Neuro-emotion

[Junior]

I'm glad you said 'hoe' and not 'ho'

[Sheila]

You can say that again!

[alex]

Hi Sheila, here I am reading and learning from you people and I find it very therapeutic.

"neuro-emotions...prefrontal under activity, amygdala over activity...mmmm I´ve had "amplified" emotions like FEAR,guilt,(not anymore) self-criticicism since I remember and I think it all began with a broken very bad broken self-esteem;having a distorted image of myself lead me Fear that I wasn´t able to do things, to live,to love,to "fit" in society...is terrible because life, simple life scared the hell out of me.What happen? Did these emotions lead to brain "malfunction" did I born with the tendency and "life" made the rest?

Sheila, you say these neuro-emotions (I like that) are due to med. and some are psycological,but you also say that there is "damage" or malfunction temporary malfunction of that particular parts of the brain...it is a little or a lot confusing for me to me to see the subtle difference betwen them.

I believe I understand when you say to try to remember that the distress we feel is NOT real; is not easy for me it comes very powerfull and it has not one but various sympthoms: anxiety,guilt,anedonia,tiredness(cortisol?) and a feeling of despair (I´m not well, I´ll never be well,etc)

What I try to do and I talked about this, I guess, is to try to stop the inner negative dialog and do absolutely the opposite of what the neuro-emotion is making me feel.

Neuro-emotions and prefrontal and amygdala activity I would like to know a little more about these things.Chao.

[Sheila]

Alex – I’m not sure if I’m understanding your question, but I think you’re pointing out a good, but confusing parallel between psychological emotions and neuro-emotions.

What causes a person to have recurring, distressing emotions starting early in life? Ooof. There is still a lot of debate about that. My opinion is that nurture (experiences in the family) and nature (temperament, genetics) interact, but that the bigger influence is nurture. We do have evidence now of how very malleable our genetic inheritance is. The environment is key to turning genes on and off.

So, the distressing emotions early in life are a response to things that are really happening, usually in the family. In that sense, they are real emotions. However, we then assume that the whole world is like our family, and we bring the same emotions everywhere – over-generalization (transference). In this sense, these emotions are now not real. They’re inaccurate. And the brain has now been shaped by experience to be somewhat inaccurate about the world.

Still, I’m putting all this under the general heading of “psychological emotions.” But, you can’t have psychology without a neurological substrate. So, yes, there have been brain changes caused by experience. Life causes brain changes in one direction or another.

But, psych meds cause artificial brain changes. And when you w/d from the meds, your brain is temporarily confused and produces artificial emotions. This is what we mean by neuro-emotions. These emotions are even more distorted and not real than the over-generalization we did with our early family experiences.

[alex]

Hi Sheila, you asked me how I found people, I was looking for help, because I KNOW something is not good about this situation and I couldn´t be more gratefull here from sunny eden-like small Costa Rica I thank you all with all my heart.

Yes,I absolutely agree with you about nurture, as a manner of fact I know where the harm came from in my family; and it seems that I took the worst part.But as you perfectly expressed:ooof! that is not the issue for me right now

You clarify greatly my suspicions about the med.I feel were are talking the same language here.Also the idea of "transference" of our traumatic family experiences to everything in life is very accurate.

Well,I don´t really know what´s coming next but I feel that I´m not alone in this battle and this brings me big relief.

A very good friend told me: "tú eres un guerrero, la vida te ha obligado a serlo, los retos te obligan y sé que no te rendirás nunca" Chao

[alex]

Congratulations Cosette!you did it,you did NOT listen to your neuro-emotions (I adopted this from Sheila) and did what you wanted to do.Because that´s seems to be the issue, our ways of thinking and feeling life, damaged during x period of our lives, made us believe so powerfully so strongly that we WERE NOT CAPABLE OF LIVING that we will never be so good or even worst, that we didn´t deserve to be happy, that it created such a distorsion that took us out of balance; well at least that´s the way I feel it.

I dont know how bad your anxiety attacks are Cossete, but mine are very draning and even though I forced myself to step on a stage and sing when the avoidance behavior was powerfull.But the power of your spirit or whaterever you wanna call it is even stronger; I know that .

[alex]

The three part model yes, I can add that to my strategy of not listening or stoping what I call the "fatal spiral" when you get trapped in your negative emotions. Thank you Junior and thank you Sheila

[Sheila]

Alex -- A trip to Costa Rica was been a goal of mine for a long time. I know other North Americans who have been there and *loved* it. So beautiful. So much jungle.

You have a great attitude, Alex! You are doing a superb job of "talking back" to your fears. You *are* a guerrero! I really admire your discipline and courage to do things even when you feel afraid and bad. That strength will help you in so many ways in your life. But I do believe that things will also become easier and more fun. You already have a lot of the building blocks to help make that happen. You're on a good path!

[alex]

Thank you for your encouraging words Sheila;I´m sure you know what I mean when I say that is hard for me to take compliments or to give me some credit...damaged self-esteem.
But yes I guess I´ve done some hard work trying to stay alive emotionally and physically.I´ve done it "MY WAY"

Ooook, I would like to learn from you Sheila that are med. free how did you do it,what was or is your experience about it; forgive me if I´m intruding in private life, but it would be important to listen to somebody who has had the experience.I also want to know how do I aproach the begining of tapering process,what should I do and what dont.

Question: I hate to be repetitive but is this tiredness,numbness and apathy due to the 150mgs of Effexxor I´m taking since 4 years ago?

I think this is it for now.Sheila you are very welcome to visit us any time you want to.Yes, we still have jungles nice beaches and abundant water sources, but we have to keep on fighting against blindness and greed of some people to preserve our way of life.I visited Los Angeles last May and I was happily surprised by kindness and education of all people "gente muy amable"
in your beautifull State.

[Sheila]

Howdy, Alex -- I answered these questions of yours on the Effexor taper thread just now. It's not intruding at all. Once you read my "Journal" thread, if you have any more questions about my experience, please feel free to write them there.

And, again, if you are beginning to think about tapering off the Effexor, I think it would be a good idea for you to start your own Journal thread, so people can follow your story, be knowledgeable about your specific situation, and give you suggestions about how to proceed.

And, yes, the tiredness, numbness, and apathy you're feeling are classic side effects of being on one of these drugs for 4 years. Are you having trouble believing that? Or does it seem too good to be true to have an answer to the mystery?

When we are both healthier, I will stop by and visit you on my way to the rainforest! Keep fighting those greedy developers!!