us to take into account all the features of the disease in a particular person. Therefore, the information posted on our website cannot replace a visit to the doctor, but only complements it. The articles have been prepared for informational purposes and are advisory in nature.

You live between commas again
And with a smile on his face
You understand them and forgive them,
But you don’t put a period at the end...
(Evgeny Sushkov, Let me go)

"Stereotype??!! No, it is not him! My whole life was a stereotype, but only until this moment. And if you think about it? After all, everyone follows stereotypes... One dreams for everyone, one reality, one world. People meet, get married, life goes according to plan, but is that bad? No it is OK. This is the standard. Although on the other hand, show me a person who does not consider himself unique. Yes, everyone is similar and everyone is unique in their own way. Likewise, relationships between people are standard and similar. If two people of opposite sexes are together, then most likely these are the fruits of idealization of their other half for each of them. It seems stupid to worship an idol, the god of which you yourself have invented, but this is the whole person. There is something in this, because if you figure it out, a person cannot live without God; if he does not depend on someone’s will, he will cease to be a person. It is foolish to deny that exceptions to the rules always exist, and everyone has the right to hope that their case is exceptional. I hope so too. I'm not a stereotype."
An unexpected, screeching horn from behind interrupted Anton’s thoughts about life. The traffic jam had already moved a little and nervous drivers, annoyed by the forty-minute wait, urged on those who were especially thoughtful. Povolnov put the car in gear and, deciding not to test the nerves of Moscow drivers, drove on. The time was approaching 6 o'clock and traffic jams in this place were quite common. And not only traffic jams, Povolnov’s life flowed quite normally, everything was repeated day after day, with minor deviations, but this suited him completely, since 3 months ago life flowed even more smoothly, his heart beat even more steadily and everything should have developed according to overall plan, if not for her. He met Nastya 3 months ago and considered her a gift from fate.
Three months ago, Anton took his older sister to her boyfriend in the Moscow region. Ekaterina, Povolnov’s sister, was 4 years older than him, had long had her own business, which was successfully supported by their influential parents, but was still not married to her husband, although she had been dating her boyfriend for two and a half years. In general, it was successful distinctive feature the entire Povolnov family, Anton was no exception. He had been very lucky all his life, at least he thought so himself. Initially, he was lucky to be born with such a successful surname, then he was lucky to get into an elite school and graduate from the best institute. He had everything a person could dream of: a job as a director of an insurance company at age 23, money, power, expensive car and, as he believed until recently, his beloved girl, Veronica, who had been next to him since college.
Not particularly observing the requirements of road signs, his car was then driving at a decent speed along one of the highways in the Moscow region. At the top of the rise a heavy truck stopped. Anton, listening to his sister’s confessions about the hardships of running a business and not really thinking about traffic rules, drove into the oncoming lane. What was he thinking at that moment??? Even he himself didn't know it. Perhaps he thought that the power of an expensive SUV would be enough to perform any maneuver, perhaps he hoped that the oncoming lane would be empty, perhaps he relied on his luck in life in any outcome, I don’t know, but the oncoming lane turned out to be not empty. At the top of the climb, having already crossed a double solid road, Anton saw a car 30 meters in front of him. An untimely voice from my sister - “Caution!” it was actually useless, since Povolnov had already made his decision. He pressed the brake pedal and turned the steering wheel to the left in order to avoid the collision at least to the side of the road. The car obediently moved to the left. Fortunately, the driver of the oncoming car managed to react and began braking. The cars passed each other, almost hitting each other. Having almost stopped on the side of the road, Anton heard a dull thud from behind and his heart sank with fear. But not out of fear that he might have to pay for repairs, not out of fear for money, he wasn’t raised that way, he was afraid that he might have hurt someone, or worse, killed someone. Jumping out of the car, she and her sister rushed to the scene of the accident. Near the truck, from which the disgruntled driver had already gotten out, stood a 180-degree, tinted, red nine. Anton saw that the accident could not have caused serious damage to the driver’s health, because... the nine had a broken headlight and a dented left fender, and the truck had no obvious damage at all, it calmed down a little, but the feeling that now someone would come out of the car would make the man terribly unhappy and begin to accuse him of all mortal sins, and in fact he would be right, there was a lump in my throat. But, no matter how surprising it was, the man did not come out. A young, rather pretty, dark-haired girl came out; she did not rush at anyone and even apologized to the truck driver and began to inspect her car with a thoughtful look.
