Cotcha Yankinov
Bluelight Crew
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- Jul 21, 2015
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@cotcha
I am talking about somebody who is confident, successful, has everything, has an internal monologue which is "normal" (everybody has an internal monologue--i think I would be more scared if I had 0 internal monologue. Absolute 0 is physically impossible). Even thinking and fantasizing about having sex is technically internal monologue--just not negative.
And then this person goes on to develop depression or anxiety for no known obvious causes. And then notices that he or she has developed a negative internal monologue *after the fact* and they know that they are thinking negatively but are not able to stop it but instead wonder what it is that caused the sudden neural shift.
RE: the internal monologue is normal - I'm personally not prepared to say that talking to ourselves in our head is healthy regardless of whether it's negative, neutral or positive. Sure it's extremely common, but so are lots of other unhealthy things in our western society, and indeed our western society is rampant with mental illness, including depression.
There are probably other societies where the internal monologue isn't common, such as Buddhist temples that are often part of a silent mediation retreat. I bet that those societies have a much lower incidence of mental health issues.
It's possible that speaking or reading aloud in our heads can (in some people particularly, maybe some others not so much) activate these areas like the default mode network regardless of the quality of the inner monologue.
As a specific example here, the subgenual cingulate increases in metabolism when people are essentially sad, and there is a very high level of serotonin reuptake transporter expression in the subgenual cingulate as well (the mechanism by which MDMA increases serotonin - it reverses these transporters and causes them to pour out serotonin).
While one person may have "natural" (no drugs involved) brain activity due to an environment gene interaction that leads to activation of the subgenual cingulate, MDMA could also cause the same issues pharmacologically.
The subgenual cingulate is participating in wider circuitry, sometimes known as the socio-affective self referential circuitry, similar to the default mode network. Different therapies, be they pharmacological or cognitive, can both decrease the power of the default mode network.
It's not entirely clear to me why some people are suddenly above-threshold and suddenly experience symptoms, but I have a feeling that some of the relevant biology is brewing for years (being a in a highly linguistic society et cetera, or in general over-thinking and being analytical, which LTC sufferers often are).
But one specific example by which the threshold could be reached is reversal of the direction of neural oscillations. People with the "short form" of a gene called 5-HTTLPR have a higher risk of adverse effects including depression after MDMA use, and a higher risk of depression after stress, but a "normal" risk if they had an average environment (a gene x environment interaction).
There is evidence that some people with the short form have weird coupling theta rhythms (neural oscillations that connect brain regions) between an area of the prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the amygdala.
Animals models that essentially simulate having this short form gene have shown that these theta rhythms that connect the amygdala and mPFC can reverse direction with "social defeat stress".
I would bet that the biology that permits/encourages this reversal can brew for many years while the symptoms may only really surface once the oscillations reverse (maybe with the prodding of MDMA and a few nights of poor sleep).
So I think there are mechanisms by which past events aside from the E can contribute to the current state we are in. As another example, Parkinson's disease really only occurs after 80-90% of dopamine cells degenerate, and liver failure is similar.
As a non-neurological example, having bad posture and bad musculoskeletal mechanics for years will increase the risk of serious injury from a fall (hip break, disk herniation), but we wouldn't 100% blame the fall - we would consider the historical component wherein muscles were too tight to allow proper range of motion et cetera
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