Posted by jujube on December 20, 2004, at 20:28:04
In reply to Re: Can your brain learn its way around an antidepress, posted by linkadge on December 20, 2004, at 20:02:26
I don't know if the brain necessarily thinks its in our best interest to wander through life in misery, but perhaps there is a bit of self-preservation or learned complacancy at play, and cognitions that were learned/acquired during a depressive episode need to be unlearned as an antidepressant starts to work. I know that what I am about to say will also sound crazy, but it is almost as if when an AD starts to work, a person is awakening from state of almost self-centeredness (by this I mean that when we are depressed, all we tend to think about is how bad we feel, how empty our lives are, what failures we are, and, sometimes, how we would be better off dead, etc.) to more of an awareness of what is going on around us, the good that exists and even our own strengths and positive personal attributes. This, perhaps, results in focussing on what we have missed during the depressive episode and how a part of our lives has passed us by and our progress in certain areas has been stifled for a time. It's almost like bitter recriminations replace the depressive thoughts (e.g., we have a hard time accepting that we are starting to feel better because of the time we feel we lost/wasted being depressed). And, then there is the fear that "it" could happen again, that this happiness may only be fleeting, etc. So, again, it's about cognition, I think, and the need to work at to changing the thought processes and learning to live in the moment and to not dwell on the past or on what may happen tomorrow.
Tamara
> Its the hedonic treadmil. For some reason the brain thinks its in our best interest to wander through life feeling lousy.
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> Linkadge
poster:jujube
thread:432111
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041217/msgs/432230.html