Povolnov did not deny his guilt, and in order not to aggravate the conflict, he first gave the truck driver his business card, explaining that both material and moral damage would be returned to him in double amount. The completely satisfied driver, sensing that he was at a big advantage, decided to immediately leave without asking for a thorough investigation by the traffic police. But with the girl everything turned out to be more complicated. No, the point was not that she might want to understand everything, not that she might refuse this kind of services from a well-known insurance company in Moscow, he looked at her strangely, not understanding what he wanted and what he felt. Suddenly he even had a desire to gain this girl’s trust, no matter what.
“May I ask the name of that beautiful girl I almost killed?” - came from him without the usual confidence in his voice.
"Nastya. A little more and you would have had to order a monument to my parents with this name,” the victim said, not without a grin.
And perhaps it was here that the same spark slipped through, they smiled at each other. Taking out 4 five-thousandth bills from his wallet and handing them to her, Anton explained that the car was not seriously damaged, it would get to the city, and he was giving the money for moral damage, besides, if she called the number on his business card, she was guaranteed free repairs.
Without unnecessary pathos, Nastya took the money and headed to the car.
“You can’t let her go like that!” - a thought flashed through the head of the culprit of the accident.
"Nastya! Can I have your phone number? It’s my fault and I’d like to monitor how the repairs are going.”
“Of course,” the girl answered with a smile.
Having dictated the number, she smiled sweetly, got into the car and turned around and left. And Povolnov walked to his car and smiled stupidly, like an eight-year-old schoolboy, declaring his love to a classmate. His sister was already sitting in the car, waiting for him to sort out what had happened. Why did he need a phone? Of course he didn't know.
The option “monitor how the repairs will proceed” was clearly stupid. Perhaps he fell in love, but he tried to remove this thought from his head immediately, because in his opinion he already had his beloved and only one. It turns out that he didn’t know why he needed an extra number in the phone book.
After 20 minutes they reached Catherine’s lover, but something was wrong. Anton solved the problem, but a strange, heavy, incomprehensible feeling filled everything inside. This manifested itself in everything, starting with how I felt. My head didn’t seem to hurt, but the strange feeling of heaviness in my left temple didn’t leave me. And it was somehow damp in the shower, as if it was raining and someone had climbed in there without even wiping their feet. A strange premonition prevented me from thinking. After drinking cognac, he went to the second floor of the house to go to bed.
It cannot be said that he slept well, he periodically woke up and tossed and turned, but closer to the morning, deep sleep still overtook its victim. However, I didn't have to sleep for long. The phone started playing a standard melody that sounded like a mockery. Through sleepy, not fully awake eyes, the word “beloved” was visible on the display. It was 5:40 on the clock.
Pressing the call button and putting the handset to his ear, Povolnov heard a quiet whisper: “Anton, can you hear me? Anton. I want...... We have to break up. Anton, I don't love you. Goodbye". The short beeps seemed long from the speed with which his heart was beating. He sat down on the bed and began rubbing his sleepy face with his hands, he sat silently for about twenty minutes, not thinking about anything at all, then he pulled himself together and realizing that he couldn’t do anything now, he lay back down.
Anton did not fall asleep until the morning, turning over in his head all the reasons that could prompt her to utter these words. And it also seemed strange to him that the sensations in his left temple did not disappear.
In the morning, he approached his sister and explained that Vera had abandoned him and that he was leaving home. Having received the blessing and instruction, Povolnov was driving home in the car, he felt neither good nor bad, but driving past the place where there was an accident yesterday, for some reason the culprit’s heart began to beat faster.
At home, half-empty closets and cold, white walls awaited him. Sitting down on a chair near the computer, Anton took out his phone and, without expressing emotion on his face, found the name Nastya in the notebook. After thinking for another 2 minutes, I pressed the call button. In the half-empty apartment the following was heard:
"Nastya?"
“This is Anton, remember how I almost killed you yesterday?”
"Yes, I would like to make amends"
“Say, at the Mercury restaurant today, will that suit you?”
“Great, then at seven.”
Exactly three months had passed since that evening, Povolnov was happy. Nastya turned out to be the creature that was created only for him. And standing in a traffic jam on the way to my beloved girl, I fully felt it. Everything was smooth, but the feeling of heaviness in my left temple still did not disappear for a minute.

