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PaulHoule · 2025-01-27 · Original thread
Talk about tortured phrases. If you like stuff like that you might like this

https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Higher-Consciousness-Ken-Key...

but personally it loaded my mind up with crap and increased my stress level and might have gotten me checked into a mental hospital if I'd tried it any harder. (I learned years later that if you want to repeat a mantra and have it calm you down and not excite you, you only repeat it when you catch another thought in your mind. If there is no thought, enjoy the silence)

There is a point, I think, for a more granular approach to find specific thoughts and behaviors that are contributing to depression and catch them.

Lately I "hired a writer" for a part of myself that emerges when my schizotypy is acting up and I am under stress and have unproductive conversations. ("The Ogre" got me kicked out of elementary school) Now instead of digging myself deeper trying to explain myself I stick to repeating (externally) a single phrase which has not the slightest hint of malice but is really infuriating to the recipient because it is scientifically formulated with the principles of self-psychology. [2] The recipient bends, stomps off, or loses their shit. I look a little crazy but not as crazy as if I lose my shit and often less crazy than they look; at best the beliefs that underly "The Ogre" are disproven, at worst I don't inflame myself any further -- either way the bad habits are not reinforced.

Overall I am really glad that my current therapist hasn't put me through CBT and the more intensive therapies based on it. My son really benefited from reading some psychology books his therapist gave him, but I'm the kind of person who's going to argue the DSM is wrong about this or that and here are 3 monographs, 5 conference proceedings, and 15 papers to prove it.

I see "As long as my conscience is clean, I will not be put to shame" as a particular "blame the victim" kind of statement (what do you conclude if you feel shame?), the harms of which are well discussed in this classic. [2]

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Analysis-Self-Psychoanalytic-Narcissi...

[2] https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520223981/under-the-medical...

PaulHoule · 2020-01-05 · Original thread
Look at general measures to improve mental health and stress tolerance.

Soldiers in combat try to fit 1 to 2 hours of cardio into their busy days. Weight training is more important for general health, but intense exercise is the best medicine for stress tolerance.

If that sounds impossible, then start with some realistic like 1/2 hour, walking, biking to work, moving boxes, and work up from there.

Overreaction to small upsets is a symptom of depression and it is one that SNRI or SSRI drugs such as Vanlafaxine and Sertraline are effective for. Generics are very cheap even if you don't have health insurance, and your primary care practitioner is trained to prescribe them.

The above measures are intended to build up your base so you will be resilient without trying. Spare time activities in the areas of pets (e.s.p. raising chickens), religion, volunteer activity are also helpful.

I was a long time practitioner of

https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Higher-Consciousness-Ken-Key...

a self-help approach aimed at training the mind while in action. Today I think that repeating mantras and phrases fills up my mind with more junk and makes managing harder. If I repeat a mantra I won't repeat it quickly but will try to repeat it at the moment a distraction comes in.

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