I shifted my career away from tech to therapy[0] and took lengthy trainings in Hakomi, a method similar to Somatic Experiencing mentioned in the article. It's truly amazing how much more profound sessions can be with experiential therapy that includes the body. I have really benefited from somatic therapies myself and have given loads of sessions that others have found useful.
sell addictive consumables in a poor neighboorhood with a lot of neon and big posters in your windows; you will make much more money for yourself than "enabling deep experiences for others"; second plus, people will eventually hate you, but you have money, maybe learn to use guns too.
Stimulating different parts of the body stimulates different parts of the brain[1]. Through cross talking neurones this might influence parts of your brain to be rewired differently and relieve some over burdened circuits, just like it might happen with traumatic events, but the rigour and precision by which this can be done is still very much an open question.
I completely believe that somatic therapy can be helpful. I have over the last few months been taking an SSRI to help with genralized anxiety. There has been a small effect in my mood/thinking, but for me the largest change that I noticed was actually in my body. I no longer get tension headaches, I don't have horrible gastro problems, my skin has cleared up. I went from being the most ticklish person I knew to being barely ticklish at all.
I feel strongly that these changes in my bodily function are affecting my mood more than the reverse.
> I feel strongly that these changes in my bodily function are affecting my mood more than the reverse.
Depression isn’t just a “mood” disorder. Everything you described (headaches, digestion, hormonal effects, alertness to touch) is controlled by your nervous system and modulated or controlled by your brain.
It doesn’t make sense to separate them and try to draw an arrow of causality because they’re one in the same.
Medical science has known this for a very long time, which is why standard depression inventories include questions about things like gastrointestinal problems.
Interestingly enough, many SSRI-treated patients don’t notice their mood improvements very much because the changes are gradual over many months. Usually if you interview their family members they’ll say the change is more dramatic than the patient self-rates.
Oh I completely agree that they are connected. I just noticed before starting that I would regularly feel the effects of stress in my body and that would put my in a defensive, exhausted, irritated mood. It is hard to have a good time when gas makes it hard to walk straight.
The thing that made me start the drugs was actually this realization that physical anxiety was preceding any anxious thoughts. For years I had done talk therapy (which was very helpful) but that therapy was mostly based around making me realize my anxious thoughts weren't "real". As soon as I stopped having the physical symptoms now I don't have anxious thoughts to begin with.
SSRIs absolutely destroy sex drive and ability to enjoy it for a frightening large fraction of people. For people that take them for extended time that sometimes becomes permanent! People should know the tradeoff they're making and not make the decision lightly.
I recently learned a possible mechanism that could explain this especially in men. Some SSRIs can make men's prolactin levels skyrocket to multiples of the normal value for men and this effect seems to sometimes persist for months after. I've found inconspicuously worded allusions to this in open medical literature, but it doesn't seem widely known or studied. Much of my knowledge is anecdotal from seeing friends and families before and after bloodwork. If they weren't privileged people with great health insurance they would never have gotten the labs to know that the havoc wreaked on their hormones.
Yeah. I don't have as much of a drive, but I haven't really had any problems with sex. I think it helps that my lovers and I have pretty crazy sex so it is rather easy to get excited :)
> The other side was more woo-woo: You’re vowing to be each other’s person, and you can’t change your name? What’s wrong with you?” With her therapist, she learned to focus on “superhelpful data” from her body, as Petersel put it, to “trust the visceral. It was clarifying.”
I think it's just a matter of having someone to listen to you. The focus on the legs or body parts body is interesting, but I think it's more of a helpful prop to keep the interaction going. Doctors and other types of therapists might be too rushed, busy, judgmental, etc. They don't have time to listen to anxieties and worries and give life advice.
People used to visit friends and neighbors more to listen to each other's issues and offer advice and support. But nowadays, and especially after the pandemic, people are more alienated, they forgot how to talk to each other. The therapy session provide a structured way for that interaction. It could somatic therapy, mediation, dance therapy, acupuncture.
Hyperfocus on specific body parts by providers seems to be a major failure mode of modern health care. The universe doesn't care that mankind decided to split the body into N systems for the sole purpose of creating specialties to provide health care.
When you say "mind" do you mean consciousness, or System 1 in Kahneman's terms? Or do you also include nonconscious nervous system activity including Kahneman's System 2 and other embodied cognition?
Even though a mind may arise from a body, could the computational processes characteristic of a mind not also be activated from a non-body?
I'm reading and influenced right now by Kinds Of Minds by Daniel Dennett.
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[0] http://glench.com/WhyIQuitTechAndBecameATherapist/
[1] https://twitter.com/chrost_hugo/status/1660788882559078400/p...
I feel strongly that these changes in my bodily function are affecting my mood more than the reverse.
Depression isn’t just a “mood” disorder. Everything you described (headaches, digestion, hormonal effects, alertness to touch) is controlled by your nervous system and modulated or controlled by your brain.
It doesn’t make sense to separate them and try to draw an arrow of causality because they’re one in the same.
Medical science has known this for a very long time, which is why standard depression inventories include questions about things like gastrointestinal problems.
Interestingly enough, many SSRI-treated patients don’t notice their mood improvements very much because the changes are gradual over many months. Usually if you interview their family members they’ll say the change is more dramatic than the patient self-rates.
The thing that made me start the drugs was actually this realization that physical anxiety was preceding any anxious thoughts. For years I had done talk therapy (which was very helpful) but that therapy was mostly based around making me realize my anxious thoughts weren't "real". As soon as I stopped having the physical symptoms now I don't have anxious thoughts to begin with.
Yeah. Have you tried having sex on that stuff yet?
I recently learned a possible mechanism that could explain this especially in men. Some SSRIs can make men's prolactin levels skyrocket to multiples of the normal value for men and this effect seems to sometimes persist for months after. I've found inconspicuously worded allusions to this in open medical literature, but it doesn't seem widely known or studied. Much of my knowledge is anecdotal from seeing friends and families before and after bloodwork. If they weren't privileged people with great health insurance they would never have gotten the labs to know that the havoc wreaked on their hormones.
I think it's just a matter of having someone to listen to you. The focus on the legs or body parts body is interesting, but I think it's more of a helpful prop to keep the interaction going. Doctors and other types of therapists might be too rushed, busy, judgmental, etc. They don't have time to listen to anxieties and worries and give life advice.
People used to visit friends and neighbors more to listen to each other's issues and offer advice and support. But nowadays, and especially after the pandemic, people are more alienated, they forgot how to talk to each other. The therapy session provide a structured way for that interaction. It could somatic therapy, mediation, dance therapy, acupuncture.
Even though a mind may arise from a body, could the computational processes characteristic of a mind not also be activated from a non-body?
I'm reading and influenced right now by Kinds Of Minds by Daniel Dennett.
https://www.amazon.com/Kinds-Minds-Understanding-Consciousne...