4 ms·
Yeah. Perhaps its a bit unfair to pick out in the weeds details of the study. I guess maybe the core of my confusion comes with the term "intrusive" or "involu
by fasthands9 4y ago
Yeah. Perhaps its a bit unfair to pick out in the weeds details of the study.
I guess maybe the core of my confusion comes with the term "intrusive" or "involuntary" memory. To me, in reference to PTSD, this sounds extremely negative. But perhaps you were in a situation where you saw someone die, perhaps even someone you know, should the goal be to only think about these things in therapy or when you sit down to meditate? Is involuntary/intrusive thoughts on these bad so long as it doesnt have major effects on your stability?
Not nearly as traumatic - but when I went through my last break-up I thought about it non-stop for a few weeks. I was able to get through my work and keep up social engagements fine, but otherwise it consumed me. Would it have been better to only think about the situation in therapy sessions and allotted meditation time? Maybe? But I'm not that sure on that I probably needed a few weeks of internal "involuntary" struggle in order to be free of the negative thoughts around it going forward.
I guess for me the answer is that if your brain is thinking about something, even if it seems a bit disorganized, you are still processing it on your own time and the short term benefits of not thinking about it then may not actually be good for your long term. Though perhaps this runs counter to established literature I'm not aware of.
- dwringer 4y agoPeople routinely cross the threshold from thinking about something and processing it on their own time into a state of nonproductive recurrence of said thoughts in which no real processing is done. Managing this kind of symptom is often the first step in successful long-term recovery; the goal of psychiatry is never just to sweep problems under the rug instead of helping patients process their world effectively.