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25-12-2011 You can feel proud, but I don't accept you for having excellent English. You could speak worse than Borat and I'd still accept you.You can feel accepted for your intelligence and sanity though. ; ) |
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02-01-2012 GIFs are so freaky looking^. If I was still a kid I think they'd be giving me nightmares...When I was in therapy I expressed my anxieties over nuclear war/the enviroment etc. The therapist was not very helpful. Basically said the world is in a lot of trouble but what can we do...a few years later he writes me a letter saying he was getting involved with environmentalism because he was getting on in years and wanted to leave the world in good shape for his children...WTF!!! A study was done on children who grew up in the 70s/80s and how the threat of nuclear was had casued a lot of anxiety and hopelessness...why get an education, we're all going to be dead...which was pretty much how I felt a lot of the time. I was at a anti-nuke meeting once and this therapist who was there did suggest I come see him as he sensed my distress, but unfortunately I didn't take him up on his offer. I found out later he was a mentor to the therapist I did see who brushed off my concerns... |
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02-01-2012 I also wanted to comment on some of the above discussion, as I have many concerns with what ExPatChris has said about the purpose of suffering, atheism, and his thoughts on art, humour etc.But I am not sure you want this debate in your comments section here("I have a lot to say on religion/atheism, but it's best to do it elsewhere.") I would stick to addressing the points ExPat brings up, if that helps. I like The Atheist Experience show too. I watched it obsessively when I finally got the internet last year. Matt Dillahunty is the atheist Jesus. Sam Harris is god (Ok...really, I'm kidding). F'ing security code!!! |
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04-01-2012
But I am not sure you want this debate in your comments section here Yeah, Id like to keep comments more or less related to the post theyre under, but you're free to elaborate on the religion subject under any religion-related post of mine. |
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04-03-2012 I would not discuss my existential depression with my therapist because I'd be certain that he can't have a good answer to it - otherwise he would already be a well known cult leader or something like that It is sometimes said that depressive people have a skewed sense of reality. But the things that, IMHO, cause existential depression are pretty clear, observable facts about reality, which nobody really contests. The subjective opinion only starts at the value-judgements that one passes on these facts. So to cure the ED you'd have to change the opinion about these facts. And therein lies the problem: if I believe that all the gratitious and neverending suffering in the world really sucks and if that makes me depressed than it is impossible to choose to become a person who is not bothered by this suffering. It would be like choosing to be an unempathic asshole. It actually feels ethically wrong to be so ignorant as not to be depressed by this world! I could not ask for help in becoming a worse person. I'm gonna read about this "existential therapy" although/because I can not imagine how that is supposed to work, when nobody has the answers to the existential questions. |
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04-03-2012
like choosing to be an unempathic asshole well, choosing how to react is all we can do, basically. psychologists are trained to help people adapt to this f*cked up world, not to explain it. that is, to find a best suitable defense mechanism. and while its true that a lot of peoples problems come from their personal traumatic experiences, from their pathogenic beliefs etc, some things are just wrong outside of our minds. and we're faced with the tough choice: to adapt to the horrible realitites but survive, or to rebel agaist it and suffer. most choose all sorts of delusions. can't really blame them more than you blame a lion for eating a gazelle. but sad nevertheless to admit than we're still no more than animals driven by survival instincts. we do not care about the truth if it hurts, we only want a pleasant truth. |
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01-08-2012 Thank you for devoting the time to analyze the situation of individuals suffering existential depression and our society’s aversion to confront such a condition. In contemporary society, various people are excessively concerned with superficial aspects of their lifestyles, to the extent where they ultimately avoid recognizing the societal dilemmas that are inherent within their lives. They become complacent and continue on without questioning any aspect of their society. Fortunately for them, gratuitous reality television and an inexorable stream of “celebrity-magazine” publications will distract the population from involving themselves in an intellectual and sincere discussion. Of course, the media is not entirely responsible for the deterioration of their culture and humanity. Perhaps human beings are inherently egoistical and consequently, are content with concentrating solely on their lifestyles. |
