The Inner Me

A mysterious entity spreads malicious rumours which can make each and every one of us turn in on ourselves. The source of the voices are never explained. So where do they come from?

By Caesium-135, Featured Writer.

I must make it clear that I am not a qualified psychology professional; just an interested amateur that has had their share of some of the issues I would like to explore.

The human animal would seem to have a uniquely powerful brain with an intellectual ability unparalleled by any other animal, at least to the degree to which it appears evident in us. With this exceptional intellectual capability why are so many of us plagued by self-doubt, and why does it end up driving us into the clutches of anxiety and depression?

Perhaps the answer to that isn't so difficult to understand. Nature has given us an internal Doubting-Thomas, a voice that questions our view of the world. Is this not a useful trait that protects us from an unbridled arrogance that could get us killed?

However, we are not protected from the over-exuberance of this Doubting-Thomas.

This internal self-questioning can become cumulative, perhaps even addictive, and our ability to master it, to apply a reasoned assessment of reality and to adapt to situations, becomes harder and harder. This runaway self-doubt can then take hold and we become a victim. There is even a neat clinical term for it: ‘Cognitive Distortion’. The pioneer in the study of these ‘Cognitive Distortions’ was the American Psychiatrist Aaron Beck, born in 1921 and joining the University of Pennsylvania in the 1950s. His ‘Beck Depression Inventory’ has become the most commonly used tool to measure the severity of depression.

In an article by Esther Landhuis, a free-lance science journalist from the San Francisco Bay Area, in the Scientific American dated February 21st 2017 entitled “Brain Imaging Identifies Different Types of Depression[1]” it refers to work by Liston, now a neuroscientist and psychiatrist at Weill Cornell Medicine. This article talks of Listons early work in which he identified (in rats) that stressed animals had reduced connectivity in the prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain now understood to control mental flexibility; the ability of our mind to adapt with new situations. This is the home of those ‘Cognitive Distortions’.

So, how do we counter this demon of self-doubt that Doubting-Thomas has become?

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is the go-to tool-set to help sufferers challenge the negative thoughts that drive these ‘Cognitive Distortions’. Its modern form emerged in the early 20th century and was originally developed for treating depression, but has since expanded to encompass anxiety and other mental health issues.

Like the damage done by cumulative drip-feed of negative thoughts, CBT is a neatly managed sense-check that plays back reality and helps the re-building of our mental flexibility. We become adaptable and functional once-again.

‘Exaggerated and Irrational thought patterns’ is how Wikipedia describes the negative voice in our heads. A mysterious entity spreading malicious rumours which can make each and every one of us turn in on ourselves.

Doing a simple ‘Google’ will provide you with countless websites offering methodologies, versions of CBT, that help you challenge those negative thoughts. However, they never really explain the source of those thoughts other than describing mysterious ‘core beliefs’; as if you started out with a corrupt hard-disc that simply needs over-writing.

So where does this voice come from?

Our subconscious mind, still there during our waking hours as well as being dominant during our slumber, could be like the ‘Id’ that Freud talked about.

A popular view is that the brain is structured in layers (call it the layered model) with our conscious mind located in the folds of the cortex, beneath which are the more primitive structures to which we owe to ancient ancestors and even more primitive life-forms. The view is that the subconscious hides somewhere here in the depths.

However, this would appear not to be the case; reality may be far more complex.

There is an excellent article by Mark Solms, from the Department of Psychology in the University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa. Entitled “What is ‘the unconscious,’ and where is it located in the brain? A neuropsychoanalytic perspective.[2]” This describes a much more intricate arrangement in which the conscious mind is distributed through many structures.

I wonder if our modern brain is actually an evolution of the layered model and our subconscious, although now intermixed with the conscious, is the remnant of the arcane mind of what we once were.

This subconscious mind, upon which the modern human intellect is built, is an ancient legacy which is poorly equipped to deal with the unnatural menagerie of the modern world. Maybe mental issues are growing today because the underlying fabric of our conscious mind is built on foundations that can’t cope and that are difficult for us to reach?

Caesium-135

Odd musings, strange ideas, and random thoughts

References

[1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/brain-imaging-identifies-different-types-of-depression/

[2] ISSN 0077-8923