Dear Ms. Curtiss,
Well, I finally bought Brainswitch out of Depression & I'm enjoying it very much. It was a realization of my son's struggle with depression that impelled me over to Barnes & Noble to pick it up. I sat there & sped through the first 104 pages. It was at page 104 that I knew I had to buy this book.
I have actually struggled for so long with depression that I have come up with many of these strategies by trial & error - and necessity. I had to raise my son alone, so it was imperative that I find ways of functioning in this world.
I was chronically tired from the incredible amount of energy & courage it took for me to get through a day. One thing that helped me to find tools that work (because my parents are alcoholics) is 12-Step Alanon. Much of the wisdom in your book I found in my 23 years in Alanon. But I was unable to pass these skills on to my son.
I thought that it was just natural teenage rebellion that he refused to follow my example and do the things that work.I thought he'd snap out of it & start to choose happiness over his dark "stinkin' thinkin'" as it is called in 12-Step programs.
Your book is really helping me in reaffirming many of the things that I know.Thank you for your insights, many of which I did not directly know. I am not sure how to proceed with my son though, except prayerfully & gradually.
I am wondering if you have any direct strategies for helping a loved one. I thought I would send him a select page or two because he has already refused to read any books that I have bought for him. I have searched Brainswitch for just the right pages that might peak his interest. B_________
Dear B_______
It is very difficult to help someone else, even your own child, unless you have built up the kind of trust that when the person is confused, or hits some kind of wall, they ask you for your opinion.
The reason it is so difficult is that people are usually fearful, and it is their fear that has caused them to develop defensive strategies (such as drinking) to alleviate the fear. (Fear is extremely painful and most people repress it.) Mostly what fearful people fear is criticism. Even the suggestion of criticism. They just can't take it. They consider criticism an attack, rather than helpful, no matter how excellent and well meaning.
You can see people walking around with hunched shoulders and a caved-in chest because their fear has gotten them to take this protective posture (to protect their heart which is breaking but they repress the pain of it). They have protected their minds as well with a big fence to keep out all criticism, which is how they view someone's offer of suggestions.
The way a human being avoids the pain of fear is to blame. As long as you are blaming, you are focused on someone else's faults or weaknesses and are not focused on your own pain. So the fearful person is poised to blame the help-giver because the help is seen by them to come in the form of criticism. This defense strategy is not at all helpful in regular life, but it serves to alleviate fear.
Since most people don't know they are afraid, they just think the other person is wrong, or non-supportive, or that life, in general, has given them a bad deal. The other thing that fear does is make you right. Being right is a defense against fear. Being right (defensive) means that you are coming from a position of certainty—“I am right,” or “fine” or “don't need you,” and you are stupid, or wrong, or don't know anything.
From the position of certainty, your brain is closed down to further information. You already know everything. This is especially true of teenagers.
In order to get people to consider new information, you have to move them ever so gently from a position of certainty to a position of uncertainty. Sometimes in a counseling situation, the counselor might respond to someone who has just regaled you with how they are just “fine, thank you very much, I don’t need counseling” by asking--
"So things are working for you the way you want?”
or
“Do you have your hopes and dreams coming true or are you just coping?”
The person might decide at this point that maybe they could do a little better. A tiny spark of doubt might penetrate their own mind. They might wonder to themselves that they actually don't know what to do next. If so, they might be open to some new information. Not much, all at once, but something. Something small and non-critical that might seep in and later they assume they thought it up themselves.
Mostly teenagers are afraid and don't know it. For a person to improve, they must somehow confront their fear and start to grow their courage. I know I talk about dealing with repressed fear at great length in Chapter 10 of my book Depression is a Choice. You can get that book for just a couple of dollors on amazon.com A. B. Curtiss.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
I Just Want my Life Back
Hello
My name is Dr ____________.I came across your website after praying about getting healed from my depression. I agree with most of what you are saying, but I do believe there are many components to being depressed :
1) genetics
2) environment
3) relationship you’re in
4) NUTRITION is a huge component
5) spiritual warfare
6) stress, lack of sleep
I'm a Chiropractor who has suffered with on/off bouts of chronic anxiety, panic attacks and depression. 5 months ago it was like someone turned off the light switch, my thoughts went from being positive to negative. I started having panic attacks again, back in the ER 3 times, and back on meds ( Celexa and Lorazepam). Thank God for the meds at the time, that's how bad things get.
Have you ever heard of TRUE HOPE? They are a company based out of Canada that has come up with a nutritional formula that feeds the brain, basically the ingredients that create neurotransmitters, especially the B vitamins....B12.....??
Is there any way of me being able to talk with you ? I haven't been depressed in over 10 yrs, which landed me in the hospital in 2000, and both my brothers have been diagnosed with BI-POLAR. One has tried to kill himself three times unsuccessfully--he's addicted to crack and heroin ( poor soul). The other tends to manage his life without drugs, but can't cope with a job. I myself have had my own practice for 6 yrs, am.highly creative when I'm healthy, highly energetic, passionate and enthusiastic. I used to say I get high on LIFE, but when my lows come.they really wreak havoc. My panic attacks have gone, but being on the meds (20mg) Citalopram (generic celexa), I'm kind of numb, and it deflates my personality.
Do you believe in the Candida theory of depression ? Systemic Candida ?? what are your thoughts ?
I just want to get my life back. In the last 2 years I built a business to 10-15k in less than 15 months.and came off my meds for the 1st time in 4 yrs. I was feeling great,until this all started happening. I USUALLY SNAP OUT OF IT.....
Would love to hear back from you....
GOD BLESS
with unconditional love and gratitude.
Dear Dr. __________
I was diagnosed with bipolar (along with my father and brother--they called it manic depression those days). I suffered with panic attacks, migraine headaches, claustrophobia, depression and mania for more than 30 years.
