Anyone read this?

You the fool trying to shut down every thread?
This is on fucking topic. GTFO

You would know if I were a tripfag.

So I’m curious to know what the simple solution is.
Tell me about memory consolidation

>just makes the brain look like a brainlet
lol

I'm the user that wrote about that book. Nice to see that there's interest in it.

>just makes the brain look like a brainlet
Heh. I think the problem might be awareness. The brain doesn't try to update it until you bring awareness to a target learning and force it's hand, so to speak.

Things you learned in childhood might have been adaptive once but then because you weren't aware of your specific learning, never brought it into conscious awareness, your brain didn't try to update it. Once you become aware of a schema by finding the relevant experiences that built it and understanding, verbalizing the semantic meaning, your brain is quick to employ it's natural error checking capabilities and find experiences that disprove it and finally update it or erase it. Although, sometimes you're so stuck in the schema that you need to find disproving experiences yourself and then employ the juxtaposition technique where you fully re-experience both situations causing a sort of cognitive dissonance and your brain finally gets the picture.

It seems kinda silly that you would have to do such a trivial exercise for your brain to finally get the right idea. There's probably evolutionary reasons for your brain to not want to change previous learning easily, I guess. At least until you utilize awareness.

Here's a short talk that explains it through a practical example.
youtube.com/watch?v=_V_rI2N6Fco

And a short primer.
coherencetherapy.org/files/Ecker-etal-NPT2013April-Primer.pdf

I haven't read the book but this
is the most accepted description of mental ilness. It's a trauma that your brain can't at the time decode because it is overwhelming and usually originates from people you have undying trust to.
The reason of suffering is your memory.

Thanks for those recs. Some of that pop neuroscience stuff looks interesting.

What about psychedelic drugs?

Mine was brought about a fucked up LSD trip. Would a low-dose shroom trip be a good catalyst for this transformation?

I mean, I am obviously dumb, because I fail to see this type of therapy approach as only exposure.

Well, psychedelics cause all kinds of mayhem in your brain, loosening connections, creating new ones etc. which might cause transformational change in some people as it accidentally changes some implicit emotional learning that was causing them negative symptoms. It can also lead to the opposite happening like in your situation.

Would another drug trip fix it? Maybe, but probably not. It's completely random and imprecise.

>I fail to see this type of therapy approach as only exposure.

It's completely different from exposure therapy because it's not counteractive and doesn't require you to go through painful reconditioning.
Transformational change leads to removal of symptoms completely and isn't incremental but immediate, because you actually deal with the root of the problem.
You change the circuit, the implicit emotional learning that is causing all the symptoms and once you do, they are gone for good.

If you read about Coherence therapy or see a case example, you'll see that the therapist never tries to counteract the symptoms, he never says "Just go be around people until it feels normal". The therapy is experiential, meaning that it requires the client to go through re-experiencing their previous memories through imagination and conscious awareness of that experience, it's meanings and associated emotions.

Exposure therapy is training you like a dog to not react to painful stimuli. And if you're hard-working enough, you might get to a point where could train yourself to ignore your symptoms or cause them to decrease. This is called counteracting, building a new circuit to fight the old one, which might work to some degree but inevitably leads to relapse into old behavior because the old circuit is still there and will win outside of ideal situations.

I went through CBT and exposure for months and it did fuck all for me. But after employing the techniques in this book on my own, it changed me immensely.
Due to my implicit emotional learning, I was constantly going through this shame spiral, self-loathing and berating myself every waking moment and now it's gone, just like that.
I genuinely thought it was a placebo, just a heightened mood, but no, it's actual change. Something shifted inside me and I no longer think the same way anymore.
As a result of no longer feeling like complete human waste, my anxiety has gone down without any counteracting needed and a lot of my previous anxious behavior is gone as well, like constantly self-monitoring, ruminating about past experiences, avoiding mistakes of any kind etc.

It's so weird to me how this is even possible.

Is it safe or dangerous to practice it ones self? I just wanna get rid of these random dissociations and panic attacks. I think I am legit traumatized by the drug trip. And "acceptance" or "exposure" just arent helping me here. It is just a cruel method and needs to keep being re-applied...

Would You go in detail about Your own experience?