I would give everything for your smile:
Snowfalls, sunrises and thunderstorms
And please! Do not regret about anything!
Let's laugh together through our tears...
(Evgeny Sushkov, Let's laugh together through our tears)

Nastya worked as a nurse in one of the Moscow hospitals and, despite Povolnov’s repeated offers to take up any decently paid position in his insurance company, she politely and without hesitation refused. But Anton was not offended; he considered it an absolutely positive quality that allows a person to love his job.
And in general, he simply did not notice the negative sides in Nastya, no matter how hard he tried. She was beautiful, smart and most importantly loved him. Life seemed to be changing, and Povolnov really wanted this, because he had long dreamed of dramatic changes, but did not know where to start, but here such a chance arose and he successfully took advantage of it. He didn’t even try to figure out why Veronica left, but he really didn’t want to, he just didn’t feel anything for her anymore.
Over these months, Anton visited his doctor a couple of times, but the latter had no answer to the symptom of “strange sensations in the temple area.”
And, in general, this was not the main thing, but the main thing was Nastya, albeit with her little oddities, but he loved her. She had already lived with him for about 2 months. Povolnov already clearly felt his dependence.
The only thing was that there was a certain feeling in his head that something was not quite right. And this feeling intensified when Nastya told him something so strange, as if she was living her own life in parallel, without him. I told you at night. In a dream. Anton understood that this parallel life that she was telling him about was fictional. But she told such everyday trifles that he sometimes felt unpleasant. In the morning, of course, he didn’t say anything, perhaps he was afraid of embarrassing or offending...
Happiness was nearby, practically in your hands. And it’s not that Povolnov was afraid of missing out, no, what he planned to do tomorrow was more of a gesture of trust in Nastya than the fear of losing her. He was going to propose. And he wasn’t even at all afraid of refusal, or that she would ask for more time. He's been lucky all his life. Nothing could dissuade him from the fact that this would always be the case.
That night, Nastya again told him something in a dream, without hiding anything, she talked as if she were with her best friend, to whom she could say everything. But Anton practically didn’t listen and, as he fell asleep, he thought that tomorrow life would be better, more beautiful. He was sure that he was stronger than all the circumstances.

Your city will cool down again with the night rain,
Punched right through by water and drops of insomnia
And in the patient’s head there were hidden thoughts,
Those times when your eyes closed tiredly...
(Evgeny Sushkov, Insomnia)