I became a board-certified cognitive behavioral therapist to help myself, but found little to help me get out of my bipolar condition in either psychology or psychiatry. Not until I studied neuroscience did I see exactly how my brain got into depression, headaches, panic attacks, etc, and how I could absolutely prevent all of it.
The key to depression is he process of pain perception. If you read my book Depression is a Choice (I think they have it for $1 on Amazon now) you will see how I educated myself to get out of being controlled by my own brain--it is the philosophy of how to get out of depression.
My book Brainswitch out of Depression is more "how-to" --the neuroscience of how to get out of depression. If you read all the info on the website, and read the letters on my blog http://MobyJane.blogspot.com/ you will see that the main component of depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain.
I flatly reject the genetic component. The fact that you or your siblings are not in charge of your own thinking is the problem, not some inherited disease. Street drugs, and alcohol abuse always end up in depression. But so do anti-depressants. Relationships are influenced by your depression, they don’t necessarily cause it. You can always alter your environment, or, if that is not possible, you can alter the way you think about your environment and the way you interact with your environment. For understanding this I suggest you read Viktor Frankl’s book “Man’s Search for Meaning.” Nutrition is necessary for good health, if you’re not in good health, that could cause depression, but not necessarily.
The chemical imbalance, which all these anti-depressants purport to cure, is caused by anxious thinking (much of which you may not be aware) that triggers the fight or flight response and dumps a bunch of stress chemicals in the brain which are extremely hard on the metabolic processes of the body. You don’t need drugs to change your way of thinking. You can do it as an act of will. Taking drugs to change your depressive thinking is like taking your car to the repair shop because it isn’t driving you to the correct address.
The ads they have on television where people complain about having to wind themselves up to be interested in life and therefore you need drugs are disgusting. So wind yourself up. Get moving. Get up and do something, no matter how bad you feel, and in the doing of something productive, you begin to feel better.
I will be glad to answer any specific questions you have about depression as you look over this material and try to apply it to your life. I do not take private patients anymore but answer anyone's specific questions and I do not charge for this.
A. B. Curtiss
My name is Dr ____________.I came across your website after praying about getting healed from my depression. I agree with most of what you are saying, but I do believe there are many components to being depressed :
1) genetics
2) environment
3) relationship you’re in
4) NUTRITION is a huge component
5) spiritual warfare
6) stress, lack of sleep
I'm a Chiropractor who has suffered with on/off bouts of chronic anxiety, panic attacks and depression. 5 months ago it was like someone turned off the light switch, my thoughts went from being positive to negative. I started having panic attacks again, back in the ER 3 times, and back on meds ( Celexa and Lorazepam). Thank God for the meds at the time, that's how bad things get.
Have you ever heard of TRUE HOPE? They are a company based out of Canada that has come up with a nutritional formula that feeds the brain, basically the ingredients that create neurotransmitters, especially the B vitamins....B12.....??
Is there any way of me being able to talk with you ? I haven't been depressed in over 10 yrs, which landed me in the hospital in 2000, and both my brothers have been diagnosed with BI-POLAR. One has tried to kill himself three times unsuccessfully--he's addicted to crack and heroin ( poor soul). The other tends to manage his life without drugs, but can't cope with a job. I myself have had my own practice for 6 yrs, am.highly creative when I'm healthy, highly energetic, passionate and enthusiastic. I used to say I get high on LIFE, but when my lows come.they really wreak havoc. My panic attacks have gone, but being on the meds (20mg) Citalopram (generic celexa), I'm kind of numb, and it deflates my personality.
Do you believe in the Candida theory of depression ? Systemic Candida ?? what are your thoughts ?
I just want to get my life back. In the last 2 years I built a business to 10-15k in less than 15 months.and came off my meds for the 1st time in 4 yrs. I was feeling great,until this all started happening. I USUALLY SNAP OUT OF IT.....
Would love to hear back from you....
GOD BLESS
with unconditional love and gratitude.
Dear Dr. __________
I was diagnosed with bipolar (along with my father and brother--they called it manic depression those days). I suffered with panic attacks, migraine headaches, claustrophobia, depression and mania for more than 30 years.
I became a board-certified cognitive behavioral therapist to help myself, but found little to help me get out of my bipolar condition in either psychology or psychiatry. Not until I studied neuroscience did I see exactly how my brain got into depression, headaches, panic attacks, etc, and how I could absolutely prevent all of it.
The key to depression is he process of pain perception. If you read my book Depression is a Choice (I think they have it for $1 on Amazon now) you will see how I educated myself to get out of being controlled by my own brain--it is the philosophy of how to get out of depression.
My book Brainswitch out of Depression is more "how-to" --the neuroscience of how to get out of depression. If you read all the info on the website, and read the letters on my blog http://MobyJane.blogspot.com/ you will see that the main component of depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain.
I flatly reject the genetic component. The fact that you or your siblings are not in charge of your own thinking is the problem, not some inherited disease. Street drugs, and alcohol abuse always end up in depression. But so do anti-depressants. Relationships are influenced by your depression, they don’t necessarily cause it. You can always alter your environment, or, if that is not possible, you can alter the way you think about your environment and the way you interact with your environment. For understanding this I suggest you read Viktor Frankl’s book “Man’s Search for Meaning.” Nutrition is necessary for good health, if you’re not in good health, that could cause depression, but not necessarily.
The chemical imbalance, which all these anti-depressants purport to cure, is caused by anxious thinking (much of which you may not be aware) that triggers the fight or flight response and dumps a bunch of stress chemicals in the brain which are extremely hard on the metabolic processes of the body. You don’t need drugs to change your way of thinking. You can do it as an act of will. Taking drugs to change your depressive thinking is like taking your car to the repair shop because it isn’t driving you to the correct address.
The ads they have on television where people complain about having to wind themselves up to be interested in life and therefore you need drugs are disgusting. So wind yourself up. Get moving. Get up and do something, no matter how bad you feel, and in the doing of something productive, you begin to feel better.
