..it is truly only a matter of chemical imbalance?
I have been struggling like all of us with dark thoughts and the last months have been excruciating.
Were not for my beloved dog (I would never abandon him) I would have taken the last step.
I read on Suicide.org something very interesting:
“Let me also tell you that if you are suicidal, you probably are suffering from clinical depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, postpartum depression, PTSD, or something similar. And if you have something along these lines, you actually have a chemical imbalance in your brain — and you cannot possibly think straight because of it. That is beyond your control. You are not weak. You just need some treatment. This imbalance can occur for several reasons, from genetics to a traumatic life experience, and it is extremely common for people to have this imbalance, so do not feel like you are alone. You are not.” (Kevin Caruso)
Recent studies also confirm that all which we perceive as ’emotions’ are actually only chemical reactions in our brain.
I started to eat more (forcing myself), taking supplements like vitamins etc. and honestly my perception of the ‘outer/material’ world is (very slowly) changing, one day at the time, one step at the time.
have you ever considered how a chemical imbalance can truly affect so deeply the way we experience this material life leading us to such extreme thoughts?
8 comments
I would love to believe this is only a chemical imbalance. I’m sure the pharmaceutical companies would love it if we believe it, that’s for sure. But I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. Taking the right chemicals might give you a sense of calm, but it won’t fix your money problems, or bring a lost love back you, or give you a purpose in life. I think most of our mental anguish comes from real things, and maybe a chemical imbalance exaggerates them (such as getting drunk), but fixing the chemical side can’t solve the core problem.
To me, the middle ground would be finding a drug treatment that gives me the strength to fix my life. No kidding, maybe hardcore recreational drugs would give me the motivation to get a better job, make new friends, travel the world and build a better future. But obviously the drugs themselves won’t fix these issues.
I’ve tried all the antidepressants and they didn’t work. But there are hardcore drugs that give people bursts of motivation. Probably not what you meant, but it’s all the same isn’t it? Chemicals to survive.
I do understand where you come from and your bitterness although I am actually not talking about drugs.
I have had a dreadful experience with antidepressant which made it MUCH worse. and I had to undergo a detox. I swore I will never take another pill ‘suggested’ by a doctor.
What I meant is a natural chemical balance within the brain, such as the one which comes from eating properly and taking care of the body in an healthy way.
Then, the brain can function somehow ‘better’.
I know job etc won’t come easily (I am in that situation) but maybe to be kind and take care of yourself might be a first step?
Yea I also had a very bad experience with antidepressants. Never again.
Clean diet & healthy living is definitely the way to go. As cynical as I am, I admit that’s the most effective treatment. For a while I was on a raw fruit diet and it was the happiest time of my life. The problem is, even the healthiest mind has its limits. Life can still break you. (or at least me)
You hit on the magic secret: self care and being kind to yourself. Healthy living & clean mind should follow. Unfortunately I’m dealing with a lifetime of programmed self hate, so I don’t think I can ever be kind to myself.
I do know the struggle with self hate and how difficult is (trying to) being kind to yourself.
I do have so many regrets and I feel guilty for the mistakes I made involving other human beings and all those keep eating me alive.
I am trying to follow an healthy diet and take supplements and this seems to help some, at least it is not SO dark.
Therefore I decided to post my thoughts.
Once you step ‘on the other’ side, it is impossible to go back and live a ‘normal’ life, that is for sure.
But what if on the other side you can acquire a much deeper knowledge of the life itself, different perspective/s, they do not have to be dark, simply different.
Again, I am telling you this but I keep telling it to myself too, for I want to find a way out from this ‘night of the soul’ as they call it.
“You are broken”
“It’s a chemical imbalance”
“Change this or this or this and you WILL be normal”
Have you ever considered that there is nothing NOTHING wrong with you?
That maybe, just perhaps, the world is simply a horrendous consumerist bloodthirsty hellscape speckled with just enough beauty to make you imagine a better world, and that you are perhaps merely sensitive to that fact. -eph grammar :p
But, yeah. Garbage in . . . .
Your body is a Temple.
Question is: To what?
True, but it is also important to consider that for those who question themselves there is no ‘normal’ anyway.
Given that the brain is but a mix of electricity, chemical stuff etc would not be worth to find at least some sort of balance within yourself, even if the outer/material world is just a garbage and we do not fit in?
Lisa Feldman Barret has, to me, a good book called “How Emotions are Made”. I find her take on the brain intriguing. Tracks with what you are saying.
Myself. I have struggled with what the DSM cult would label BP2, and even test strongly for Aspergers. If that’s a thing. But, the thing is once I stopped attempting to drown the chaos out with alcohol or attempting to adjust it with Rx of some form or other, I realized IT wasn’t so much me as it was the world and my reactions to it. My hatred for the sheer stupidity and mindlessness, myself included. The seeming pointlessness of it all even after the healthy diet, the sobriety, the exercise, the sunshine, the attempts at community, the “job”, family, pets, et al.
I’m not trying to argue. Something you said- the whole thing- resonated with me. It’s that quest vibe.
I feel your sincerity and your honesty in revealing your struggle, as in my reply to ‘nobody else’ I am not here to help but only to share and understand how much it can be true and/or helpful to deal with this state of mind.
Because it’s all in the mind isn’t it?
I mean we are taught how to live/feel/react without even having the chance to say :” what if I react in a different way?”.
When that happens we are left with a feeling of being ‘outcast’, kind of having one eye in a world of blind people.
Maybe a matter to reshape/respond to the reality (or materiality as I call it) and how we react to it?
I don’t know I am just trying to find a way out from this eternal dense fog in which I keep losing my direction.
thank you for sharing your thoughts, it helps me to understand others’ own experience in this darkness and most of all I am not alone roaming around in circles.