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Wow! I had no idea that 2 ambiguously-phrased suggestions would completely stop the biological processes causing my overactive amygdala! This is it everyone, t

Wow! I had no idea that 2 ambiguously-phrased suggestions would completely stop the biological processes causing my overactive amygdala! This is it everyone, the field of therapy is dead. Let's destroy all the benzodiazepines prescribed for anxiety, and simply give out a piece of paper with this article on it to everyone who ever seeks help for panic attacks!

mkal_tsr 12y ago
Metta-meditation (similar to what is described by OP) is starting to be researched by the west (as well as general mindfulness and meditation without religious undertones) and is showing some promising signs - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mett%C4%81#.22Compassion_meditation.22_research http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mett%C4%81#.22Compassion_medita... Will this solve everyone's problems? Absolutely not. But, don't immediately discredit a technique due to a knee-jerk reaction, look into it and form your opinion after researching it, not before.
- mileszim 12y ago
  Meditation, undertaken through rigorous discipline, shows evidence for something. What that is, is still up for debate. If you're referring instead to feedback techniques to curb anxiety responses, that is used in legitimate therapy. Neither of those represent the content of this article. Furthermore, it suggests that anxiety can be simply reasoned away in 30 seconds. That is insulting to anyone who has ever had anxiety.
  - mkal_tsr 12y ago
    I've had social anxiety for 25+ years. > When you focus only on boosting your internal state, your social anxiety will disappear. That is the line I drew the connection from. The first part of metta is to focus on yourself before moving onto others. Again, I explicitly said it would not work for everyone (and I disagree with the word "cure" both in title and text), but to outright dismiss everything about it is equally absurd. Furthermore, one of the larger benefits that people find in meditation is that they can more easily detach themselves from their emotions, which could allow them to see that they are not only their emotions and may have more control over how they respond to emotions than they previously had. None of that cures anything ... but, it can help an individual in showing them that they have more control over their internal state than they had previously believed.

mkal_tsr 12y ago

Metta-meditation (similar to what is described by OP) is starting to be researched by the west (as well as general mindfulness and meditation without religious undertones) and is showing some promising signs - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mett%C4%81#.22Compassion_meditation.22_research http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mett%C4%81#.22Compassion_medita... Will this solve everyone's problems? Absolutely not. But, don't immediately discredit a technique due to a knee-jerk reaction, look into it and form your opinion after researching it, not before.

mileszim 12y ago
Meditation, undertaken through rigorous discipline, shows evidence for something. What that is, is still up for debate. If you're referring instead to feedback techniques to curb anxiety responses, that is used in legitimate therapy. Neither of those represent the content of this article. Furthermore, it suggests that anxiety can be simply reasoned away in 30 seconds. That is insulting to anyone who has ever had anxiety.
- mkal_tsr 12y ago
  I've had social anxiety for 25+ years. > When you focus only on boosting your internal state, your social anxiety will disappear. That is the line I drew the connection from. The first part of metta is to focus on yourself before moving onto others. Again, I explicitly said it would not work for everyone (and I disagree with the word "cure" both in title and text), but to outright dismiss everything about it is equally absurd. Furthermore, one of the larger benefits that people find in meditation is that they can more easily detach themselves from their emotions, which could allow them to see that they are not only their emotions and may have more control over how they respond to emotions than they previously had. None of that cures anything ... but, it can help an individual in showing them that they have more control over their internal state than they had previously believed.