From Vexing Uncertainty to Intellectual Humility
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One example of how this mindset worked for me is probably best demonstrated by my experience with sleep paralysis. My anxiety kept me tossing and turning in bed, and I would eventually fall unconscious due to exhaustion - triggering sleep paralysis. I of course developed fear of sleep paralysis and thus going to bed made me anxious... cue vicious cycle.
How did I break the cycle? I had to develop a joy for sleep paralysis. A genuine interest and joy for that experience. Once I started to look forward to it, the vicious cycle was broken and I no longer got sleep paralysis. It was the ultimate reframe. I psyched myself out.
I eventually started to apply that same principal to other anxieties and insecurities and things just started to melt away.
A vicious cycle of sleep paralysis is pit of hell though. I don't recommend it.
Similarly, I have made a lot of progress through lifestyle changes, but also through reframing. In my case, I try to not worry about the worry, and instead experience it as transient physical and mental sensations (which it is of course). I also find that an attitude of compassion and kindness helps, to direct that feeling to myself. It's something I picked up for Buddhist practice, but compassion practices can be a very very powerful antidote to fear and anxiety for anyone. Generally, the approach is not just passive mindfulness, but active in the sense of actively trying to cultivate a counteracting emotion in the mind / body.
So I guess this is somewhat related to what you're saying. I sort of reprogrammed myself.
I also suffer from GAD and asthma and believe them to be connected to incidents of sleep paralysis. Both actively work against achieving "restful" sleep, regularly interrupting the sleep cycle which creates a bit of a feedback loop, as you can imagine. With that in mind, I posit that people who experience a lot if disrupted sleep are more sensitive to the transition between the wakeful and sleeping states, which is where the sleep paralysis occurs.
Every single time, I am overwhelmed by an intense panic. I am trying to yell but nothing comes out, I feel as if I am breathing rapidly, even though I can often hear my own calm breathing. I can never seem to realize that it is merely sleep paralysis until I finally wakeup, and everything is just fine.
Really, it's just that you've become partially aware of the transition from wakefulness to sleep, during which the body is more or less "offline" for a few moments while the brain shifts gears.
For example I might somehow open my eyes a bit and see a faint superposition of the room atop of my current dream. But I still cannot make sense of it and I am in total panic.
Sound also doesn't make much sense, the sound of rain feels totally unknown and unrecognizable until I wakeup.
I just wish I could recognize what is happening and just wait calmy until the body finally wakes up.
> It is not important to know where the voices are coming from. It had just been demonstrated to me that prior to turning around I did not know their origin, and yet I was comfortable having taken on the “mere belief,” and as it turned out the false belief, that nobody was there. [...] And after I was forced to change my belief, it was still fine.
Author explicitly attributes it to support network instead. Are you very confident they're wrong about this important aspect of their own life that they have obviously considered carefully?
Which threw me into a schizo affective episode.
It was really crazy, in all senses of the word.
Coming out of it, I learned a number of things (including the research around the surprising effectiveness of CBD at not only mitigating the psychosis that can occur with THC consumption, but even with schizophrenia itself).
One of the lessons that most stuck with me was just how terrible it was to feel disconnected from reality and to not be able to trust my own brain, something I'd relied on for decades.
I've been very physically ill at points in life, but those few weeks until my brain chemistry normalized again were probably my lowest point ever. I was left with a newfound respect and sympathy for people who must go through life with that always and not just as a temporary burden.
And even in that short period, as the author describes there was quickly a balancing act to the psychosis. I pictured it as a series of multi-axis sliders where as my brain would wander more towards delusions of grandeur so too came delusions of paranoia (if you're important, then you are important enough to persecute - if you aren't important, then paranoia is more easily dismissed). There's a zen quality to managing a brain that varies and wanders far outside the boundaries of the norm. Though it can only be controlled or reasoned with to a moderate degree and ends up largely a practice of staying on the board riding the wave than dictating the ebb and flow of the sea.
I was very grateful when it subsided and I was able to identify the culprit, and my heart goes out to the people who don't have an off switch to toggle. 0/5 stars - would not recommend.
So yes, I agree that I was fortunate. But like with most things, it's a nuanced gradient and not an absolute dichotomy.
People who have the predisposition for schizophrenia often get their first psychotic episode from things like drugs, stressful event, exams, changing jobs, temporary lack of sleep, pregnancy and the time around delivery are strong triggers.
THC induced pycosis also happens.
This is good thinking for non schizophrenics also.
Shortly after we brought my mother into our home to care for her (after she had a near death psychosis episode), I awoke one morning to discover that all of our mirrors were covered with cloth (because her schizophrenia voices told her to do that).
It finally made me appreciate all the conspiracy movies where a schizophrenic personality is concerned about some thing that ends up being true.
The unfiltered voices come up with some wild ideas...
Thankfully, the medication that suppresses internal voices is working effectively.