Posted by Ed on May 17, 2003, at 14:21:44
In reply to Re: ARE YOU MY DOPPELGANGER?, posted by worrier on May 16, 2003, at 21:09:58
Whatever you guys have, I have it too, and I've have had it for decades (I'm 47). I'm referring to the "magnet" and that sense of being compelled to direct one's attention INWARD (i.e., to constantly monitor one's condition as if something unknown might be about to happen to you) rather than being able to direct one's attention OUTWARD. For me, Nardil and alcohol will each normalize the situation pretty well (but who wants to be on either?), and benzos will take care of the neck or chest "knot" but benzos don't really solve my vague sense of preoccupation. Meditation also helps greatly (if you have a couple of hours a day to spare) and I think it does so by forcing you to focus on a specific single point and thereby training you to avoid falling into the default of generalized internal "monitoring" or "preoccupation."
Maybe this vague preoccupation "magnet" is simply the "hypervigilence" noted in anxiety disorders; or maybe the "magnet" is what some simply describe as "insecurity." Maybe it is the difference between being an introvert and being an extrovert. Maybe all three! It certainly could be described as "lack of peace of mind!" Sometimes I think the preoccupation "magnet" results from the inescapable human condition- that it is a perfectly normal adaptative response to ensure survival in a world where (at least until recently) nature was "red of tooth and claw" and life was "brutish and short."
> > > And, it's the "magnet" that pulls/compels my attention inward, the nagging, vague gnawing that demands my attention. Is that like yours? And have you felt like you didn't fit in because you couldn't show a "ritual" (i.e. compulsion) or an "intrusive thought" (e.g. "Oh No!! I think I ran over somebody!!, etc.) (i.e. "obsession")? It's been very frustrating to me not to be able to identify, much less "label", what is obviously a disorder of some kind.
> >
poster:Ed
thread:224665
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030514/msgs/227271.html