I will be glad to answer any specific questions you have about depression as you look over this material and try to apply it to your life. I do not take private patients anymore but answer anyone's specific questions and I do not charge for this.
A. B. Curtiss
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Brainswitching as Post-Hypnotic Suggestion
Hello,
I am a qualified counselor and Clinical Hypnotherapist in Australia. It is with great interest that I read an article of yours about brain switching and depression. I am going to purchase the book on Amazon, however I was wondering if brain switching could be incorporated as a post suggestion in a hypnotic script, and if it could, what would be the best way of going about this. I am seeing a clinically depressed client on Tuesday. Her husband has stated she is suicidal so any additional information which would help her would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for taking the time to read this email.
All the best
Christine
Dear Christine,
Yes, you could use brainswitching as a post hypnotic suggestion. Whenever you think of something you make a new neural pattern of that thought. When you think of that same thing repetitively, over and over, you make the thought dominant. The brain always follows the direction of its most current dominant thought.
With hypnosis, you accomplish making the thought dominant with your post hypnotic suggestion since the hypnosis trance provides the same strength (dominance) to the thought as thinking the thought over and over repetitively.
Another way to make the thought more dominant is to think the thought during emotional stress. This is why faith healers say "You're cured" as they push the unwary person backwards. The person does not know that someone has been stationed behind them to cushion their fall, and so experiences emotional stress (fear) at the same time the thought occurs which "sets" the thought (makes it more dominant).
You have to decide what thought do you wish to "set" in your patient's brain. For myself I have "set" the thought "Do an exercise right away" and "linked it" (through learned association) to occur at the same time a depressive thought occurs.
Your patient will have to choose an exercise to use in place of the depressive thought, then you can link the idea of doing the exercise with the depressive thoughts as they surface. If someone is suicidal I would certainly make sure that they not be alone as long as they are suicidal, and that they do some hard physical exercise to tire themselves out--jogging, working out, etc. to deplete some of the stress chemicals. A. B. Curtiss
I am a qualified counselor and Clinical Hypnotherapist in Australia. It is with great interest that I read an article of yours about brain switching and depression. I am going to purchase the book on Amazon, however I was wondering if brain switching could be incorporated as a post suggestion in a hypnotic script, and if it could, what would be the best way of going about this. I am seeing a clinically depressed client on Tuesday. Her husband has stated she is suicidal so any additional information which would help her would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for taking the time to read this email.
All the best
Christine
Dear Christine,
Yes, you could use brainswitching as a post hypnotic suggestion. Whenever you think of something you make a new neural pattern of that thought. When you think of that same thing repetitively, over and over, you make the thought dominant. The brain always follows the direction of its most current dominant thought.
With hypnosis, you accomplish making the thought dominant with your post hypnotic suggestion since the hypnosis trance provides the same strength (dominance) to the thought as thinking the thought over and over repetitively.
Another way to make the thought more dominant is to think the thought during emotional stress. This is why faith healers say "You're cured" as they push the unwary person backwards. The person does not know that someone has been stationed behind them to cushion their fall, and so experiences emotional stress (fear) at the same time the thought occurs which "sets" the thought (makes it more dominant).
You have to decide what thought do you wish to "set" in your patient's brain. For myself I have "set" the thought "Do an exercise right away" and "linked it" (through learned association) to occur at the same time a depressive thought occurs.
Your patient will have to choose an exercise to use in place of the depressive thought, then you can link the idea of doing the exercise with the depressive thoughts as they surface. If someone is suicidal I would certainly make sure that they not be alone as long as they are suicidal, and that they do some hard physical exercise to tire themselves out--jogging, working out, etc. to deplete some of the stress chemicals. A. B. Curtiss
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Depression is not Reality
Dear A. B.
I found your book “Brainswitch out of Depression” fascinating and have started using your techniques. I’m able to work at my business in Laguna Beach, CA, but I have to force myself to do everything. I’m using the technique for my brain to focus on “yes yes yes” or “green apple” every time it wants to think about depression. I’m normally outgoing and full of life and have many hobbies, and I have a great support system.
Please let me know what else I can do to get out of this episode of depression. It started 3 months ago, With much appreciation, T._______
Dear T.
The main thing to remember is that depression masquerades as reality. It is not reality. Depression masquerades as the real you. It is not the real you. It is only a chemically based state of alarm that has no power except some pain that you don't have to pay attention to and then it goes away.
It is very difficult, though simple, to take control of your thoughts if you have not done it before. Depression is extremely seductive. You are drawn to think it. It takes great effort to think something else instead, but it is the only way out.
Nobody else can do it for you. After a while, you build different neural patterns. One of them is that you slowly get the idea that your brain is not more powerful than you are and it cannot think what it wants unless you go along with it, and you never have to go along with it. Then you become a free person, not the slave of your thinking and feeling. This "I am a free and okay person" neural pattern sometimes is temporarily overcome by the depressive neural pattern. However, the more you think the new neural pattern, the stronger it becomes.
This neural pattern helps immensely with the terror. No matter what your brain wants to think in negative terms, never go along with it. For myself, it is no longer an option to think a downer thought of any kind. Depression is a thought. I refuse to think it. Or allow myself to think a downer feeling of any kind. A downer feeling is a thought. Downer thoughts pop up. Depression pops up. Downer feelings pop up but I immediately think something else instead. "Hippity hop" or "1 2 3 4." When the edge is off I get into some work or project and have trained myself to refuse to think about what I am feeling. I think only about what I am doing. After a while I notice I am no longer in a state of alarm. I am completely okay.
You say you have to "force myself to do everything." What's wrong with that? So force yourself. Depression, any kind or sort of depression is not reality. It is a state of body alarm. In this state of alarm nothing seems possible. This is why regular cognitive behavior therapy doesn't work. Not enough neural activity in the neocortex to do real thinking. So you force yourself to think, and do those simple rote exercises which will stimulate neural activity in the neocortex, and get your body moving out of a state of alarm.
