Question:
Does anyone else ever feel that all the anxiety seems to short-curcit your brain? Right now, I feel very detattched emotionally. It’s not that I feel separate from myself or anything like that. Rather that the part of me that feels things went to sleep and left the rest of me here. Everything is tamped down in its emotional contect, and it’s almost as if emotions are simply something everyone else has. Do other people get this or is it just me? And if you do, what do you do abou it? -Terrie
Response:
"Terrie" wrote: >Does anyone else ever feel that all the anxiety seems to short-curcit your >brain? Right now, I feel very detattched emotionally. It’s not that I feel >separate from myself or anything like that. Rather that the part of me that >feels things went to sleep and left the rest of me here. Everything is tamped >down in its emotional contect, and it’s almost as if emotions are simply >something everyone else has. Do other people get this or is it just me? And >if >you do, what do you do abou it?
Anxiety, esp. OCD anxiety, will short-circuit the feeling center of your brain… this is all par for the course. The brain has only so much room and it will shut down when it is running low on reserves; just in the same way that it can only hold onto a few memories at a time, or keep only a few concerns in focus. Sorry for such an unscientific explanation… Do you find sometimes that the only thing you feel is the OCD? With this condition, sometimes the *only* thing you want is to get rid of whatever bothers you, and the feeling that the more you want it the more it is denied. Depression can also blunt emotions. Are you on any meds? Greg
Response:
On Sun, 23 Sep 2001 00:00:05 GMT, stri…@stu.beloit.edunospam (Terrie Strike) wrote: >Does anyone else ever feel that all the anxiety seems to short-curcit your >brain? Right now, I feel very detattched emotionally. It’s not that I feel >separate from myself or anything like that. Rather that the part of me that >feels things went to sleep and left the rest of me here. Everything is tamped >down in its emotional contect, and it’s almost as if emotions are simply >something everyone else has. Do other people get this or is it just me? And if >you do, what do you do abou it?
This is a very common symptom of many different mental illnesses including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, ocd, and disassociative disorder. I have this symptom myself and have only recently (read: past year or so) developed it. It’s basically a kind of shell-shock, but I sometimes see it as a coping mechanism in certain circumstances. And for the latter reason, it could potentially be a useful tool if you can learn to master it (something I’m currently trying to do). With my mental illnesses throughout my life, there have been countless times where my emotions would run very high and very deep. After so many years of so much stress put upon me by the strong emotions, my body began to cope with this by deadening some of it. This happened to stop those emotions from causing me any further pain or from re-feeling the same pain over and over yet again and again. Gets tiresome and painful, so the body says "enough". It’s extremely important to figure out when the emotional deadening first occurred and why and also why it still happens. If you do it to avoid feeling something painful over again, then it would be a sort of coping mechanism/useful tool if you can learn to master it. **However**, if feelings that you *want* to feel are deadened, then you have a problem. Did this start as a result of your OCD or because of the recent tragedies? Do you feel comfortable enough to elaborate a bit? -Heron I’m not a doctor, just a fellow patient. HTHY! http://web.infoave.net/~rkanderson/aimeitis.htm "And it’s me who is my enemy, me who beats me up Me who makes the monsters, me who strips my confidence." -Paula Cole, "Me" "I know this is wrong, it’s a problem, I’m dealing." -Matchbox Twenty, "If You’re Gone"
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Gregory wrote: > "Terrie" wrote: > >Does anyone else ever feel that all the anxiety seems to short-curcit your > >brain? Right now, I feel very detattched emotionally. It’s not that I feel > >separate from myself or anything like that. Rather that the part of me that > >feels things went to sleep and left the rest of me here. Everything is tamped > >down in its emotional contect, and it’s almost as if emotions are simply > >something everyone else has. Do other people get this or is it just me? And > >if > >you do, what do you do abou it? > Anxiety, esp. OCD anxiety, will short-circuit the feeling center of your > brain… this is all par for the course. The brain has only so much room and > it will shut down when it is running low on reserves; just in the same way that > it can only hold onto a few memories at a time, or keep only a few concerns in > focus. Sorry for such an unscientific explanation… > Do you find sometimes that the only thing you feel is the OCD? With this > condition, sometimes the *only* thing you want is to get rid of whatever > bothers you, and the feeling that the more you want it the more it is denied.
a psych told me once that something like this is called "derealization".. well i donno about being emotionally detattched totally, but this feeling of insincerity in everything, caused by anxiety. and it’s like you say, a feeling that the only thing i want is to heal but like chasing my tail i can never do it myself.. almost like i am just waiting to exhaust or suddenly realize how stupid it all is and stop, or something! i donno. just a hopeless hope > Depression can also blunt emotions. Are you on any meds? > Greg
– "into your hands, why have you forsaken me, in your eyes forsaken me, in your thoughts forsaken me, in your heart forsaken, me oh, trust in my self righteous suicide, i cry, when angels deserve to die, in my self righteous suicide, i cry when angels deserve to die" – system of a down, chop suey
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