It's completely safe. A therapist is recommended because it's easier when you're guided into it so you can just fully focus on your own experience and if the memories are particularly distressing it might make you feel safer experiencing them with a trusted person.

>Would You go in detail about Your own experience?

Sure. I used to fit the diagnostic criteria for Avoidant Personality Disorder. My anxiety, it seems, was caused mostly by this uncontrollable shame that was always present when I was around other people, and was particularly bad when I needed to perform or be around authority figures. If I did well, I was relieved. If I did badly, I was ashamed to my very core.

I first started out by using the Symptom Deprivation technique, where you imagine what would happen if you didn't experience your negative symptoms. It's best to go through a specific experience and then imagine what would happen if the negative symptom just disappeared. In my case, if I interacted with people, they wouldn't like me because I wasn't exceptional or special, and thus, reject me. I realized that my anxiety was a "functionless symptom of helplessness" in Coherence therapy terms. Which means that it was the inevitable result of being helpless, not being able to meet a core need (like acceptance) and/or avoid a particular dreaded suffering (like rejection).

This brought me back to memories of my childhood. Instances where my mother was using me as a trophy boy, only ever noticing me or caring if I was making her look good in some way. This became my core schema and the way I modeled the world. I tried to verbalize this and wrote this on a piece of paper:
"In order to get love and affection I must be admirable and special. In order to be noticed I must be exceptional. Otherwise I'm worthless."
It felt completely true to my very being, even though it now seems so silly that I even thought like that. At the time, this caused me to break down in tears.
I thought about what I wrote down and it didn't take long for my brain to generate experiences when I was accepted for who I was, even when I made mistakes, even when I was objectively unadmirable and unexceptional and mediocre. I felt this relief and started laughing. "Who the fuck thinks like that?" It's no surprise to me now that I was a complete anxious mess.

I was essentially using this schema, this implicit emotional learning, never brought to full awareness, never pondered, as a model of the world. Every social interaction meant abandonment, every mistake meant almost certain rejection by someone close to me. That's no way to actually live. Who wouldn't experience anxiety if that was their view of the world?

That's the gist of it. It took one (1) session. The longest part is understanding why your symptoms are useful, finding the relevant experiences and verbalizing their meaning. Then just find experiences that disprove it.

Damn. That is so wonderful to hear. :)

I mean, kinda hard question, but is it even possible to have such a cathartic experience if I also have OCD?

> and it didn't take long for my brain to generate experiences when I was accepted for who I was, even when I made mistakes, even when I was objectively unadmirable and unexceptional and mediocre.

Those were in Your imagination? They already happened? Or was it after Your discovery.

I definitely have to read this book. It sounds fucking impossible that it could work.

I'm not sure if this approach will be helpful for you because it might be caused by brain damage from the trip (if that's even possible?).
This approach assumes that the underlying symptoms are the result of implicit emotional learning and they all have associated memories that makes them easier to discover and also disprove.
I'm not a neuroscientist and I have no idea what I'm doing, so don't take my word for it.

Theoretically, the trip could have caused some new learning or activated an old learning, made the connections stronger. You can go through the work and try to find memories and potent experiences, try to verbalize their meaning and how they might be causing your symptoms. That discovery process is the longest and probably hardest part, but once you have it in your awareness, the "erasure" process is trivial.

Did you ever experience these symptoms before the trip? Ever had panic attacks or an anxiety disorder before?

No panic attacks. I was always anxious and fidgety though. But I could always drink, smoke weed, hang out, etc... I mean I was pretty wild, now I am just being super careful and calculated. Mum has symptoms of OCD though, both my grandfathers died from alcoholism, so there is some shit in my family.

Now I cant even touch alcohol without fearing I am losing my mind.

> might be caused by brain damage from the trip (if that's even possible?)

It shouldnt be. So far no records of people with brain damage even with serious severe HPPD

>is it even possible to have such a cathartic experience if I also have OCD?

Can you elaborate?
It doesn't require absolute focus or anything. Just experiencing the memories and what they mean to you.
It isn't a delicate process, it's not some balancing act, so it's alright if you get distracted by intrusive thoughts occasionally.

>Those were in Your imagination? They already happened? Or was it after Your discovery.

They already happened. If you can't find a disproving experience, you can also just make one post hoc.
It doesn't even have to be an exact experience, just something real contradicting it.