When you are out of a state of alarm then everything is possible. Reality never changes. You change in and out of a state of alarm. Depression seems like reality. Don't buy into it. It is only a body state of alarm. Nothing will give you any pleasure when you are in a state of alarm. Stop thinking you have no pleasure, this is simply another downer thought. When you are not in a state of alarm, everything is a pleasure. Or if you want to fool around with your brain, insist that the depression you are undergoing is a pleasure. That's better than thinking you have no pleasure. Or go the simple route and think “green frog” or “barber, barber shave a pig. “
And remember, it does you no good to be outgoing, have many hobbies and be full of life as long as you are allowing yourself to remain self-focused in a state of alarm. To remain in a state of alarm you must self-focus on negative and downer thoughts and feelings. You do not have to focus on them. Actually, when you are not in a state of alarm your life is great even if you are not outgoing, full of life and have many hobbies and a great support system. A. B. Curtiss
Thanks, A. B.
I go to work and I don’t focus on the depression in spite of being in a state of alarm. I keep saying “blueberry muffin” if any negative thought comes in and I know soon I will be out of depression, Your words are golden ,much appreciation I’m in charge of my life not the depression. I look forward to your great respnse, Warm regards , T
Dear T.
Glad to help. If you have any questions as you continue on your path I'll be happy to answer them. A. B. Curtiss
Dear A. B.
Thank you. How long does it usually take to get out of the alarm state once you use new positive thought rather than focusing on the depression? Much appreciation , T.
Dear T.
It is not a matter of time. It is a matter of remaking the neural patterns of your brain that you can use instead of the old habitual downer ones. Every time you do an exercise or refuse to go along with the old thought by thinking some new thought you make new neural patterns and make the useful neural patterns stronger.
Nobody ever teaches us how we get from one thought to another or indeed how we come upon a thought in the first place. It is a basic lack in our education that we don’t know anything about how our own brain works.
Some syndromes like fear, followed by the pain of depression (which is caused by stress chemicals that fear produces), trigger off by themselves, they are an instinct, our human psychological defense mechanism.
As for regular thinking, that is behavior that we do either habitually and passively or on-purpose. People are always saying they wonder what people are thinking when they do really stupid things. I’m going to say something that you will think is something that goes without saying. But it is a simple thing that, if you think about it deeply, has great application for your life.
Here it is: YOU CAN’T THINK A THOUGHT UNLESS YOU HAVE FIRST PUT IT IN YOUR BRAIN.
This is why educating ourselves is so important. We brain-ingest our thoughts like mother's milk. We are not born with thoughts already in our brain. Well, okay, many believe the fetus picks up thoughts even in the womb. But, all our thoughts come from others starting when we are born (or in the womb). Too many in our culture has learned depressive thinking. Those who don't want to be depressive have to learn a different way. You do get immediate relief when you first decide to take over your own thinking. Some people “get it” right away and simply never believe their depression again. They just do a dumb exercise, ignore the pain, and get on with their lives.
If you do this, the time element is irrelevant because it disappears into the new direction your brain has taken and you don't notice that you are okay until you start focusing again on how you are feeling. A. B. Curtiss
Dear A.B.
Thank you for your wonderful email. Amazing insight. I so appreciate all of your concrete advice. My new happy voice is helping and I’m only holding focus on positive thought Even at work, I keep putting in my mind "happy times" or "blue berry muffin". I’m getting quite good at it. Kind regards, and much appreciation T.
I found your book “Brainswitch out of Depression” fascinating and have started using your techniques. I’m able to work at my business in Laguna Beach, CA, but I have to force myself to do everything. I’m using the technique for my brain to focus on “yes yes yes” or “green apple” every time it wants to think about depression. I’m normally outgoing and full of life and have many hobbies, and I have a great support system.
Please let me know what else I can do to get out of this episode of depression. It started 3 months ago, With much appreciation, T._______
Dear T.
The main thing to remember is that depression masquerades as reality. It is not reality. Depression masquerades as the real you. It is not the real you. It is only a chemically based state of alarm that has no power except some pain that you don't have to pay attention to and then it goes away.
It is very difficult, though simple, to take control of your thoughts if you have not done it before. Depression is extremely seductive. You are drawn to think it. It takes great effort to think something else instead, but it is the only way out.
Nobody else can do it for you. After a while, you build different neural patterns. One of them is that you slowly get the idea that your brain is not more powerful than you are and it cannot think what it wants unless you go along with it, and you never have to go along with it. Then you become a free person, not the slave of your thinking and feeling. This "I am a free and okay person" neural pattern sometimes is temporarily overcome by the depressive neural pattern. However, the more you think the new neural pattern, the stronger it becomes.
This neural pattern helps immensely with the terror. No matter what your brain wants to think in negative terms, never go along with it. For myself, it is no longer an option to think a downer thought of any kind. Depression is a thought. I refuse to think it. Or allow myself to think a downer feeling of any kind. A downer feeling is a thought. Downer thoughts pop up. Depression pops up. Downer feelings pop up but I immediately think something else instead. "Hippity hop" or "1 2 3 4." When the edge is off I get into some work or project and have trained myself to refuse to think about what I am feeling. I think only about what I am doing. After a while I notice I am no longer in a state of alarm. I am completely okay.
You say you have to "force myself to do everything." What's wrong with that? So force yourself. Depression, any kind or sort of depression is not reality. It is a state of body alarm. In this state of alarm nothing seems possible. This is why regular cognitive behavior therapy doesn't work. Not enough neural activity in the neocortex to do real thinking. So you force yourself to think, and do those simple rote exercises which will stimulate neural activity in the neocortex, and get your body moving out of a state of alarm.
