Zen Mindfulness, Strange Loops , Mental Health Recovery
We are often “fragile” or in a space/place where we are easily hurt or more sensitive than may be helpful. This is the space/place where strange loops can develop easily and interfer with mental health recovery.
A strange loop or feedback loop is a term taken from the world of computer programming. Zen mindfulness can help our mental health recovery with awareness of these loops operating in our lives.
Wiki Feedback. see also Douglas R. Hofstadter I Am a Strange Loop
These loops used to be called a vicious cycle. The term vicious cycle was used by Abraham Low MD to describe the process of relapse in 1937 in his book Mentral Health Through Will-Training
Put simply a feedback loop, or strange loop, is for example fear of fear causing more fear and eventually panic. Zen mindfulness allows us to see what is going on and do something. This supports mental health recovery.
In current research this particular loop is called anxiety worry. This loop is called a strange loop because we begin with fear. And we end with fear while trying to get out of it. We take a step to stop it by pushing it away (or fearing it). This paradoxically increases the fear. So we think we are moving away from fear and we generate more. We end up where we started but worse off. In modern psychology Steven Hayes Ph.D. has done excellent research on this. His solutions are based on mindfulness.See Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life: The New Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
We may be restless, irritable, discontent, tense and preoccupied. We may have a great deal of trouble relaxing ( and often turn to alcohol, drugs, food or lust )
This temporary loss of the ability to relax may be aggravated by a sense that we are “different’ , “too different” from those around us. We may feel that we “stick out”, are too noticeable for being “different”. This sets the stage for a feedback or strange loop. But there is hope. Mental health recovery is possible if we use Zen mindfulness skills to be aware and slow down or stop these loops. “Weird”, “different” “crazy” “hopeless” are all labels we can let go of instead of swallowing them whole. Zen mindfulness training as suggested and described partially on this website can help learn to let go.
Often when in “treatment settings” especially “hospitals” the constant and consistent messages are that we are different, very different, not normal and usually worse.
Indeed that we are “dangerous”. And we ARE observed 24/7. This social context is often internalized. We swallow the messages whole See Fritz Perls on introject in Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality
We swallow messages whole without examining them and our conduct to see what this “stigma” is all about. We do not chew up what we take in by examining it.
We take these “stigmas” into us. Zen mindfulness can help us be aware, examine and chew up what we take into our minds.
We are constantly “prodded and poked” psychologically. “How do you feel?” and “How are you today?” are not meant as they usually are in everyday life. We know depending on how we answer we may be “written up”. “Privileges” can be denied.
We are being conditioned to fear our own minds.
This process of conditioning is not intentional but it is all pervasive. This is conditioning that will lead to feedback or strange loops, vicious cycles. Lets see how.
No wonder when “on the outside” again we tend to freak when someone asks innocently how we are doing. We have been conditioned to respond to this as a psychiatrists or nurses probe to find our “mental status” or what they may think it is. These kinds of questions are turned into anxiety triggers by the conditioning we have received.
This freaking at “How are you?” or “How do you feel?” is not odd given where we have been and how we have been treated. These are the ways in which behavior management has conditioned us. For critique of behavior management from the point of choice see Glasser’s book Choice Theory: A New Psychology of Personal Freedom
A brief summary of Glasser’s ideas can be found at Choice Theory
Many labeled people report behavior management to be traumatizing. A person is not even seen as have the capability of choice but rather as a completely determined biological organism instead of as a person. So trauma informed questions are helpful at this point. In trauma informed treatment “what has happened to us? ‘ not “what is wrong with us?” is a healing question. Ask your self this.
At times then the question “How do you feel?” triggers this conditioning, we feel stigmatized. We feel self conscious. It may trigger us while shopping when asked innocently “how are you?’ by a cashier.
Feeling stressed we might have trouble falling asleep that night and begin to think we are going to have a crisis. We begin to worry. This worry makes it harder to fall asleep. And the increased difficulty falling asleep makes us worry more. This is a feedback loop, a strange loop or a vicious cycle.
Other strange loops may begin. For example, a fatigue strange loop. A small sensation of fatigue like any person may experience is we think due to our “illness”. We worry about relapse. The “stigma” we have taken into ourselves is kicking in. This worry increases the fatigue. And the fatigue the worry. The deeper the fatigue the more haunted we are by the possibility of relapse.
Other “experiences” begin to be noticed and we begin to label them as “weird” as “signs of relapse”. Perhaps we feel “spaced out” or “irritable”. We begin to notice perhaps a “strange” itch at night. Or a weird sensation on the tongue, an awful buzzing in the ears. We label. We use strong language to describe the sensations caused by stress.
