A systematic study of the effect of energy dissipation on critical nonconservative loads within the stability calculation is carried out. Some classical nonconservative elastic stability problems are considered: the stability of a linear form of equilibrium of a double pendulum under the action of a follower force, the stability of a cantilever beam compressed by a follower force (Beck’s problem), and the stability of a flat panel in a supersonic gas flow. The dependences of critical loads on the damping parameters are built, and the conditions of mechanical system stabilization and destabilization are determined for the cases when damping coefficients vary over a wide range and for various ratios. The external and internal frictions (according to the Voigt model) are considered for the distributed parameter systems. Conclusions about the effect of various types of energy dissipation on the critical values of nonconservative load parameters and about the conditions of nonconservative system destabilization due to the energy dissipation are formulated.