When you are out of a state of alarm then everything is possible. Reality never changes. You change in and out of a state of alarm. Depression seems like reality. Don't buy into it. It is only a body state of alarm. Nothing will give you any pleasure when you are in a state of alarm. Stop thinking you have no pleasure, this is simply another downer thought. When you are not in a state of alarm, everything is a pleasure. Or if you want to fool around with your brain, insist that the depression you are undergoing is a pleasure. That's better than thinking you have no pleasure. Or go the simple route and think “green frog” or “barber, barber shave a pig. “
And remember, it does you no good to be outgoing, have many hobbies and be full of life as long as you are allowing yourself to remain self-focused in a state of alarm. To remain in a state of alarm you must self-focus on negative and downer thoughts and feelings. You do not have to focus on them. Actually, when you are not in a state of alarm your life is great even if you are not outgoing, full of life and have many hobbies and a great support system. A. B. Curtiss
Thanks, A. B.
I go to work and I don’t focus on the depression in spite of being in a state of alarm. I keep saying “blueberry muffin” if any negative thought comes in and I know soon I will be out of depression, Your words are golden ,much appreciation I’m in charge of my life not the depression. I look forward to your great respnse, Warm regards , T
Dear T.
Glad to help. If you have any questions as you continue on your path I'll be happy to answer them. A. B. Curtiss
Dear A. B.
Thank you. How long does it usually take to get out of the alarm state once you use new positive thought rather than focusing on the depression? Much appreciation , T.
Dear T.
It is not a matter of time. It is a matter of remaking the neural patterns of your brain that you can use instead of the old habitual downer ones. Every time you do an exercise or refuse to go along with the old thought by thinking some new thought you make new neural patterns and make the useful neural patterns stronger.
Nobody ever teaches us how we get from one thought to another or indeed how we come upon a thought in the first place. It is a basic lack in our education that we don’t know anything about how our own brain works.
Some syndromes like fear, followed by the pain of depression (which is caused by stress chemicals that fear produces), trigger off by themselves, they are an instinct, our human psychological defense mechanism.
As for regular thinking, that is behavior that we do either habitually and passively or on-purpose. People are always saying they wonder what people are thinking when they do really stupid things. I’m going to say something that you will think is something that goes without saying. But it is a simple thing that, if you think about it deeply, has great application for your life.
Here it is: YOU CAN’T THINK A THOUGHT UNLESS YOU HAVE FIRST PUT IT IN YOUR BRAIN.
This is why educating ourselves is so important. We brain-ingest our thoughts like mother's milk. We are not born with thoughts already in our brain. Well, okay, many believe the fetus picks up thoughts even in the womb. But, all our thoughts come from others starting when we are born (or in the womb). Too many in our culture has learned depressive thinking. Those who don't want to be depressive have to learn a different way. You do get immediate relief when you first decide to take over your own thinking. Some people “get it” right away and simply never believe their depression again. They just do a dumb exercise, ignore the pain, and get on with their lives.
If you do this, the time element is irrelevant because it disappears into the new direction your brain has taken and you don't notice that you are okay until you start focusing again on how you are feeling. A. B. Curtiss
Dear A.B.
Thank you for your wonderful email. Amazing insight. I so appreciate all of your concrete advice. My new happy voice is helping and I’m only holding focus on positive thought Even at work, I keep putting in my mind "happy times" or "blue berry muffin". I’m getting quite good at it. Kind regards, and much appreciation T.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
My Depression is Lifting
Dear A. B.
Ate a decent dinner and slept well last night--no sweats today. Hopefully, I am nearing the end of the episode. No question, articulating my condition and getting loving and helpful suggestions is speeding the healing process.
What appears to happen is the depression sneaks up on me and I begin to feel unwell, physically and psychologically, until I am forced to recognize something is wrong. Usually, I think I ate something and that is the cause of my distress. Takes a while to realize the source is in my head.
Once I come out of my shell and start asking for help, I am already moving toward the end of the episode.
A consequence of living alone is a bit of self absorption.
Age seems to bring more awareness of feelings, not less. The young have the strength to deny upsets, the older I get I probably don't have the energy, nor the need to cover up.
Talking to my friends at the pool yesterday I found out that several of them sleep poorly and have night sweats almost every night, and they readily accepted the notion of male menopause.
Will keep you posted.._________________
Dear _______
Older people generally wake up several times at night. I wake up at least twice during the night and must use my dumb little exercises to get back to sleep. Last night instead of "1,2,3,4 who are we" for I used another old high school cheer that came to me "baby pink and baby blue (our opponent's colors) I think that's very sweet don't you."
When my husband and I traveled with another couple several years ago I was shocked to find out that, when they woke up in the middle of the night, they used Ambien to get back to sleep. I taught them my dumb exercises and they said they worked for them. But it is hard to insist on using the exercises which sometimes take as much as half an hour to work (though most often less than five minutes)and easier to take a pill so it may be that as soon as they got home they reached for the pills again. Another friend gets up and watches late night TV every night. I have a passion for Dove dark chocolates and I have more trouble sleeping if I eat too many of them before I retire. I long ago gave up coffee.
You can learn to become more aware of downer thinking before it becomes downer feeling, and nip it in the bud before it gets entrenched and then you become aware of it from physical symptoms. I often turn around downer thinking by remembering an old quote of Marcus Aurelias: "I will cling to nothing else save reason alone." I also use the quote for downer feeling if it comes to that.
Young people are busier and have more social interaction that keeps them more in the workaday world. Isolation isn't good because we're a herd animal. We need feedback from others to create present reality. Even if you are physically isolated you can still get a feeling of community if you are engaged in things that are also important to other people, some craft or trade or past time, like gardening, that keeps you somewhat objective, thinking about what you are doing instead of what you are feeling.
