Does anyone else experience the following problem:
Something reminds you of an event which happened long ago; the event was annoying or created some other negative emotion; and you again feel that annoyance or negative emotion. I get these “annoyance flashbacks” now and then and it seems like they are more frequent now that I calorie restrict.
One, I have these things too. I have not yet found a clear trigger for these and no clear category to which these annoyances belong. Two, people on Reddit in askreddit commonly describe thinking back to some event and cringing. So it does seem to be not that uncommon.
Try having a pleasant mental image you can quickly contemplate as soon as you start to think about the bad event. If the bad event involved someone else doing something bad to you, forgive them.
I have this problem and do intermittent fasting. I never before thought there might be a causal connection.
Try having a pleasant mental image you can quickly contemplate as soon as you start to think about the bad event.
Note that this can backfire, since the pleasant image may become mentally linked to the bad event and thus develop negative associations. (I still think it’s worth trying, but choose a pleasant image you can stand to lose.)
If the bad event involved someone else doing something bad to you, forgive them
Easier said than done, of course.
I have this problem and do intermittent fasting. I never before thought there might be a causal connection.
Interestingly, I also have this and similar problems and don’t eat very much.
Nominated for the funniest case of ‘fake causality’ this week.
Hunger makes people cranky… I think this as entirely plausible case of real causality.
I wasn’t sure what Benito meant by “fake causality,” but I would have to agree that there is a relationship between diet and irritability. Probably that’s a part of the reason why diets fail . . . it’s mildly uncomfortable to eat less than ad libitum amounts of food. Do it day after day and there’s a pretty good chance of slipping up. When you are in an uncomfortable state it seems you are more sensitive to additional negative stimulus.
Perhaps there is a scientific basis for the stereotype of the jolly fat man.
At the same time, it seems likely that there is a relationship between irritability and annoyance flashbacks. The latter would seem to be just a special case of general irritability.
I was getting this about a couple of specific events so I tried journaling about it: Pennebaker method, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writing_therapy) - basically, 20 minutes non-stop writing, focusing on both thoughts and feelings about what happened, for three or four consecutive days—I find three is enough. If it’s working, the narrative will change.
There was a noticeable reduction in the flashbacks and also a lift in mood. Probably doesn’t work for everyone, though.
I used to get these split second emotional flashbacks all the time, primarily when stressed. They were usually about embarrassing or frustrating moments, and would very frequently cause some kind of verbal twitch—usually these compulsive phrases like “I want to go home” or “I hate this place” or “I hate myself”. Very embarassing in the rare instances it occured around other people.
Meditation seems to have brought down their frequency a lot. Or at least, of the many things that have changed, the frequency with which I meditate seems to correlate most closely.
This describes my feelings about job-hunting pretty perfectly. The only way I’ve found to deal with this is to push the toughts out of my mind, which isn’t the most healthy solution.
Does anyone else experience the following problem:
Something reminds you of an event which happened long ago; the event was annoying or created some other negative emotion; and you again feel that annoyance or negative emotion. I get these “annoyance flashbacks” now and then and it seems like they are more frequent now that I calorie restrict.
Any good ideas for dealing with this?
Quick little trick I do (this works if you can feel the annoyance manifest in your body, which is what happens for me):
I breath in slowly, and imagine the annoyance feeling I have as a red light, being sucked up into my forhead or into my threat
I breath out, imaging the red feeling either shooting out of my forhead or being expelled from my throat.
If the annoyance starts to come back, I’ll repeat this two or three times.
One, I have these things too. I have not yet found a clear trigger for these and no clear category to which these annoyances belong. Two, people on Reddit in askreddit commonly describe thinking back to some event and cringing. So it does seem to be not that uncommon.
Meditation?
Try having a pleasant mental image you can quickly contemplate as soon as you start to think about the bad event. If the bad event involved someone else doing something bad to you, forgive them.
I have this problem and do intermittent fasting. I never before thought there might be a causal connection.
Note that this can backfire, since the pleasant image may become mentally linked to the bad event and thus develop negative associations. (I still think it’s worth trying, but choose a pleasant image you can stand to lose.)
Easier said than done, of course.
Interestingly, I also have this and similar problems and don’t eat very much.
Thanks for the suggestion, I will try it.
Nominated for the funniest case of ‘fake causality’ this week.
Edit: MattG makes a fine point. Retracted.
Hunger makes people cranky… I think this as entirely plausible case of real causality.
I wasn’t sure what Benito meant by “fake causality,” but I would have to agree that there is a relationship between diet and irritability. Probably that’s a part of the reason why diets fail . . . it’s mildly uncomfortable to eat less than ad libitum amounts of food. Do it day after day and there’s a pretty good chance of slipping up. When you are in an uncomfortable state it seems you are more sensitive to additional negative stimulus.
Perhaps there is a scientific basis for the stereotype of the jolly fat man.
At the same time, it seems likely that there is a relationship between irritability and annoyance flashbacks. The latter would seem to be just a special case of general irritability.
I was getting this about a couple of specific events so I tried journaling about it: Pennebaker method, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writing_therapy) - basically, 20 minutes non-stop writing, focusing on both thoughts and feelings about what happened, for three or four consecutive days—I find three is enough. If it’s working, the narrative will change. There was a noticeable reduction in the flashbacks and also a lift in mood. Probably doesn’t work for everyone, though.
I have the experience. No particular solution.
I used to get these split second emotional flashbacks all the time, primarily when stressed. They were usually about embarrassing or frustrating moments, and would very frequently cause some kind of verbal twitch—usually these compulsive phrases like “I want to go home” or “I hate this place” or “I hate myself”. Very embarassing in the rare instances it occured around other people.
Meditation seems to have brought down their frequency a lot. Or at least, of the many things that have changed, the frequency with which I meditate seems to correlate most closely.
Yeah. I push them out of my mind or take a break to do something I enjoy.
This describes my feelings about job-hunting pretty perfectly. The only way I’ve found to deal with this is to push the toughts out of my mind, which isn’t the most healthy solution.
Well, a popular solution in some circles is to declare the reminders “triggers” and insist that people avoid mentioning them in your presence. ;)