11–20 of 141 posts
I wonder if causality is backwards. Perhaps if your negative emotions are really causing problems, you're more likely to actively to to stop them by telling yourself not to feel them.
I wonder if causality is backwards. Perhaps if your negative emotions are really causing problems, you're more likely to actively to to stop them by telling yourself not to feel them.
This was my immediate thought as well. If you don't have problems with your emotions, of course you won't try and tell yourself "I shouldn't feel like this".
I have learned some strategies for dealing with emotions from Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David Burns. By controlling your thoughts you ultimately control how you feel.
Perhaps to a certain degree, but people with imbalanced brain chemistries who are affected by bipolar disorder, personality disorders etc. cannot simply 'think' bad moods away. It's unfortunately more complicated than that.
Simple doesn't mean easy.
I used to suffer from severe clinical depression and ultimately the only thing that's helped was to learn how to control my thoughts. It still rears its head when I'm tired, hungry, or drunk enough so I don't have the energy to control my thoughts. Hell, sometimes I just relax too much and forget to and it comes rushing back.
But on the bright side, the need for constant productive output has really helped both my career and my physique. Pros and cons I guess.
Ultimately I find this much more desirable than the antidepressants that just made me numb to everything.
and
> those who generally allow such bleak feelings as sadness, disappointment and resentment to run their course reported fewer mood disorder symptoms than those who critique them or push them away, even after six months
Yet the comments so far are mostly about "controlling your thoughts", rather than accepting negative emotions (and maybe looking at what they're trying to tell you rather than killing the messengers).
> We found that people who habitually accept their negative emotions experience fewer negative emotions and > those who generally allow such bleak feelings as sadness, disappointment and resentment to run their course reported fewer mood disorder symptoms than those who critique them or push them away, even after six months Yet the comments so far are mostly about "controlling your thoughts", rather than accepting ne…
Just a few sessions with a psychologist who suggested 'mindful' behaviour (defined as observing your own emotions and not judging yourself rather than being involved in them) helped a pretty great deal.
As most people who have dealt with this probably know, trying to surpress anxiety symptoms does not help at all and mostly makes the attacks worse.
I wonder if causality is backwards. Perhaps if your negative emotions are really causing problems, you're more likely to actively to to stop them by telling yourself not to feel them.
I wonder if causality is backwards. Perhaps if your negative emotions are really causing problems, you're more likely to actively to to stop them by telling yourself not to feel them.
Step 1: Feel sad, depressed, stressed, lonely.
Step 2: Beat yourself up over #1
Step 3: Misery^2.