It's important to be objective because in being objective you are giving your brain tasks which is the only sure way to activate the neocortex. It may activate by accident, through learned association, but the only sure way to activate the neocortex is to give your brain some small command. The subcortex, being an instinct, activates all on its own. It's only from the neocortex that you can use your five senses to create, with your fellows, present reality. Depression is not present reality, it is a state of alarm, although psychiatry is doing its best to make everyone believe depression is present reality. A. B. Curtiss
Ate a decent dinner and slept well last night--no sweats today. Hopefully, I am nearing the end of the episode. No question, articulating my condition and getting loving and helpful suggestions is speeding the healing process.
What appears to happen is the depression sneaks up on me and I begin to feel unwell, physically and psychologically, until I am forced to recognize something is wrong. Usually, I think I ate something and that is the cause of my distress. Takes a while to realize the source is in my head.
Once I come out of my shell and start asking for help, I am already moving toward the end of the episode.
A consequence of living alone is a bit of self absorption.
Age seems to bring more awareness of feelings, not less. The young have the strength to deny upsets, the older I get I probably don't have the energy, nor the need to cover up.
Talking to my friends at the pool yesterday I found out that several of them sleep poorly and have night sweats almost every night, and they readily accepted the notion of male menopause.
Will keep you posted.._________________
Dear _______
Older people generally wake up several times at night. I wake up at least twice during the night and must use my dumb little exercises to get back to sleep. Last night instead of "1,2,3,4 who are we" for I used another old high school cheer that came to me "baby pink and baby blue (our opponent's colors) I think that's very sweet don't you."
When my husband and I traveled with another couple several years ago I was shocked to find out that, when they woke up in the middle of the night, they used Ambien to get back to sleep. I taught them my dumb exercises and they said they worked for them. But it is hard to insist on using the exercises which sometimes take as much as half an hour to work (though most often less than five minutes)and easier to take a pill so it may be that as soon as they got home they reached for the pills again. Another friend gets up and watches late night TV every night. I have a passion for Dove dark chocolates and I have more trouble sleeping if I eat too many of them before I retire. I long ago gave up coffee.
You can learn to become more aware of downer thinking before it becomes downer feeling, and nip it in the bud before it gets entrenched and then you become aware of it from physical symptoms. I often turn around downer thinking by remembering an old quote of Marcus Aurelias: "I will cling to nothing else save reason alone." I also use the quote for downer feeling if it comes to that.
Young people are busier and have more social interaction that keeps them more in the workaday world. Isolation isn't good because we're a herd animal. We need feedback from others to create present reality. Even if you are physically isolated you can still get a feeling of community if you are engaged in things that are also important to other people, some craft or trade or past time, like gardening, that keeps you somewhat objective, thinking about what you are doing instead of what you are feeling.
It's important to be objective because in being objective you are giving your brain tasks which is the only sure way to activate the neocortex. It may activate by accident, through learned association, but the only sure way to activate the neocortex is to give your brain some small command. The subcortex, being an instinct, activates all on its own. It's only from the neocortex that you can use your five senses to create, with your fellows, present reality. Depression is not present reality, it is a state of alarm, although psychiatry is doing its best to make everyone believe depression is present reality. A. B. Curtiss
Monday, May 3, 2010
Morning Depression
Dear A. B.
For the last several weeks I have been experiencing morning depression .. not as devastating as you describe, but painful none the less.
I have been waking at 4 and staying in bed until 5 which is the usual time for me to get up. During that 4-5 time I have psychosomatic symptoms.. it could be an arm .. or my chest ... accompanied with not so much sad but world weary feelings, hot flashes and shakiness.
Flashes I have had before.. male menopause.. at nearly 70 years old.. not bad.. but uncomfortable none the less.
Then I walk the dog.We take a long walk by 7 and then when we get back home the symptoms return until about 11 or 12 noon.
When I feel this way I eat very little, which is a great way to lose a few pounds.. Afternoons I have been going to the community pool and I am OK from then on. I have social contact..
My analysis is that I am still recovering from my relationship ending. I put everything into it but she turned out not able to handle it. The disappointment must be deep. Someone pointed out that I was lonely and that has some truth to it. ( I have no regrets about the break-up,. but have lingering dreams of what could have been).
Joined a dating site for a month.. plenty of action, few suitable to actually meet .. all quality folks but nothing so far. I have a few dates lined up for this week.
The same depression occurred last year and I will check but I think it happened several times around this time of year. I thought it was physiological each time but the doc. said I was healthy as a horse, as they say.
This will end soon if history is any guide. Meanwhile I use some of your techniques .. which helps a lot.
I like living alone.. just need a love in my life, which I hope to find. ________
Dear _______
Morning depression is no fun. I still use my "Yes, we have no bananas" for that, as well as a new one, "1,2,3,4 who are we for" an old high school cheer. Just dumb stuff, but enough to thoughtjam the downer thoughts so they don't get "airspace."
Your hot flashes and shakiness can be the result of stress chemicals. Hot flashes, weakness, weariness at the core, and shakiness, sweating and twitching at the extremeties are the body's natural reaction to stress chemicals. The stress chemicals can be produced when downer thoughts cross the line and become strong enough to trigger the fight or flight response that produces the stress chemical in your brain.
The other thing that I often think when I wake with morning depression is that I am in the company of millions of others who are also suffering at that time and I must be strong for us all. If I can rise up out of it maybe, somehow, it will help everybody else, and my love and compassion for the others who suffer along with me starts leading me out of my self-focus into a more objective reality.
The other thing I think about is that depression is not reality, it is just a thought. And I can change the thought by thinking another thought. A. B.
For the last several weeks I have been experiencing morning depression .. not as devastating as you describe, but painful none the less.
I have been waking at 4 and staying in bed until 5 which is the usual time for me to get up. During that 4-5 time I have psychosomatic symptoms.. it could be an arm .. or my chest ... accompanied with not so much sad but world weary feelings, hot flashes and shakiness.
