Is acting out of character depression? Depression precedes acting out of character. It’s the natural decay of the minds faculties from a mass of inhibitory tensions. It is living a life of “thou shalt not” without actually understanding why, or managing that “inner demon” so that it doesn’t smash it’s prison, your mind. It’s a feedback loop we’ve set up. Conditioned not to “be angry”, we turn the anger inwards thus depression. “It’s all my fault.”
I can give an example from my experience. I’m “autistic” which means my mind has created a sort of feedback loop all on it’s own. The progressive development of the brain didn’t happen correctly, so for me the reptile brain was still developing at the same time as the mammal brain. Before both of those stabilized, my “thinking” brain began developing. So instead of the normal three stage function (r-complex, mammalian, neo-mammalian), they all sort of fused. I have a sort of thinking, feeling, reptile brain. What this means anger wise is that I’m always being given that reptile “Kill it!, Run away!, I’m hungry!”, signal. Constantly.
I have spoken more broadly, and my brain is supposedly maladjusted, messy, and with extra routes. I had juvenile seizures due to it, but I can observe the instinctive process in others. My mind responds to things in others like anger, and it’s been observed in autistics that they engage in mirroring behavior; mimicked speech and mannerisms.
Many conditions (not just aggression related), arise from a conflict between the thinking mind and the more primal levels. Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) arises in the mammalian cortex, a chronic reality checking with the amygdala on overdrive. Behavioral therapy doesn’t cure OCD, but it does allow adaptive behavior as it also does in cases of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In my own condition most of my “people skills” were a form of self implemented behavioral therapy.
To maybe provide more insight, I process social situations differently than normal. Having had my comments attributed to my own opinion repeatedly, I evaluate what this must mean to the person who seems to insist they are. I have to intellectually extrapolate a language based context, a neuro-linguistic thumbnail sketch, and then use it to filter my otherwise potentially inappropriate reaction. I am compulsively mentally disciplined for this reason. Many of the traits attributed to autistics are actually learned, but to state it clearly; I’m not a rambling aberrant psychology. I am well versed in psychology, philosophy of all branches, metaphysical studies, world theology, the list goes on, and I am speaking from that.
The therapies you hear about like screaming or laughing sessions basically give the primal parts of the brain place so it helps overcome this distortion we’ve conditioned into ourselves? Yes, this is why they have a therapeutic benefit. They force a sort of realignment of the functions of the brain. The advice they sometimes give even in casual circles is if you are tense, punch a pillow senseless. It is actually rather sound.
Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.
Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~