I recommend reading the case examples to get a full idea of the whole thing.

At the least try it properly without taking psychedelics or go to a therapist with your method. Those drugs can fuck you up even more.

Just wanted to add on the brain damage part. I was alright for a month after that, same as before. And then it all started...
I will try it without drugs, of course. I cant find a therapist for that, unfortunately... The therapy is still toooooo obscure.

I will definitely read it very well to grasp it as much as I can. I am just so tired of the fear of losing my mind...

It might be unrelated to the drug trip, even if it did start after it.

A schema can lie dormant and then be activated by some change in lifestyle or a particular event which activates negative symptoms.
Think about the first time you experienced the symptoms, if the situation reminded you of something or had some kind of meaning to you.
If you still can't think of anything, then just start going through your whole life, every powerful memory that feels emotionally charged.

Good luck, I hope everything works out for you. Coherence therapy is obscure but another possibility is trying to find experiential therapist in general, that work with AEDP, EFT, EMDR etc. which can help you with the discovery work of the process.

This is what basically happened:

1 month after the trip I was sitting on the couch with my girl friend smoking weed and watching something. And then shit just became weird. I started to dissociate (which started happening a week prior to it, but I just shrugged it off), I just felt like I was tripping again. And then a picture of me hanging started flashing in my minds eye and I had a panic attack. After that came the intrusive thoughts about reality (where am I??) and my fear of losing my sanity. That is basically what happened. Then came the visuals (HPPD) and insane spiritual sleep paralysis episodes. I used to play with my sleep paralysis episodes and lucid dream, but I did not have the balls anymore. I had no idea what reality was and I did not want to lose my grip.

Damn, that sounds really scary.

I think it might be out of scope for this approach, since it's definitely caused by some kind of neurological/biological factors instead of just faulty emotional learning.
I guess it can't hurt to read about it and try it out. In the meantime, stay away from drugs and alcohol since they will definitely exacerbate your current condition.

Have you seen an actual medical doctor about this?

I thought it was common knowledge, at least on decently learned circles, that recognizing the power of the unconscious part of your mind is the key

Well, I meant if you have the means to see a therapist you can propose and suggest the model mentioned in the book.

I've got a bunch of issues myself, but I've had a bad trip on LSD several years ago, and quit weed last year because I couldn't handle the trips and it felt like a 'second personality' was emerging when looking in a mirror, so probably I'm projecting here, but more weed sounds like a really bad idea given your description of psychotic episodes.

In the first chapter of the book they state limitations to the model, and why other models are more pertinent than theirs in certain situations. Given your psychosis maybe seeing a therapist isn't a bad idea?

youtube.com/watch?v=gy6zcbR5xXw

No, I havent been. I have been self-medicating for 3 years now. Cardio, NAC, CBD, ERP therapy for the intrusive thoughts and well... the panic (imagine driving a car under a panic attack while You believe the walls of reality around You are falling apart), did meditation as well. Now its just NAC, CBD, ERP and Cardio for me. And diet, forgot about diet.

No, I have never seen a doctor about this.

I dunno. It cant be neurological anymore. My visuals have almost all disappeared, even the closed eyes visuals. I only have visual snow, however, my eyesight has always been bad.

I am deeply convinced I am traumatized. The trip + my whole psyche falling apart in a week one month after the trip.

> it requires the client to go through re-experiencing their previous memories through imagination and conscious awareness of that experience, it's meanings and associated emotions.
Sounds very much like psychoanalysis

I mean, the story of the user pushing it, and having read the first chapter I think the model is interesting and worth using especially for social anxiety type stuff, and is in line with my own experiences, but using it with the assistance of a therapist might be safer when psychedelics give breakdowns like that?

I'm not fully convinced it was psychosis, though. I mean I got my master's in this state of mind. I remained fully functional, although completely twisted. But I was never deluded by my thoughts. I was scared of what was behind them. I basically became really close-minded, couldn't even entertain a thought like solipsism without religiously bashing it giving my best to disprove it.

I mean, I would show You all my posts while I was "losing it". They were completely coherent. I even visited my uni psychologist, who told me it is just weed withdrawals (holy fuck), but never did she agree I was psychotic, although I was convinced.