First, apologies if this isn’t appropriate for a community called “casual conversation”. I just don’t know of another conversational community to post in. I am more than happy to delete this on request.
Does anyone out there seem to get addicted to their bad moods? Like, you’ve been feeling down on and off for a week. Instead of seeking out media, conversations, etc. that you know you like and makes you happy, you’d prefer to keep absorbing unhappy media and talking about unhappy things to keep you unhappy. It’s almost like you begin to enjoy being unhappy and you don’t want it to stop. What the fuck is even that though? Are some people just meant to be insufferable like that? I don’t understand why this happens. When I’m happy, I want to continue to be happy. When I’m down, I want to continue to be down even if there is no discernible reason.
Just curious on your thoughts. Thanks for your time.
I’ve done a couple rounds in therapy, and in coming with that there’s a lot of reading and learning about psychology.
One of the concepts that keeps coming up is that the patient will often resist the treatment - even when they’re directing their treatment themselves.
Part of the reason for this is that the brain ultimately wants to keep you safe. However what’s safe isn’t necessarily what’s good for you. The brain craves repetition on a subconscious level because repetition is familiar and familiar is safe.
So if you’re in a bad mood, particularly if you’re in a bad mood all the time, on some level subconsciously you want to be in a bad mood.
Another way to look at it might be that if you’re already feeling bad, you have fewer mental resources to deal with. If your already in a position of scarcity, it can be difficult to come up with the motivation to change your attitude