That was really good, Joule.
I wonder if anxiety is synthesized misery?
I have been mulling this over for days! :thumbup:
At first I thought I had a response straight away but then I thought about it and changed my mind and then I changed it back and then I thought about it more. I don't have a definitive answer on this but I have some thoughts about it.
My main thinking points on this:
:thinking:
*synthesised happiness is something we do after an event
But anxiety is at its highest before an event
*Synthesised happiness about an event is long term
Anxiety is short term, (we don't exist in perpetual anxiety it peaks and troughs)
*Synthesised happiness is a response to make us feel we got the best outcome
Anxiety is that whole fight or flight response to predators
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Brain location wise,(and to the best of my knowledge) the part of the brain that gives the
main anxiety response is the G locus ceruleus but then theres a few different parts that freak out. The pre frontal cortex has the ability to switch off that response if it wants. . .
(if it wants) but it's not doing the freaking out...but technically it is involved.
But then, the pre frontal cortex's main job is to predict, problem solve and make decisions- all very proactive jobs. So I think that part of the brain is generally concerned with making things go well for us, not creating misery.
But then who knows, I've been trawling through articles for a while about all this and Science really isn't there yet. There was some new stuff in the journal cell that came up this year about bits of the brain that they thought dulled anxiety but actually do the opposite
lol so not only was science wrong but completely wrong, just shows this is only starting to be unravelled.
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This is all unrelated but when I was mulling over the anxiety response connection to the pre frontal cortex, I started thinking about how the brain (regardless of which part does it) controls everything ( I wish I was better at saying what I mean, my point often gets lost in translation) Anyway, it's ability to function is fundamental to our survival. And if something changes, our personalitys change, our behaviours change.
There is an interesting article relating to social phobias
Missing 'brake in the brain' can trigger anxiety -- ScienceDaily
BUT ALL IS NOT LOST!!!!!!! :thumbup:
Because this is the point worth taking from all this:
The brain is the control centre
stuff breaks
stuff can be fixed
Richard C. Senelick, M.D.: The Long Path to Repairing a Damaged Brain
And Science doesn't know how to fix everything yet but it is known that the brain can be motivated to build new pathways through certain actions...brain train...eh...promote neurons (God I am awful at using my words lol, I need to read more books)
And to close, here's a fantastic article (although the title sounds like popular nonsense, it is actually very well written and something quite relevant) that I think everyone should read
5 Ways To Get Happier - Starting Right Now - Forbes
Edit: Sorry this isnt very eloquent. Lately I find it quite hard to express myself in words. It takes me forever (and I mean forever , I end up editing everything because I can't quite manipulate language to get it to mean what I want it to...even after the 100th edit *facepalm. ) In my day to day, I'm looking at numbers and manipulating them, not words. I think I need to practise my words. Even this edit took half an hour to say that *facepalm* I probably dont use words enough in my day to day life, not enough talking maybe. When you're not using them, after a while, words fall out of circulation and when you want to find a particular one, brain cant locate it.