Flashes I have had before.. male menopause.. at nearly 70 years old.. not bad.. but uncomfortable none the less.
Then I walk the dog.We take a long walk by 7 and then when we get back home the symptoms return until about 11 or 12 noon.
When I feel this way I eat very little, which is a great way to lose a few pounds.. Afternoons I have been going to the community pool and I am OK from then on. I have social contact..
My analysis is that I am still recovering from my relationship ending. I put everything into it but she turned out not able to handle it. The disappointment must be deep. Someone pointed out that I was lonely and that has some truth to it. ( I have no regrets about the break-up,. but have lingering dreams of what could have been).
Joined a dating site for a month.. plenty of action, few suitable to actually meet .. all quality folks but nothing so far. I have a few dates lined up for this week.
The same depression occurred last year and I will check but I think it happened several times around this time of year. I thought it was physiological each time but the doc. said I was healthy as a horse, as they say.
This will end soon if history is any guide. Meanwhile I use some of your techniques .. which helps a lot.
I like living alone.. just need a love in my life, which I hope to find. ________
Dear _______
Morning depression is no fun. I still use my "Yes, we have no bananas" for that, as well as a new one, "1,2,3,4 who are we for" an old high school cheer. Just dumb stuff, but enough to thoughtjam the downer thoughts so they don't get "airspace."
Your hot flashes and shakiness can be the result of stress chemicals. Hot flashes, weakness, weariness at the core, and shakiness, sweating and twitching at the extremeties are the body's natural reaction to stress chemicals. The stress chemicals can be produced when downer thoughts cross the line and become strong enough to trigger the fight or flight response that produces the stress chemical in your brain.
The other thing that I often think when I wake with morning depression is that I am in the company of millions of others who are also suffering at that time and I must be strong for us all. If I can rise up out of it maybe, somehow, it will help everybody else, and my love and compassion for the others who suffer along with me starts leading me out of my self-focus into a more objective reality.
The other thing I think about is that depression is not reality, it is just a thought. And I can change the thought by thinking another thought. A. B.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Depression is a Mind-set
I do not understand why psychiatrists don't teach depressed, anxious or insomniac patients how their brain works, what a mind-set is. Perhaps the psychiatrists don't know very much about how the brain works. I'm not saying that psychiatrists need to be neuroanatomists, but they need to know how the brain works, functionally, even if they don't know much about the architecture of the brain.
If doctors don't know how the brain works, if they don't know how people get from one thought to the other, how the process of pain perception works in depression, if they don't know what is the force that powers the brain, how learned association works, what neurotransmitters do, how in the world are they professing to help people with their depression? With their anxiety and stress? With their insomnia?
If psychiatrists don't know how the brain works, then I would have to say that psychiatry is little more than an expensive scam. I wish that some of you who read this and are seeing psychiatrists or clinical psychologists would ask them to explain some of these questions and let me know what they say.
Because it is important. People need to know how their own brain works. Here are some of the things that people need to know if they have any hope of becoming the master of their thinking instead of the slave of the habitual neural patterns of their own brain.
First, the brain works by neurotransmitters such as serotonin. These are the biochemical reactions that allow the neurons to communicate with one another. If you are not doing any on-purpose thinking and just letting your brain slide into passive, low level thinking, or emotional meandering around in the subcortex (the emotional part of the brain), the level of serotonin, as well as other neurotransmitters, will decrease because there is less need for them. The neurons are not calling up huge amounts of neurotransmitters because there aren't that many messages for the neurons to send.
If you start to do more productive and pro-active thinking, if you force yourself to concentrate on some chore or project, the serotonin level will increase because the neurons will be calling up the neurotransmitters in order to pass on their increased number of messages so the brain can do its work.
Remember that neurotransmitters are merely the chemical boats that carry the learned associations from one neuron to another. The neurons call for the boats when they are activated by a thought, so they can communicate it to another similar thought-related neuron. The brain is powered by thoughts in the same way that a car is powered by a motor. The brain is not powered by neurotransmitters. The neurotransmitters are more like the gas in a car.
How do we know thoughts power the brain? Research shows that when an electron probe is touched to a living human brain it elicits a particular thought. When the probe is put to a different part of the brain a different thought is elicited.
We can make the brain work in the science laboratory by introducing electricity from the outside with an electron probe. Since we know there’s no little electron probe that lives inside the brain, what generates the electricity in normal life?
The answer is that thoughts electrically power the brain. Brain scans show that when a person thinks a certain thought, neuronal activity lights up in a certain part of the brain, not in all parts of the brain. Some thoughts spark neuronal activity in the subcortex, the feeling part of the brain. Other kinds of thoughts spark neuronal activity in the neocortex, the thinking, cognitive part of the brain.
The brain works electro-chemically. Thoughts stimulate the neurons electrically, and then thoughts are communicated between the neurons chemically by neurotransmitters. Thoughts are what power the brain and rule the mind.
If a man sees a shadow on the ground and thinks SNAKE, the thought will immediately stimulate a particular part of the brain and initiate a particular chain of thinking (through learned association) that will put him in a particular mind–set and cause the production of particular chemicals.
If he sees a shadow on the ground and thinks ROPE, the thought will activate another part of the brain. If he looks at a Playboy centerfold and thinks “BABE,” the thought will access yet another part of the brain and initiate another line of neuronal arcing that will put him in an entirely different mindset, with different chemicals produced.
Depression is also a mindset. We get to the depressive mindset the same way we get to any other mindset. We think our way into it. And just as we think our way into a mindset through learned association, we can also think our way out of it through learned association. One thought leads to another similar thought, etc., etc.
Again, this is the reason depression is cyclical. The mindset of depression can be temporarily interrupted by some maverick learned association that randomly sparks up. Or some outside circumstance might lead to alternative thoughts that can send the mind off in another direction away from depression. Remember, the brain always follows the direction of its most current dominant thought.