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12-03-2013 Quick question, I know that you have a psychology degree. I'm assuming you are not practicing since you say that you're a psychology "by education". I'm a psychology undergraduate and as you have probably realized by reading my other comments, I have a very pessimistic (realistic ! ) view of life and I'm an antinatalist. And I've always wondered, how the hell can a person be a clinical psychologist and be an antinatalist at the same time ? What I mean is, if I truly believe that there is no advantage to being alive as opposed to not existing, what the hell am I gonna do if one day I have a patient with suicidal ideation ?Now, I don't know if I'm gonna be a clinical psychologist or something else but I've been wondering about this lately so , tell me your thoughts |
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12-03-2013
what the hell am I gonna do if one day I have a patient with suicidal ideation ? I've wondered the same thing. No, of course, not every suicidal case is an existential one where the person has realized life is pointless. Could be something more like 'nobody loves me, i feel worthless, i want to die' in which case you don't have to go into the whole 'life is so wonderful' thing, you just need to help the client realize they're worthy of love just like the rest of us and help them improve their self-esteem and stuff like that. Another difficult case I imagined would have been working with grief: somebody losing a loved one. That's like a 100% chance they will be bringing up life/death/meaning area. Of course, you're not supposed to preach and push your beliefs on clients, but they will ask once in a while, and will not always take 'well, what do you think?' response well. Yet annother tough question is: how will you feel counseling someone who wants to have a child? Suppose that question pops up within the other topic, unexpectedly. Will you be able to stay professional and continue looking at the situation from your client's perspective? I don't think I could. If something is an uncomfortable area - you shouldn't work with that. It's ok to work with a preferred set of problems and refer other clients to collegues. Focusing on insecurities, fears, making decisions, codependency, abusive relationships...stuff like that, down to earth. One more thing is the whole openness problem. You'll have to hide your real beliefs all the time. I mean, imagine your collegues finding out. Won't they automatically start doubting if you're fit to work in this field? Most pscyhologists are life-worshipping mega-optimists, I mean, even if they admit life has some horrible shit happening in it, they still believe it either has some hidden meaning and purpose or that it's balanced out and everyone can win, everyone can be happy if they work on it. I don't suppose they'll welcome a collegue who thinks life is a meaningless tragedy imposed on us for no good reason. So you'd have to stay in the closet, I suppose. |
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12-03-2013 You bring up some very valid points.In the case of a client who starts talking about wanting to have a child, that's a tough one! I woudn't want to encourage that decision but I also could not shut the person down obviously. Acceptance is a big part of clinical psychology. I really don't see any reasonable solution besides putting a sign on the door saying "if you want to have children, don't come in" , lol. Another difficult case I imagined would have been working with grief: somebody losing a loved one. That's like a 100% chance they will be bringing up life/death/meaning area. Of course, you're not supposed to preach and push your beliefs on clients, but they will ask once in a while, and will not always take 'well, what do you think?' response well. It's interesting that you say that because I left my last psychologist because I discovered that she believed in god. I just straight up asked her if she did one day and upon some insistence she ended up telling me that she did. It is true that I also wasn't seeing any improvements ( how can you get better when you actually have a realistic view of things) but the god thing definitely played a major part in me wanting to quit. It's just preposterous, how someone can value evidence when it comes to certain things but completely ignore it when it comes to the nature of reality. I actually sort of called her out on it and asked what were her reasons to believe in god and I shit you not, she said that: "it was good to believe in something bigger or a higher power"... I mean, imagine your collegues finding out. Won't they automatically start doubting if you're fit to work in this field? Most pscyhologists are life-worshipping mega-optimist I mean, imagine your collegues finding out. Won't they automatically start doubting if you're fit to work in this field? Most pscyhologists are life-worshipping mega-optimist So true. Maybe one really needs to have a distorted view of things in order to be a "good" psychologist. I don't know.. Anyways, thanks for the reply! |
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13-03-2013