But the awakening was not at all joyful. Something was clearly wrong. Anton could not move, he could not even open his eyes. And the strange feeling in my left temple turned into a pain that rang throughout my head.
“Oh my God, what’s going on??” he thought
“Perhaps this is because of the sensations in the temple... Maybe they have developed into something more serious?”
“You need to at least understand where I am”
And Povolnov tensed, which made his head hurt even more, but he was able to hear voices. These were very familiar voices. Parents. It was them. But where is he? And who do the parents talk to? Anton tried to strain even harder to hear the speech.
“He has extreme inhibition of the central nervous system, caused by primary damage to brain tissue, fragments of the skull bones and massive hemorrhage. Simply put, apoplectic coma. The condition is constantly stabilizing. We hope that everything will work out” - it was an unfamiliar voice, apparently the voice of a doctor. His parents constantly asked him something.
In addition to the pain, a dozen questions arose in my head about how this happened, where he was, and most importantly, where was Nastya??
And this made his head hurt twice as much, Anton was able to open his eyes, before which everything was still blurry, but unable to withstand this pain, he screamed something unintelligible.
Instantly, the attention of everyone in the hospital room switched to Povolnov, who was lying with his head in a bandage. The doctor rushed to him. There was a noise and a lot of people appeared around. But for Anton the noise gradually died down. He lost consciousness from the pain.
Having come to his senses, apparently, after a few hours he felt that the pain had become quieter. Opening his eyes, Povolnov did not immediately see that he was in a hospital room. It was dark outside the window. A doctor stood nearby. One.
“Anton, how are you feeling?”
“My head hurts,” the patient said, not without difficulty.
“You had an accident and were in a comatose state for 3 days, now your condition has stabilized, although the head injury was quite serious, your loved ones, parents, sister and your girlfriend are here at the moment, do you want me to call them?”
The patient smiled.
“Yes, call me.”
Of course, my head hurt badly, and in the place where there had been strange sensations for the last three months there was a rather large hematoma. Anton thought - “Did I really foresee the accident, and the fact that I would hit this very place is some kind of mysticism, at least Nastya is here, I need to see her soon.”
The doctor left the room and said in the corridor, “You can come in, he’s woken up.”
The parents and Ekaterina entered the room; their eyes showed anxiety, concern, sympathy and at the same time joy that everything turned out okay. And after them... This can’t happen. His ex-girlfriend, Veronica.
His heart was pounding so hard in his chest that Anton even thought that those around him could also hear this pounding.
My sister’s arm was in a cast, but that wasn’t what seemed incomprehensible. Questions about his well-being poured in, but there were no answers from the patient.
“Where is Nastya?” - an alarming voice sounded
His mother, looking at him with even greater concern, said, “What are you talking about, Anton?”
Silence reigned. The doctor approached the instruments with which the wounded man was surrounded on all sides and, turning to the relatives, said: “You need to go out for a while, intracranial pressure is rising, you are causing stress.”
The obedient crowd of relatives immediately turned around and walked away with a dejected look.
Povolov did not understand anything and, still trying to figure out what was what, painfully peered at one point. Various assumptions were spinning in his head, but something had to confirm them, some reliable source that he always trusted.
“Call your sister,” he suddenly said
"Are you sure?? Stress is contraindicated for you,” the doctor explained
"Sure!"
Katya entered the room and sat down on a chair next to the patient’s bed.
“Why is Veronica here, what does she need?”
“What are you talking about Anton, she loves you and worries about you,” the older sister said with a look filled with anxiety.
“What nonsense, we broke up a long time ago! Where is Nastya???"
“Anton, I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“What’s wrong with your hand?”
“We were together during the accident”
"How did it happen? I do not remember anything"
“3 days ago we were driving to the Moscow region, you began to overtake a standing truck, and drove into oncoming traffic.”
"Red Nine?"
“Yes, I was driving to a meeting, you turned left and the car flew into a ditch, turned over several times and remained on the roof. We were both not wearing seat belts, fortunately the airbags deployed in time. You hit your head hard, and here I am...” the sister said, nodding at her plastered hand.
All. The information received was enough for Anton to draw conclusions. He fell silent and stared at one point again. A lump appeared in my throat, and my heart became heavier than ever. The doctor asked the sister to leave and said that he would allow the next visit only in the morning. He gave Povolnov a sleeping pill and allowed him to remain alone with his thoughts until the morning.
The sleeping pills began to work almost immediately, but what he was thinking about kept him from falling asleep:
“This can’t be! I couldn't dream about 3 months of my life! This couldn't be a hallucination! I remember everything clearly. I couldn’t just imagine something like this. What if I could? All the facts point to this. If so, then I don’t want to go back to my old life at all.”
For the first time, circumstances were stronger than him. What was left? Surrender... Sleep...

A trace has been left by a runaway pen,
Just a trace, or maybe a sigh,
Without inspiration, he was beheaded.
There is discord and commotion in the soul.
Letter of farewell. The lines are stingy.
Leave it on the table... And away;
Balcony, moon, frozen lines
Just a step into the night is missing.
Jump... The whole world is now in vain,
Only on paper in two lines:
“I don’t agree with this world!
Goodbye best enemies!
(Evgeny Sushkov, Farewell to the best enemies)

