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Showing posts with label neurosis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label neurosis. Show all posts

20131204

Confronting Narcissism: The Truth Will Set You Free (satire)

For the sake of this article, there are two types of personalities, the narcissistic and the neurotic.

While this is a simplistic notion of human personality, it suffices. Why? Because an in depth discussion of narcissism and neurosis is outside the aim of this article.

Besides, readers of the social media Twitter tend to have short attention spans.

Also note that anything in bold is the truth that will set you free.

YMMV

Anyway, I'd like to think of narcissism and neurosis as two extremes of what is called human personality.

Neurosis is completely normal, even when a person is limited by anxiety and even worse, phobias. For such limitations are easily overcome simply by practice.

Of course, it is easy for me to say this because I've overcome both anxiety and phobias, mainly by applying Frank Herbert's Litany of Fear to help conquer both the anger that is the root of anxiety and the fear that is the root of phobias.

In contrast, narcissism is abnormal. Narcissistic people are manipulative people. who maintain the egocentricity of youth but have morphed it into narcissism.

However, the egocentric personality believes that the whole world revolves around him, while the narcissist often has a strong sense of entitlement, self-esteem, and the insatiable desire to live his life out by manipulating other people.

Often the narcissistic person believes he is superior to other people, but is willing to manipulate anyone into believing in his superiority.

It's most likely that egocentricity is a component of depression, since the depressed personality tends to view the world through the distorted lens of his illness.

Often narcissism manipulates neurosis in a person who chooses to love a narcissist.

Love will not change a narcissist into a decent human being who empathizes with you and loves you as much as you love him.

Stop lying to yourself because it does not work that way. That is magical thinking, as is love that is blind to the faults of the narcissist.

Early on in any relationship, be it friends or lovers, it is up to you to present the truth about his behaviour as you see it and establish strong boundaries with him.

If he harms you in retaliation (by ignoring it or insulting you) then present the truth again in an even voice and maintain the same strong boundaries.

If this leads to sexual assault, then he broke through those boundaries because he has no respect for you and for your boundaries. Report it to the authorities and break all contact with him. This involves blocking all calls and messages from him. It may even involve learning a martial art, and expecting the unexpected.

If, on the other hand, your neuroses limits to your options to reliance on a friend or mate for emotional support and/or protection, then choose your friends wisely. Do not make the mistake of calling your new boyfriend a policeman, since it could worsen the situation.

Be aware that he will use every trick in the book to manipulate you into forming a bond with him.

Ask for advice from people who know him well, including family and friends. Even his former lovers have good advice.

If you have fallen into the habit of being jealous of rivals, then he will use this against you to "prove" that you love him more than they ever did.

Confronting the narcissistic takes courage but anyone who lets love guide her heart in such matter had better be mentally and physically prepared for the consequences.

Otherwise, you are going to be manipulated into serving him forever.

Whatever I just wrote about heterosexual relationships also applies to homosexual relationships. Manipulative people come in many flavors of gender.


Regarding my advice about not making the mistake of calling your new boyfriend a policeman, the Raoul Moat case in England was an example of a narcissist whose rage against his former partner Samantha Stoddart was fueled by the fact that she'd fibbed to him by calling her new boyfriend a policeman when he was actually a martial arts expert. The real tragedy is that her new boyfriend is dead.

This brings me to relationships with a narcissist. Should a narcissist and a neurotic ever hook up, they may eventually desire to have children.

If the narcissist believes his neurotic wife to be paying too much attention to the child, then he may become jealous of that child.

Eventually it may lead to child abuse, and he will have exercised enough control of his wife to manipulate her into avoiding any confrontation him because she fears the emotional and physical abuse that he uses on her "to keep her in line."

Instead, the neurotic will undergo a lot of stress, which will present itself in overwork, obesity, alcoholism and even prescription drug abuse.

Along the way, she may develop ulcers and eventually cancer. However, the first symptoms will be anxiety and panic attacks, along with phobias. There also will be Stockholm Syndrome, in which she protects her husband in spite of the abuse when offered help.

As well, the narcissistic husband will gaslight the neurotic wife which may lead to involuntary admission to psychiatric wards, where neurotic hospital staff will be manipulated by the husband into believing that her statements of abuse by him are due to medication.

This is why both hospital staff and associated social workers should be trained in detecting narcissists.

IMO I believe some children of narcissists do establish boundaries with their caregivers early and get mistreated as their relationship evolves into becoming the black sheep of the family.