I really don't see any reasonable solution besides putting a sign on the door saying "if you want to have children, don't come in" , lol. hahaha I actually sort of called her out on it and asked what were her reasons to believe in god and I shit you not, she said that: "it was good to believe in something bigger or a higher power"... Oh I know. Psychologists are big on believing what feels good. Where I live lots of them mix psychology with parapsychology, astrology, chakras, past lives... - fucking embarrassing! Maybe one really needs to have a distorted view of things in order to be a "good" psychologist. I don't know.. Maybe guess you'll find out and tell me later :) I just don't feel the urge to be a counsellor or a therapist. Right now...If one day that changes I'll have to go study some more before I begin. |
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05-01-2014 Forgive me for asking this, as you have already spent many thousands of words answering it, but how do you feel about life? Are you ever depressed? Presumably you do believe that no one should have any more children, but do you believe that it would be better if all living things ceased to exist immediately? I’m sorry for repeating myself, but it is so unusual to find such feelings in one so young. How long have you felt his way? Did these feelings arise spontaneously in you, or where they revealed through study? I am in my mid-fifties, and told my mother that it would be �better if everybody was dead’ when I was five years old. I was a depressed teenager and young adult (although for selfish reasons), but with age and the discovery of the �true path’, to coin a religious phrase, I cheered up. There is something wonderfully emancipating and uplifting about the revelation. |
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05-01-2014
Most of the time I distract myself enough not to feel anything about life, I have hobbies and stuff that absorbes my atention. I just know how I feel about it, I don't want to experience that feeling. Once in a while something breaks through my wall and I can be sad for a day maybe. Then I manage to stop myself with my usual "your suffering does nobody any good so since you're sticking around get a grip". I don't get depressed for a prolonged period of time. I rarely have personal reasons to be down. I gradually came to a more pessimistic outlook on life as I was coming across more disappointing information about the world. Several years ago you'd find me talking about how magcal life is and how everything happens for a reason. |
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05-01-2014 Yet that is at odds with the image that you project. My apologies for pursuing this, but I am curious at this contradiction. Is the 'life-affirming' image (by which I mean one of health, youth, intellectual engagement, beauty) merely a screen? Why do you model? Is it to earn a living, to confuse, or vanity? Please forgive these impertinent questions - they are not intended as such. |
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05-01-2014
Read this on desires and attachments and why I find it iimportant to hang on to them http://uriupina.com/philosophy-psychology/pointless_absurdity I'm trying to lead a life I've lead before. Always liked to be beautiful, aleays had hobbies and been interested in intellectual questions. Do you suggest I should've became bleak and depressed to authentically represent the pessimistic views I hold? Come join our FB groups you'll find out not everybody who realizes the futility and tragedy of life goes about complaining and moaning 24/7, people still have interests, they work, study, create, have friends and so on. |
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05-01-2014 That's what I was hoping to hear. Too many antinatalists are embittered old people (I'm not far off myself), and project as such, often consciously. The narrator of my novel is such (although he is more of a nihilist) - striving to emulate the simplicity of the shark. With the dubious benefit of age, I can relate that a clear vision of life moves, via many stages, from appalling to comforting, at least I have found it so.Once again, I hope I have not offended. |
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15-03-2014 How do so many people not get what existential depression is? Seriously, wtf? A psychologist especially. I mean, if you're intelligent and honest I feel like you basically have to conclude life is pointless. If you also have suffered greatly, which pretty much everyone does eventually, then you have to ask yourself what the point of living is. That can be depressing! Hence existential depression! If all was good and squirrels were dancing with wolves etc...then life might be superfluous and stupid, but at least it wouldn't be awful.Personally, I experience existential depression all the time. On my good days it manifests as absurdist humor and on bad days, as debilitating sadness. It's a feeling that even if I achieve a silly goal, that I will still be unsatisfied with my success and I'll have to concoct some new silliness to pursue. I guess I just don't get most people which is very frustrating. If meaning is not their motive, what is? Power, knowledge, love? Is there a point to any of these things without meaning? Maybe love as a sort of pain killer for life, but can real love really exist if one sees no meaning? What would they do together, hold each other like in deep impact when the tidal wave is about to come over them and destroy them? Ugh. |
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