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Repetitive negative thinking associated with cognitive decline in older adults

bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com

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Re: Repetitive negative thinking associated with cognitive decline in older adults

#41

Post by orwin »

notmyjob wrote: post #21
adamwong246 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's common for old fogies to claim that the future is bad and the past was best. But I don't remember a time in my life that was this stressful. I really do think the world is getting crazier, dumber, and just all around worse, this past decade most specifically. It seems the world has decided to just go nuts, shift into overdrive and metaphorically drive off a cliff. Everybody wants to escape the real world and liv…

For many nations, DJT has been the best thing that has ever happened, by a wide indisputable margin. Not all nations, but some.

Or for individuals. I;ve never realized how US-like my country was becoming until DJT and his second administration. I'm probably one of the most US-pilled person my age in my country (I follow US football more than soccer, i hang out on US forums and discords, i used to follow US news every day, i've spent a month between Ohio and WV, and another between California, Nevada and Colorado, it's the foreign country i've spent the most time in overall) and even I realized how subserviant and culturally acclimated to the US we became. Von der Layen and her "negociation" did not help the sentiment, i guarantee, but i think it's how much even national news talked about the US that made me realized we have to cut ties.

I've moved, in 6 month, from a pretty pro-OTAN, "liberal" point of view toward an anti-OTAN, anti-Atlantist position, and i think i'm right. I now would even vote for an anti-atlantist right wing party rather than for the left of center, pro-US party i've voted for before (well, since an anti-Atlantist left wing party exist, and despite its radicality, i will probably vote for them, but i'm now a single-issue voter, and my issue is how omnipresent the US is in our culture).

DJT made me realized i'm part of the problem, and now i can take steps to fix it.

Re: Repetitive negative thinking associated with cognitive decline in older adults

#42

Post by [deleted] »

notmyjob wrote: post #11

“The prevalence of cognitive disorders is increasing year by year, placing a heavy burden on patients, families, and society. It is estimated that the total annual cost of dementia disease in China will reach $1.89 trillion in 2050 [4]. However, there is no drug that can stop or reverse the progression of dementia.” That is my own RNT. If only there were a way to escape from this reality. Death, taxes and global popu…

[deleted]

Re: Repetitive negative thinking associated with cognitive decline in older adults

#43

Post by sindriava »

hliyan wrote: post #28

I have a personal theory (I'm sure it's not a novel one and it probably has a name) that human brains are naturally predisposed to negative thought than positive thought because our brains are essentially evolved prediction engines. And because it is often easier and faster to lose something than gain it (e.g. it is usually less urgent to act on the signs of deer you might want to hunt and eat, than the sign of a tig…

I agree with this to a large extent. All prediction comes with uncertainty and a good survival strategy is to align towards the upper bound on risk and lower bound on reward.

Re: Repetitive negative thinking associated with cognitive decline in older adults

#44

Post by dotnet00 »

geoduck14 wrote: post #5
sindriava wrote: post #4

10/10 exactly what people with these issues want to hear. Great thing to post OP!

Can't people with these type of issues control what they think about? Can't they have a go-to list of positive things to think about when they notice they are thinking negative thoughts?

It's like how you can't really help but automatically read text you look at in a language you know well.

It's very hard to control, over the years I've worked on reigning in my negative thinking, but every once in a while I still end up in a spiral of increasingly negative thoughts that don't just go away by focusing on positive things.

Re: Repetitive negative thinking associated with cognitive decline in older adults

#45

Post by sindriava »

growingkittens wrote: post #37
hliyan wrote: post #28

I have a personal theory (I'm sure it's not a novel one and it probably has a name) that human brains are naturally predisposed to negative thought than positive thought because our brains are essentially evolved prediction engines. And because it is often easier and faster to lose something than gain it (e.g. it is usually less urgent to act on the signs of deer you might want to hunt and eat, than the sign of a tig…

I know that traumatized human brains tend toward negativity. I don't believe it is a natural human condition, though. With trauma, the instincts you mentioned start applying to the wrong situations - trauma rewires the brain. "Minor" trauma, sustained trauma, traumatic events, can all contribute to this.