In the midst of a terrible depression you could win the lottery, or a fire could suddenly blaze up in front of you. The depressive thought pattern would then be interrupted by other kinds of thought leading the neural thought pattern away from the depressive mindset into another mindset. Like the mindset of buying a new car with your lottery winnings, or trying to save your life from a fire.
But we don’t have to wait for circumstances around us to change so that our thinking can change. We can change our thinking anytime we want and interrupt the depressive mindset. We just have to remember that this is an option. This is the whole point of Brainswitching. We can take full advantage of this random, cyclical nature of depression. We can move the mind, on purpose, as an act of will, into a new thought pattern and thus more quickly out of depression mode.
Getting out of Depression is not a war of will and mind. We are not working in opposition to some part of our mind as may be the case with other methods. We are simply letting depression go, according to its nature, in the direction it would go anyway, away from itself.
This happens as a result of the firing of neurons with different learned associations than depressive ones. We can always think of anti-depressive learned associations on purpose instead of waiting for a fire or the lottery to spark them up by accident. This way we can move depression out faster and as an act of will. Once you get the hang of this you never have to fear depression again. Whenever it comes you can quickly brainswitch out of it.
If doctors don't know how the brain works, if they don't know how people get from one thought to the other, how the process of pain perception works in depression, if they don't know what is the force that powers the brain, how learned association works, what neurotransmitters do, how in the world are they professing to help people with their depression? With their anxiety and stress? With their insomnia?
If psychiatrists don't know how the brain works, then I would have to say that psychiatry is little more than an expensive scam. I wish that some of you who read this and are seeing psychiatrists or clinical psychologists would ask them to explain some of these questions and let me know what they say.
Because it is important. People need to know how their own brain works. Here are some of the things that people need to know if they have any hope of becoming the master of their thinking instead of the slave of the habitual neural patterns of their own brain.
First, the brain works by neurotransmitters such as serotonin. These are the biochemical reactions that allow the neurons to communicate with one another. If you are not doing any on-purpose thinking and just letting your brain slide into passive, low level thinking, or emotional meandering around in the subcortex (the emotional part of the brain), the level of serotonin, as well as other neurotransmitters, will decrease because there is less need for them. The neurons are not calling up huge amounts of neurotransmitters because there aren't that many messages for the neurons to send.
If you start to do more productive and pro-active thinking, if you force yourself to concentrate on some chore or project, the serotonin level will increase because the neurons will be calling up the neurotransmitters in order to pass on their increased number of messages so the brain can do its work.
Remember that neurotransmitters are merely the chemical boats that carry the learned associations from one neuron to another. The neurons call for the boats when they are activated by a thought, so they can communicate it to another similar thought-related neuron. The brain is powered by thoughts in the same way that a car is powered by a motor. The brain is not powered by neurotransmitters. The neurotransmitters are more like the gas in a car.
How do we know thoughts power the brain? Research shows that when an electron probe is touched to a living human brain it elicits a particular thought. When the probe is put to a different part of the brain a different thought is elicited.
We can make the brain work in the science laboratory by introducing electricity from the outside with an electron probe. Since we know there’s no little electron probe that lives inside the brain, what generates the electricity in normal life?
The answer is that thoughts electrically power the brain. Brain scans show that when a person thinks a certain thought, neuronal activity lights up in a certain part of the brain, not in all parts of the brain. Some thoughts spark neuronal activity in the subcortex, the feeling part of the brain. Other kinds of thoughts spark neuronal activity in the neocortex, the thinking, cognitive part of the brain.
The brain works electro-chemically. Thoughts stimulate the neurons electrically, and then thoughts are communicated between the neurons chemically by neurotransmitters. Thoughts are what power the brain and rule the mind.
If a man sees a shadow on the ground and thinks SNAKE, the thought will immediately stimulate a particular part of the brain and initiate a particular chain of thinking (through learned association) that will put him in a particular mind–set and cause the production of particular chemicals.
If he sees a shadow on the ground and thinks ROPE, the thought will activate another part of the brain. If he looks at a Playboy centerfold and thinks “BABE,” the thought will access yet another part of the brain and initiate another line of neuronal arcing that will put him in an entirely different mindset, with different chemicals produced.
Depression is also a mindset. We get to the depressive mindset the same way we get to any other mindset. We think our way into it. And just as we think our way into a mindset through learned association, we can also think our way out of it through learned association. One thought leads to another similar thought, etc., etc.
Again, this is the reason depression is cyclical. The mindset of depression can be temporarily interrupted by some maverick learned association that randomly sparks up. Or some outside circumstance might lead to alternative thoughts that can send the mind off in another direction away from depression. Remember, the brain always follows the direction of its most current dominant thought.
In the midst of a terrible depression you could win the lottery, or a fire could suddenly blaze up in front of you. The depressive thought pattern would then be interrupted by other kinds of thought leading the neural thought pattern away from the depressive mindset into another mindset. Like the mindset of buying a new car with your lottery winnings, or trying to save your life from a fire.
But we don’t have to wait for circumstances around us to change so that our thinking can change. We can change our thinking anytime we want and interrupt the depressive mindset. We just have to remember that this is an option. This is the whole point of Brainswitching. We can take full advantage of this random, cyclical nature of depression. We can move the mind, on purpose, as an act of will, into a new thought pattern and thus more quickly out of depression mode.
Getting out of Depression is not a war of will and mind. We are not working in opposition to some part of our mind as may be the case with other methods. We are simply letting depression go, according to its nature, in the direction it would go anyway, away from itself.
This happens as a result of the firing of neurons with different learned associations than depressive ones. We can always think of anti-depressive learned associations on purpose instead of waiting for a fire or the lottery to spark them up by accident. This way we can move depression out faster and as an act of will. Once you get the hang of this you never have to fear depression again. Whenever it comes you can quickly brainswitch out of it.
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