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I wonder if that technique could apply more broadly. For example, if a person suffering from a bout of depression, were to write their depressed feelings "ther
by taylorius 3y ago
I wonder if that technique could apply more broadly.
For example, if a person suffering from a bout of depression, were to write their depressed feelings "there is no point, no hope" etc.. then rip the paper up and throw it away, might it have any effect on their mood?
- nxobject 3y agoAnecdotally, whenever I keep a journal through difficult times, my handwriting's so bad that I can't read it after a while, and the journal ends up being "write-only" as well. I wonder whether the ripping-it-up would be more cathartic.
- puppable 3y agoI've had times where I've written those sorts of thoughts on a small sheet of notepad paper, which I would then tear out and burn in the kitchen sink. More frequently, I'll just write what I'm thinking into an empty, personal use chat window in lieu of venting to others. In either case, I think they definitely have some effect.
- DFHippie 3y agoI wish my son had tried this.
- taylorius 3y agoIt sounds like something bad happened with your son. I'm very sorry to hear it if that's the case - if you want to say more, please feel free.
- DFHippie 3y agoThanks. My son committed suicide a bit over a year ago. I was in the room next to him. He did it very quietly. I was the one who found his body. Or our cat was. She kept trying to get into his room. I finally sought to help her and found him. He was brilliant and a good person. No one ever had anything bad to say about him. I mean that literally. People liked him. His life kind of stalled out. He was feeling his way back to normalcy, and then abruptly gave up. There were a lot of things I wish he had tried before he reached this point. Maybe writing things down and then symbolically burning them would have helped. Or psychedelics. Or just explicitly seeking help or accepting it when it was offered instead of just muddling through. You can find his comments here if you search for jwmhjwmh.
- AlexeyBelov 3y agoWhat do you mean his life stalled out? Was he an incel?
- sickofparadox 3y agoI know HN is not the most tactful place all of the time, but that second question strikes me as unusually cruel to pose to the parent of a recently deceased son.
- DFHippie 3y agoIf you look at AlexeyBelov's other comments, it's clear he is trying to create conflict wherever, whenever, and however he can. He wants to get people shouting. I would just ignore him. But thanks for sticking up for me.
- AlexeyBelov 3y agoThat's very unfair.
- taylorius 3y agoThat is truly chilling, man - I'm a father myself, and I just... oh man I'm so, so sorry. There aren't really words, but if I were in the same room as you, I would hug you.
- technolo-g 3y agoWriting down “distorted thoughts” to visually recognize them as a bit out of whack (or not) and measure the level of distortion is the one of the premises of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).