In contrast, narcissistic caregivers who nurture their child to point of narcissism goes beyond normal childcare. Since the children are mere extensions of the caregiver, the behaviour of her child will be controlled to reflect positively on her.

A narcissist will believe that the reason why her child cries is to distract attention from her. She also learns that feeding the child keeps it quiet. If a narcissist is an addict, she may even give her drug of choice to her child to keep it quiet, be it food, alcohol or recreational drugs.

Indeed, a lot of narcissists are social drinkers. Some of them are even recreational drug users, and a few narcissists are both.

In a cruel world, a narcissistic caregiver could be likened the mother of all evil.

I also believe that ego addiction is the root of egocentrism but ego addiction in manipulative people can be overcome after the narcissistic personality is controlled. This can only happen if the person seeks help.

However, I do not believe meditation is a cure-all for narcissism and manipulative people, but rather a preventative since it will lead them to flee when offered to them. Again, meditation will only work if a person humbly seeks it.

20130111

Good Bye Personality Disorder, Hello Neurosis

Around 1992, I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. However, after discussion of the matter with my doctor, I decided not to seek medication.

Twenty years later, that diagnosis does not define me at all. While I can relate to fear, anxiety, insomnia, and hypomania, I cannot relate to mania and psychosis. For it turns out that when I enter the hypomanic phase, I become sociable and outgoing.

While I am anti-psychiatry, I am not anti-medication. Since both cyclobenzaprine and gabapentin are not used like the usual psychopharamaceuticals, I don't consider them in the same light as sleep aids.

I shall continue to use them because nine times out of ten, they would as directed (10 mg of cyclobenzaprine and 2 x 100 mg of gabapentin at bedtime). Otherwise, I'm overproductive and on a roll until I sleep it off.

When I was on mirtazapine three years ago, it acted like a strong sedative. Today I won't touch it again.

Aside from medication I try to get out at least four to five times a week.

When I get the urge to indulge in my photography hobby I get right into it. That hobby has helped me a lot.

So, rather than borderline personality disorder, I'm going with neurosis. Furthermore, because neuroses are no longer in the DSM, the medications I am using now help with sleep quality.

Neuroses are associated with distress, which points to mental suffering. While medication provides restful sedation, meditation helps achieve the calm mind to aid in gathering insight into one's distress.

In fact, once a person learns the basics of meditation, she can practice anytime and anywhere to clear her mind and bring an end to her suffering eventually.

Personally I tend to see suffering as inspiration to meditate and discover what gifts it has hidden away.

In that light, neuroses fade away, and reveal curiosity about what's really troubling me, and inspires me to write about it further exposing my neuroses to light until they become something I can control like fear, anxiety, and even insomnia.

This whole process of meditation is what I call the only true mind control. This kind of control is self-taught. This implies that meditation can be learned by any one.

Also, all the aspects of neurosis could be seen as gifts hidden behind suffering. Fear too becomes useful because it appears when one is under threat, be it by stress or by physical threat. Stress itself may be harder to escape than a physical threat, only if we listen to the fear rather than the voice of reason.

Often that voice of reason is saying "Look for the hiden gifts". So for me, the most expedient way of handling stress is to welcome it nto my life. It could be just as easy ass saying quietly, "Thank you stress!" Even greeting neuroses could do wonders to relieve distress.

In essence, that is the second part of meditation, when you are calm in mind and ready to handle stress, it would be just the time to observe your thoughts to see how they arise to form your fear. Once you do that, then you could stop listening to them by listening to yourself breathe, and if you're beyond that, get out and exercise to break the spell of neurosis.

For it starts with watching your breath and it ends very well...

20110716

Neurosis in my life

Neurosis is prevalent in post-modern society.

I suffer from neurosis, since I am now taking 11 vitamins and supplements.

The psychiatric term is "hypochondriasis."

Part of the etiology of hypochondriasis is the believe that I am taking care of my overall health by taking vitamins and supplements — mentally and physically — combined with the few medications I am taking now — cyclobenzaprine as muscle relaxant (for osteoarthrosic left shoulder and as a sleep aid) and gabapentin (for mild pain and mood stablizer).

Currently I have had two appointments arranged by my primary physician in the coming month:
  • with a neurologist to determine the neurological origin for the anger-hostility-aggression (AHA) symptoms related to temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and my history of mild traumatic brain injuries, and
  • with the local mental health centre's psychiatrist to test for bipolar disorder.
  • 20101121

    The Authentic Self: Changing the Script

    Each of us shares in this drama called Life, living by the script we each learn from birth until the day we die.

