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A problem shared is a problem halved.

English proverb

PhilosophyProverbs

The story behind the card

The idea is old. The Roman statesman Cicero wrote that friendship makes hard times lighter by dividing and sharing them, and in his essay ‘Of Friendship’ (1625) Francis Bacon said that it doubles joys and cuts griefs in half. German has a twin, ‘geteiltes Leid ist halbes Leid’: shared sorrow is half sorrow. Turkish says that whoever keeps their trouble to themselves will find no cure for it. In a 2008 study led by the psychologist Simone Schnall, people judged a hill less steep when a friend stood beside them.

Türkçe oku
Paylaşılan dert yarıya iner.
İngiliz atasözü

Düşünce eskidir. Romalı devlet adamı Cicero, dostluğun zor günleri bölüşerek hafiflettiğini yazmıştı. Francis Bacon da 1625'te yayımlanan “Dostluk Üzerine” denemesinde, dostluğun sevinçleri ikiye katladığını, dertleri yarıya indirdiğini söyler. Almancada “Paylaşılan acı yarım acıdır” denir; Türkçede de “Derdini söylemeyen derman bulamaz.” Psikolog Simone Schnall'ın yürüttüğü 2008 tarihli bir araştırmada, yanında bir arkadaşı duran katılımcılar önlerindeki tepeyi, yalnız olanlardan daha az dik gördü.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Social support
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