Volume of Thoughts

[Juana]

^ This. Or even pictures because it just expands from there. Except for smell with pictures, though I think I'm going to try that now.

[P3nT4gR4m]

I think that is very true.  My brother who just got committed.  They are thining it was the OCD that triggered the depression.  That is, the compulsive thoughts fucked up his brain chemistry to the point where he developed the depression.  They can't find any incident or instance in his past that would've triggered any of this.  He started getting the obsessive thoughts after he developed this weird heart palpatation.  But after he had that under control, he still obsessed about that, and started obsessing about many other areas in his life.  And eventually, the depression.  

But to the original question:  I'm not sure you can really think a thought so loud that it hurts.  At least for me, a loud thought would be something that is a very immediate situation.  Or a thought involving something very important.  If there was any discomfort, it was in thinking about the results of the particular situation or issue, not the "loudness" of the thought.  So, I think it would be more about implications than volume.  

I'm convinced that a lot of psychology/physiology link is chicken and egg. I've heard "chemical imbalance" a fuckton of times and I'm almost certain that, in a lot of cases, the chemical imbalance is probably a result of the thought patterns as much as the cause. Imagine a vicious circle or a downward spiral with both making each other worse. Basically what I'm saying is that I think both ideas and neurochemistry can have a profound effect on each other.

ETA: I have absolutely no evidence to back this theory up but I hope to hell I'm right, otherwise I haven't cured myself of bipolar

[Juana]

I'd agree with you, based on my own evidence, though I don't agree with you on specifically curing yourself of it. If I know a depression is coming, I go the fuck outside and hang out at the river with my friends and our dogs or the like. And that helps avert the lesser ones and tones the big ones down a lot. So, chemical imbalance causes them, psychology helps me control them.

_{^{edited to add a thought...}}

[P3nT4gR4m]

tbh "cured" is a word I use kinda tongue in cheek. One of the ways I managed to, let's say, "deal" with things was by realising that what had been sold to me as a condition was really more of a symptom, ie my mood pendulum was swinging waaaaay lower and higher than most people's and whenever your mood is at either extreme there's a sort of caving in of one's reality tunnel and a loss of ability to function but, when I arrived at the conclusion that the main cause was patterns of behaviour and not this "chemical imbalance" as I'd been informed by the "qualified professionals" it really wasn't that hard to fix and it certainly didn't require death salt of the apocalypse or any of the other tinctures and potions those fucking quacks were prescribing

I should point out, before this leads to the inevitable flame fest - death salt and other medicines seem to work for some people  - more power to ya if they do 

[Juana]

I ain't going to go after you for it. And I wouldn't touch salt of death with a stick. I don't think they prescribe it much anymore, but I'm not totally sure. In my case, symptoms show through the meds anyway - the meds just prevent it from dipping back into the bottom of the barrel. The rest is up to me to try to control.


Ok, I think we've threadjacked this enough, right?

[Freeky]

Sometimes, when I'm trying to fall asleep, I imagine a yell or some other noise, and my ears hurt, but I'm still completely awake. Dunno if that counts.

Also, in some particularly vivid dreams, I dreamed with smell. Dunno if that counts either.

[Cainad (dec.)]

Tried experiment in OP; couldn't get any real distinctions.

My thought process is a continuous stream of dialogue. It's basically me talking to imaginary versions of everyone I know well enough to imagine how they'd respond, all the time. Images are few, vague, and not especially vivid unless the memory is very fresh. Scents are right out; I can remember that something or other had a strong scent and my reaction to it, but not the scent itself.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I ain't going to go after you for it. And I wouldn't touch salt of death with a stick. I don't think they prescribe it much anymore, but I'm not totally sure. In my case, symptoms show through the meds anyway - the meds just prevent it from dipping back into the bottom of the barrel. The rest is up to me to try to control.


Ok, I think we've threadjacked this enough, right?

My friend is on Lithium, and for him it's a miracle salt. The wrong treatment for some people is the right treatment for others.

[Juana]

Then I stand corrected on the issue.

[Telarus]

Tried experiment in OP; couldn't get any real distinctions.

My thought process is a continuous stream of dialogue. It's basically me talking to imaginary versions of everyone I know well enough to imagine how they'd respond, all the time. Images are few, vague, and not especially vivid unless the memory is very fresh. Scents are right out; I can remember that something or other had a strong scent and my reaction to it, but not the scent itself.

Imagine the people closer and farther away.


Good thread.

[Captain Utopia]

Tried experiment in OP; couldn't get any real distinctions.

My thought process is a continuous stream of dialogue. It's basically me talking to imaginary versions of everyone I know well enough to imagine how they'd respond, all the time. Images are few, vague, and not especially vivid unless the memory is very fresh. Scents are right out; I can remember that something or other had a strong scent and my reaction to it, but not the scent itself.

That sounds much more interesting than my usual dull monologue, I'm going to give that a try too.  Do you ever get confused between having told an imaginary version of a friend something and the actual person?

Excellent scope for self-mindfucks ITT.

[NotPublished]

How about trying to think of words without using any of that inside-voice thing?

I can imagine them just being written down on a wall/paper, but it has to be one or the other; other wise I just end up mentally sounding it out

[Captain Utopia]

How about trying to think of words without using any of that inside-voice thing?

I can imagine them just being written down on a wall/paper, but it has to be one or the other; other wise I just end up mentally sounding it out

Is there a term for that?  "Thinking without words" is a bit clunky. You can do this with practice, although I found it really hard at the beginning without continuously sub-vocalising "lalalala...".

[P3nT4gR4m]

I often employ something I call "icons" (there's prolly a better word for it - I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who's thought of it) as a shothand to internal dialogues. Quite often I can cover whole conversations by flicking through a bunch of these. I've tried to describe them to people plenty times but it never really comes out right. For a kick off "icons" prolly isn't the best description. It's not like I imagine a little picture, more like I immerse my self in a real or imagined state of being appropriate to whatever situation an internal monologue would be employed to deal with or work out.

For instance - my thinking is heading in a depression kinda direction. The clue is in that my monologue usually becomes sorta negative reinforcing also really circular. As soon as I cotton on to this (doesn't usually take long) I place myself in a kinda desert, in black and white with a weird sort of buzzing, roiling black cloud unseen but clearly experienced, kinda above and behind me. At this point the solution to the situation will be straight in front of me. Saves on ages of imagined conversations and shit.

Like I said - it's really fucking hard to explain, I'm putting this out there just in case someone else does this and can put it into better words than me.

[Cramulus]

that's very interesting... could you elaborate more on it? I'm intrigued by the idea of teaching yourself mental shorthand and non-verbal reasoning.