The morning was completely joyless. Still would. The headache was less, but this was not a reason for Povolnov’s joy. Parents and sister, as it turned out, left at night; only Veronica chose to stay until the morning. The doctor told Anton that she was waiting in the corridor, and having received consent, he invited her in, leaving her alone.
Veronica entered the room, sat down next to him and silently took her lover’s hand. But did he love her, no. And Anton’s confidence in this grew stronger every minute. He was well aware that he had dreamed about Nastya, he understood that it was reckless to exchange the girl who loves you for something ghostly, but he just couldn’t do it any other way. Did not want.
“Sorry, we have to break up...” Anton said looking into her eyes.
"I don't understand"
Tears ran down Veronica's cheeks. She really didn’t understand the man who had been so dear to her for so long.
“Please go away... go away” sounded like a sentence for her.
Vera stood up and silently walked out into the corridor, covering her tear-stained face with her hands. She sat in the corridor for a couple more hours, after which she left in an unknown direction by taxi.
Povolnov lay and looked at the ceiling. He felt sorry for Veronica, but he couldn’t find any other way out.
It hurt, but not in my head. What was sick was that part of a person that, from a medical point of view, cannot be sick, and if it is sick, it is incurable, the soul. He clearly understood that he simply did not need the old world in which he simply existed without Nastya. He was irritated by existence in the form in which it was presented in the future, after the hospital.
However, there was a way out. A way out that Povolnov felt he could not help but take advantage of.
Yesterday, the sleeping pills they gave him worked very quickly. Reaching for the drawer in which the doctor had left the pills yesterday, Anton took out a package of sleeping pills, pulled out about a dozen pills and drank them without hesitation by the handful, washing them down with a glass of water that stood next to the bed.
Povolnov lay alone in a hospital bed, realizing that he was dying. And he didn't care, he just made his choice. He fell asleep without regretting it. Two minutes later he lost consciousness...
Perhaps by chance, perhaps it was fate, but he was not allowed to die. The doctor came in on time and saw the patient not breathing and a bottle of pills nearby. The suicide failed.
Opening his eyes, Povolnov saw that he was still in the room, still alive. You can't say he was upset. Rather, I saw some sense in it. Perhaps he should live if he can’t die??
The same doctor standing next to him did not lecture him... He said, “I think you realized what you were doing, and if you want to try again, I will not stop you, but while you are here, I will not allow suicide. Now a nurse will come over and she will work with me in shifts to monitor and care for you until you get better.”
About fifteen minutes later, steps were heard in the corridor. And here is your nurse, the doctor said, meet Anastasia.
To say that Povolnov was shocked would be an understatement. It was her! Nastya! She was dressed in a white robe and looked exactly as he imagined.
“Hello,” the nurse said with a smile.
And the voice! The voice was exactly the same. Anton didn’t know what to do and so he just smiled. Isn't that why he didn't die? Because it exists? Is this really a miracle?
Towards evening, the doctor and parents, who came during the day, left and the patient was left alone with the nurse. Nastya walked up to the bed, sat down next to her and spoke...
“And you know, I was sure that you would pull through”
“Sleeping pills, it was stupidity, rest assured, this won’t happen again,” the hero of the “celebration” answered, smiling.
“No, I’m not talking about sleeping pills, I’m talking about coma. I even constantly came and talked to you, I was sure that you could hear me.”
This is it, these conversations at night, this is not a parallel, fictitious life, Anastasia really told him about herself. Now everything has come together into one picture. Povolnov was lucky again, as he always was, as he was lucky every day. And again thoughts about fate flooded into his head. A gift of fate.
“Nastya, do you have a boyfriend?” - Anton asked casually.
“No, few people can tolerate me,” the nurse grinned.
“You know, I have a very good restaurant in mind, called “Mercury”, the food there is quite good, maybe we could celebrate my resurrection there together? “- the patient said hopefully.
“As soon as you get better, we will definitely go there, I promise, but for now, you should sleep.”
“I understand you,” Povolnov reported, already in high spirits, turned over on his other side and calmly, gradually fell asleep, knowing that she existed, she was nearby.

Is yours New Year on dark blue
A wave in the middle of the urban sea
Floating in inexplicable melancholy,
It's like life will start again
As if there will be light and glory,
Have a good day and plenty of bread,
It's like life is swinging to the right
Swinging to the left.
(Joseph Brodsky, Christmas Romance)

Stereotype??!! No, it is not him! My whole life was a stereotype, but only until this moment. What has changed in the life of the director of a Moscow insurance company? It depends on how you look. He fell asleep like a child, waiting for the holiday. I was waiting for a new day. Made plans. In his typical life everything appeared to wake up happy man. But he didn't wake up. This morning Anton Povolnov died without regaining consciousness. Doctors fought for his life, but could not help. Coma and a suicide attempt exhausted his body.
Thus ended the life of an undoubtedly lucky man. Twenty-three years of happiness. Or maybe not happiness. Perhaps it was twenty-three years of imprisonment and the strict regime of stereotypes did not allow him to breathe deeply. Would he do this if he had a choice? If he had a chance to change everything, even risking his life, I think he would agree. For one free breath. Anton, if he were alive, again began to argue whether it was fate to go through so much pain in order to get one happy moment of hope, whether it was fair to take life at a moment when what he was looking for was so close. Some call it the law of meanness, others call it fate.
Perhaps this all seems unfair. But it’s not for us to judge. Judging is not a human thing at all. Let God do it. After all, if you look at it, a person cannot live without God; if he does not depend on someone’s will, he will cease to be a person...