    "The script" is a metaphor for behavioral and psychological negativities including cognitive distortions which lead to neuroses and sometimes, psychoses.

    Indeed, the script can be summed up by this definition of insanity: when I keep doing the same thing all the time, expecting different results.

    Yet it doesn't have to be like that.

    Indeed, whenever I act differently from the day before, the script is being rewritten by me with the help of others.

    This is why we share our lives with friends and family: to help rewrite that script, based on our shared experiences, to regain our sanity, one day at a time.

    While we cannot change our life experience, we can still gain wisdom from it.

    For the script is what we can change, just for today.

    We can change the things we can by the grace of God as we know him, be it the 12-Step group, a prayer group, or simply two or more people sharing their lives with each other; within Japanese New Religion, Oyasama — which means "Greatly Honoured Parent" — also refers to the Higher Power, be it the Buddha or another spiritual entity.

    This change is vital to, and a result of, spiritual growth which brings us closer to the authentic self.

    Thus, living authentically is to live in the present moment, letting what each day offer each of us the chance to act to the best of our ability.

    Provided that we play our part in Life, and be willing to change the script, it is possible to regains ties to the authentic self.


    For more notes on the authentic self, click on the link at the head of this article: http://gandhara.blogspot.com/2010/12/notes-on-being-mentally-captive-and.html

    20101006

    Are We Naturally Crazy? The Three Functional Psychoses

    Are we born crazy?

    The three functional psychoses are mood disorders, delusional disorders, and schizophrenia.

    Depending on the level of functional behavior, people with these disorders are able to contribute to society, sometimes in a greater capacity when the rest of society treats them with the respect they do deserve.

    And they deserve a lot, especially given the prejudice given a good psychotic.

    For not all psychoses have a violent etiology (host of "symptoms" and behavior related to the psychosis).

    Indeed, not all psychoses are bad, or disabling.

    I suffer from borderline personality disorder, which is related to delayed development of the brain.

    Under the age of one, I suffered anoxia for a brief period of time, so there is post-natal brain damage.

    As well, I have had about 6 head trauma before I was 13.

    So I have probably suffered post-concussive trauma and the etiology which arose consists of rebelliousness, insomnia, rages, and risky behavior.

    One example of risky behavior: obsession about holding my breath until I passed out.

    As a child, I remember learning to masturbate by age 6.

    I remember several incidents when my mother used to punish me, but forgive her for it because my misbehaviour was real and did occur.

    So naturally when I entered adulthood, the insomnia led to marked changes caused by neurological damage suffered as a child.

    In adulthood, the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder was made circa 1990.

    At first, my doctor decided to leave it untreated out of respect for my decision to muse non-pharmacological methods of controlling it using alternative health.

    15 years later, I've "awakened" to discover that I am missing out on a family and a career due to borderline personality disorder.

    Hence the delayed development issue.

    As for schizophrenia, I know that that term describes etiology arising from a real chemical imbalance in the brain.

    It has been controlled best by orthomolecular medicine, but seroquel is being used more and more to control schizophrenics.

    For seroquel causes health problems in the doses needed to control violent forms of psychoses, and is an expensive sleeping aid in lower doses.

    However, a combination of essential fatty acids and herbal anti-depressants are an alternative to the pharmacological medication.

    EFAs help to stabilize mood, and take up to 3 weeks to work. I've experienced overnight relief, which lead to the healthy, happy mental state I now sustain.

    Herbs such as valerian helps with sleep; St Johns wort helps with the depression; and gingko helps my brain get oxygenated.

    As for kava, I'd recommend it as an alternative to recreational drinking. YMMV

    IMHO we are all naturally crazy. Anyone can suffer a functional psychoses. Indeed, I would consider alcoholism as a functional psychoses with subclinical etiology.

    So the ignorant can perpetuate their ignorance.

    Madness is inherent to post-modern society in the 21st Century.

    For the most sane of us all are on medication, be it pharmaceuticals or herbal supplements (health foods, herbs, vitamins and minerals).

    Anybody would be crazy to subsist on only the average Canadian diet, since it has been implicated in the etiology of a host of functional psychoses due to subclinical malnutrition.

    A host of homeless people may find relief in optimal nutrition, but won't find it at the meal lineup to the soup kitchens.