We describe our stress experiences as “weird” or ‘”strange” or “awful.” TV ads for psych drugs or TV shows push our thinking in this direction and we begin to act as our own doctors and diagnose ourselves.
We have a “critical doc” within us, renting space in our heads due perhaps to our frequent encounters with MD’s in our life as well as to the all pervasive messages of the media.
We never look at the social context of our “symptoms” to see what might be going on. William Glasser in Choice Theory suggests we look at social context. As he says “All long-lasting psychological problems are relationship problems.
The problem relationship is always part of our present life.” Again see Glasser’s website Choice Theory and Choice Theory: A New Psychology of Personal Freedom
Here is a list of helpful questions to look at what is going on in your social life. First in your romantic relationship. Are there any long term unresolved conflicts. Or dissatisfactions. Especially ones you don’t talk about.
Then look at larger family. Same question. Are there unresolved conflicts you do not talk about.
And at work. Same question. Unresolved conflicts?
And at your friends and religious life. Same question.
And are there any medication side effects interfering with your relationship with the significant person in your life?
Need to look. They are there anyway. So then find someone you can talk to. Most especially another person of the same sex.
And get to a recovery international support meeting either in person or on line or by phone. Recovery International Their skills are based on the feedback loop understanding and help stop them. These stressful social situations causing stress lead to new sensations which we label “weird” or “strange”. We begin to freak out and a feedback loop begins. Seeing the stressful social situations helps us see that what we are experiencing is NOT so unusual. This helps stop feedback loops.
Instead of thinking of our social context as real and valid and stressful enough to bring up unusual sensations, we think of ourselves as a solitary “biological” being who is “abnormal” This is sold to us on TV to sell a quick effortless fix, a pill, “meds.” NO effort needed. But the side effects may be intolerable. This is NOT to say some meds are not necessary at times. They are. And just quickly jumping off them will surely cause a psychotic crisis. The brain adjusts to the presence of the drug. It grows more neuron receptors for the shortage of dopamine and begins to produce more dopamine. If you simply stop the meds abrupty your brain will be flooded with dopamine and you will become very disoriented and psychotic. The same with seratonin. The brain adjusts and you will experience a severe seratonin shortage by just jumping off. So don’t. Seek medical support for any med changes.
Back to the questions “How are you?” or “How do you feel?” When these questions trigger our conditioning we often respond with labeling and blame. We label as “weird” instead of “new” or just something we have not felt before. We begin “symptom talk” when we label as “weird”. This is accompanied with blame talk. Blame talk begins in our minds. We either blame the person asking “how are you?” by thinking “They have no right to be asking this?”. And this grows. We also call this “anger talk.” Anger talk blames the outside world. Or we blame ourselves. “What is wrong with me?” we may ask out of fear that we indeed are “weird”. This is fear talk. Fear talk blames the inside world. In anger talk we blame others. In fear talk we blame ourselves. But again we do not look at social context or our effort or lack of effort in that context. These loops of symptom talk and fear talk and anger talk deepen unless we know how to step out of them.
On using Zen Mindfulness and Ujjayi breath to slow down thinking driven by feedback loops see:
Zen Not-Knowing Ujjayi Breath Meditation Anxiety Recovery
Bipolar Mental Health Recovery Patterns
Zen Dharma Schizophrenia Mental Health Recovery, Hearing Voices Coping
Just very slightly close your throat muscles and breath without effort otherwise. A simple way to do this is to silently say “hum” or “ha” to yourself as you breath in and out in an otherwise unrestricted way. In yoga full ujjayi breath is much more controled. Silently say “hum” or “ha” instead of counting. Or count silently with the throat slightly constricted or slightly closed. See a dharma talk on letting go of thought boxes that drive symptoms. Zen Dharma Recovery Mental Health Video
This method of Zen Mindfulness Mental Health Recovery can be used with to cope with any “symptom.” d
This closing of the throat muscles cuts way down on thinking. Why? Well thinking is subvocalization. We very very slightly move our throat muscles when we think. And this type of breathing interfers with subvocalization. Hum a melody and see how much you think. Not much. Ujjayi breathing does the same thing. Or counting the breaths with a slight pressure on the throat muscles.
An excellent video by Jon Kabot-Zinn on Peaceful Abiding or Mindfulness Meditation is found at Mindfulness Meditation. As a regular practice this aides in recovery. Ujjayi breath which enhances mindfulness needs to be practice but a regular mindfulness practice with a completely natural breath and no ujjayi breath in addition is very useful for mental health recovery.
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