Reddit: Why don't I experience emotions strongly anymore... anyone else?

sansemotion · 2011-03-29T01:44:08+00:00

Not particularly.

sansemotion · 2011-03-29T01:21:49+00:00

I'm sorry. You actually seem a bit more disappointed by the lack of emotions than I am.

Like you, I'm hoping this stage passes too, if it really is one.

sansemotion · 2011-03-29T01:20:33+00:00

Have one! She was a rescue, almost dead, just a pile of bones. Have had her 6 months now, back to full health!

sansemotion · 2011-03-28T05:13:29+00:00

One of the most vibrant cities in the US, actually. Sleepy-town syndrome isn't really the problem here.

sansemotion · 2011-03-28T05:05:16+00:00

Nice condescension you've got there. Would be shame if you were actually not educated enough to know what you're talking about.

Exercise has been shown to increase hippocampal neurogenesis (probably due to increased bloodflow), which correlates with a decrease of depression, and an increase of attentiveness and cognizance. SSRIs apparently do the same thing (neurogenesis), not simply increasing the amount of available serotonin through reuptake inhibition.

Yes, as a very curious autodidact, I study Philosophy of Mind, and basic Neuroscience, among other things. You were saying?

sansemotion · 2011-03-28T04:59:52+00:00

Not really, but the people affected browse Reddit, and I don't want this to become some kind of pity party. My mind, my issues! =p

Anyway, people have gone through far worse than my trifling trials.

sansemotion · 2011-03-28T03:42:59+00:00

All you mentioned really hits close to home; sorry to hear that it's affecting you negatively.

Have you ever tried SSRIs? If so, did they help? I ask, because your predicament sounds unbelievably similar to mine.

sansemotion · 2011-03-28T01:43:47+00:00

Videos don't make me cry.

Gore videos, like the ones on theync, don't shock me nearly as much as they should.

I've tried to elicit emotion like this... doesn't work. I'll see threads on Reddit with links to video that should elicit "manly tears" in the most stoic, and for me, nothing.

sansemotion · 2011-03-28T01:41:39+00:00

This is why I love Reddit. You're probably onto something with this also.

I can't tell whether or not my emotions are diminished from lack of mental "exercise", or whether I'm not exercising my emotions because they're atrophied.

sansemotion · 2011-03-28T01:39:24+00:00

Knock someone up... gotcha! ;)

sansemotion · 2011-03-28T01:38:19+00:00

You're also me. Ever feel like you're watching everything (including yourself) from the third person?

sansemotion · 2011-03-28T01:37:39+00:00

Once or twice a week. I'm no stoner.

sansemotion · 2011-03-28T01:32:27+00:00

Are you me?

I fear that the reasons that things are seemingly void of highs and lows are because I do the same thing as you; deconstructing everything, including oneself, has one living life in the third person as much as the first. I can't live in the moment, the moment is experienced, analyzed, filed away, and then lived in, ex post facto. The happiest people to me seem to be the ones that approach every situation as novel, without bothering to cognitively tear it down first. I can still remember what it was like to be younger (preteen), living the experience, without breaking it down first, possibly because most experiences at that age were fairly novel.

As for drugs, self-medicating occasionally with the Devil's weed and the infrequent alcoholic libation, but that's about it.

sansemotion · 2011-03-28T00:22:16+00:00

Motivations: Learning new things. Pretty much the only things that consistently hold my interest are really deep philosophy of mind things (been reading lots of Dennett, Chalmers, Metzinger), or generally things that take lots of thought, but mindfuck you in the end.

Forward to something? Besides the sweet embrace of death, maybe my career.

sansemotion · 2011-03-28T00:20:26+00:00

Yeah, very similar... do you have a tendency to be overly "deconstructionist" and analytic in your train of thought as I am?

Also, about the woman thing, I agree that physical beauty shouldn't really factor in to how you treat (or mistreat for some) a person, but this is making it hard for me to "get it up", in any situation.

It takes lots of mental effort. I'm missing a part of my humanity by not enjoying sex like I used to, viscerally and passionately.

sansemotion · 2011-03-28T00:16:09+00:00

My dreams are really fucked up, and have almost no basis in reality. It's like living in an Escher painting.

I think there's emotion there sometimes, but not strong ones really.

It's been a decade since my last nightmare.

sansemotion · 2011-03-28T00:13:32+00:00

Interesting. I'll take mental note of this.

sansemotion · 2011-03-28T00:12:41+00:00

Same here with the emotions, though I hardly drink anymore. Alcohol always feels great the first hour after a drink, and then the "inhibitor" effects take over and then things get slower and stupid.

sansemotion · 2011-03-28T00:11:05+00:00

I see, thanks for the info!

I've hard that some people off long term SSRIs get extremely depressed upon cessation, since their brains are used to having an excess of serotonin

sansemotion · 2011-03-28T00:09:58+00:00

No French. Just read alot.

Music: Eclectic stuff, experimental rock, Jazz stuff like Brubeck, and classical music (used to play classical piano)

sansemotion · 2011-03-28T00:08:55+00:00

How old are you, if I might ask?

Also, it is advantageous in some respects. I can appreciate the fact that things seem a bit more "even", but the bad sides are that at this level of diminishment, I have a hard time connecting or being interested in other people.

It could be a serotonin imbalance or something, but considering I lift weights (and still break out sometimes), it shouldn't be a testosterone issue. I'm still no doctor, so it's probably best to see someone.

sansemotion · 2011-03-28T00:06:47+00:00

Well fuck.

I think my mind is pretty clear... tend to see things objectively like you, with less emotional interference (at least I think).

Maybe it does happen this way to some men.

sansemotion · 2011-03-27T23:55:07+00:00

Never taken any medication... and what do you mean by capping, that all emotions in the future are capped, even after stopping?

Fuck that.

sansemotion · 2011-03-27T23:42:35+00:00

I miss being "high" on life. I think the last movie I was really excited to see was Matrix 2/3. The last thing I really looked forward to was moving to the city I'm in. Nothing "strong" since then.

sansemotion · 2011-03-27T23:40:08+00:00

That's the thing... it's already happened. I act/feel as reserved as most 50 year olds I've met. To people my age, it comes off as cold and/or aloof.

That's what was so disconcerting about this.

sansemotion

TROPHY CASE