    In today's society, the harmless psychotics are being manufactured and controlled by the neurotics in power.

    It's time to realize this, and to get off Big Pharma's drive to cash in on the host of broken lives ruined by crappy food pushed by the food industry.

    Indeed, health food is more nutritious and better for us than cheap food.

    Sanity is found by supporting your local organic grocer.


    Originally posted: March 3, 2005 at 2:45 PM
    Edited and redacted: October 6, 2010 at 5:32 PM
    Edited: November 24, 2012 at 1:48 PM

    20100528

    Rationalizing Society's Aversion to Religion

    IMHO the real reason mundane people find religion and people devoted to their faiths to be suspect is straight-forward:

    Mundane people, being of the mainstream, are consumers first. Being dedicated to consumption and production in a free capitalist culture, they work as occupation, depending on their personality and skill-set.

    However, public education has inculcated them with a shallow respect for religion. This facade of respect for religion has left them subconsciously fearful of spirituality out of manufactured ignorance. Indeed, public education provides their intellect with academic learning.

    However, it does not nurture their spirit with a deeper respect for religion due to universal human rights to worship as each individual choses (or not).

    Being spiritually shallow, mundane people tend to develop neuroses rooted in a sense of emptiness, which may lead to depression in late childhood.

    Because they did not gain nurturing of their sense of spirituality - and a deeper respect of it - during their youth, most people will develop neuroses arising from unresolved childhood issues regarding the paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions of child development of their psyches.

    Consequently, their vague feeling of emptiness is actually due to lack of spiritual nurturance, which the public education system no longer inculcates in children.

    This is why adolescence is more of a hell than two generations ago. It is specifically because of their ignorance that they are spiritual beings incarnated as human beings which causes behavioral and mental negativities (neuroses, psychoses and the related phobias and personality disorders).

    Why then does a person who is religious still suffer from neuroses and psychoses? Because they have yet to realize that suffering is where one does one's spiritual work, and applies one's defense mechanisms appropriately as mind tools so as to use the mud of human suffering to fertilize their heart-mind.

    Thus, it is the responsibility of each individual to realize that their reason for living (raison d'etre) is to realized that each living being is first a spiritual being incarnated as animal, plant or human; and that each of us are obliged to be of service to others, and as a result of this service, to help others to see this basic truth of life.

    Animals realize this through instinct, so they do not require instruction and inculcations like humans do, due to the latter's higher brain development. Yet, humans have inherited an animal nature, which is symbolized by the libido.

    Knowing this, the spiritually awakened person realizes that this knowledge will set her free, provided that she balances her libido with rational thought.

    Reason is used as a mind tool to control libido's psychic manifestation as "the ego" i.e. the delusion that the self is permanent and reincarnates, which is known as the product of reification of self - the soul.

    In conclusion, mundane people, being the majority, are averse to religion but not to spirituality, yet consider their spiritual beliefs to be private and practice in their own way, be it through worship of science, consumerism or even, a particular faith (ranging from animism to Zoroasterism).

    20070215

    Neurosis as a Normative Process of Mental Health

    Neurosis, also known as psychoneurosis or neurotic disorder, is a 'catch all' term that refers to any mental imbalance that causes distress, but, unlike a psychosis or some personality disorders, does not prevent rational thought or an individual's ability to function in daily life.

    Thus if a paranoid thought or even a psychosis is transient, and the person reverts to what is predominantly neurotic behavior predromal to the psychosis, then that person is mainly neurotic with possibly rare incidents of psychosis, mainly due to psychic distress.

    Indeed, the psychosis could be maladaptation to stress due to ignorance about how to cope with it. This condition is known in the layman's vernacular as "just fucking nuts" as opposed to being "temporarily insane", the layman's term for psychosis.

    "Psycho" actually means "psychopathic", and implies that the person is a mean, rotten person who feels no guilt for all the harm he causes other people, be it psychic pain or actual physical harm.

    Within the context of neurosis, the term psychopathic is usually mutually exclusive as most people who are neurotic really aren't "psycho", even if they are creepy and scarey to a lot of ignorant people.

    My reason for calling people ignorant who are paranoid of neurotics is that ignorance usually is what motivates the average person to be afraid of the term "neurotic" which to them means "nuts."

    This indicates to me that just maybe, these poor ignorant fools may have neurotic fears about "being nuts."

    This only proves to me that maybe some people are just fuckin nuts.