This is likely a byproduct of us being too comfortable now. Not in the "you've got nothing real to worry about!" boomer rethoric kind of way, but in the sense that our baseline for reward has shifted a bit higher. So trauma can still present a very strong negative RL signal, while positive RL signals of similar magnitude become rarer.

Re: Repetitive negative thinking associated with cognitive decline in older adults

#46

Post by timeinput »

geoduck14 wrote: post #5
sindriava wrote: post #4

10/10 exactly what people with these issues want to hear. Great thing to post OP!

Can't people with these type of issues control what they think about? Can't they have a go-to list of positive things to think about when they notice they are thinking negative thoughts?

I can't.

I have a go to list of positive things to think about.

I have physical tactile things (a small rock I carry around) that brings me joy when I touch it because it reminds me of good times.

It is very easy for me to get stuck in negative thought loops, and no matter how many things I see / feel / hear / ... it doesn't get better (at least in the short term).

The question your asking to me is akin to "can't people control what they see" thinking it's like a movie you can choose to go and attend, when instead it's like "A Clockwork Orange" where in fact I do not get to control what I see.

Re: Repetitive negative thinking associated with cognitive decline in older adults

#47

Post by YesBox »

adamwong246 wrote: post #16
notmyjob wrote: post #11

“The prevalence of cognitive disorders is increasing year by year, placing a heavy burden on patients, families, and society. It is estimated that the total annual cost of dementia disease in China will reach $1.89 trillion in 2050 [4]. However, there is no drug that can stop or reverse the progression of dementia.” That is my own RNT. If only there were a way to escape from this reality. Death, taxes and global popu…

It's common for old fogies to claim that the future is bad and the past was best. But I don't remember a time in my life that was this stressful. I really do think the world is getting crazier, dumber, and just all around worse, this past decade most specifically. It seems the world has decided to just go nuts, shift into overdrive and metaphorically drive off a cliff. Everybody wants to escape the real world and liv…

IMO… You need to detach yourself from the big data straw you’re gagging on.

Go outside and interact with people.

There is enough “content” IRL or otherwise on this planet that is immeasurably beyond a single person experiencing that affords you the opportunity to choose the life you can live.

Teach yourself how to choose

Re: Repetitive negative thinking associated with cognitive decline in older adults

#48

Post by sindriava »

geoduck14 wrote: post #5
sindriava wrote: post #4

10/10 exactly what people with these issues want to hear. Great thing to post OP!

Can't people with these type of issues control what they think about? Can't they have a go-to list of positive things to think about when they notice they are thinking negative thoughts?

I think this question stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of how depression works for a lot of people. You're asking "why don't they replace negative signals with positive signals" when the problem often is that the positive signaling mechanism itself is broken. It's like trying to balance a bike that only goes left.

Re: Repetitive negative thinking associated with cognitive decline in older adults

#49

Post by [deleted] »

throwaway77385 wrote: post #14
IAmBroom wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Short answer: no, you can't just "think positive" your way out of mental illness. Also: Correlation is not causation; we don't know that avoiding these RNTs changes anything in the brain chemistry.

The only thing I'd add to this (as someone with stupidly depressive and negative thought patterns), is that there are techniques that can help. The parent comment comes off as flippant, but I am going to assume it's not intended that way. Learning to think more positively takes an incredible amount of effort. An effort which seemingly never goes away. It just never gets easier. It's like my brain is simply wired to a…

[deleted]

Re: Repetitive negative thinking associated with cognitive decline in older adults

#50

Post by sindriava »

YesBox wrote: post #47
adamwong246 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's common for old fogies to claim that the future is bad and the past was best. But I don't remember a time in my life that was this stressful. I really do think the world is getting crazier, dumber, and just all around worse, this past decade most specifically. It seems the world has decided to just go nuts, shift into overdrive and metaphorically drive off a cliff. Everybody wants to escape the real world and liv…

IMO… You need to detach yourself from the big data straw you’re gagging on. Go outside and interact with people. There is enough “content” IRL or otherwise on this planet that is immeasurably beyond a single person experiencing that affords you the opportunity to choose the life you can live. Teach yourself how to choose

I appreciate you're trying to give well meaning advice, but do you think what you wrote could be perceived as very condescending?
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