The Intricate Balance of Mental Health: Navigating Time's Dimensions
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Chapter 1: The Scale of Experience
Visualize your mind as a scale, with two opposing weights.
On one side lies your current lived experience, shaped by a combination of sensory input. Information floods in through your five senses—sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell—as well as from internal bodily sensations like interoception and proprioception. Your brain works tirelessly to condense this wealth of information into a collection of "feelings."
On the opposite side is your brain’s predictive capability, which draws from all your past experiences to create a "model" of the world. This model runs in real-time, attempting to forecast events in the near and distant future. The more experiences you gather from the past, the more accurate and dependable these predictive mechanisms can become for the future.
The equilibrium between these two sides is essential. Your past experiences guide your mind's forecasting abilities, while your current sensory data helps paint a vivid picture of your present reality. Your brain continuously cross-references these two aspects, striving for a harmonious balance; it absorbs sensory information and assesses it against the predictions it has made.
In an ideal scenario, your predictions align perfectly with reality. When your lived experiences correspond with your forecasts, it elicits feelings of comfort, relief, and satisfaction. Interestingly, this feeling of alignment occurs regardless of the situation's nature. If you anticipate negative outcomes and they materialize, you may still derive a sense of gratification from being "right."
However, when your current experiences deviate from your predictions—indicating that your assumptions or beliefs may be flawed—it can lead to feelings of distress. In response, your brain seeks to rectify this discomfort, either by updating its predictive framework with new data or by reinforcing its initial predictions while dismissing contrary sensory evidence.
This is the essence of learning: your brain makes forecasts, encounters discrepancies, and then adjusts its predictive model accordingly. Given that we never possess complete information, our predictive frameworks are in a constant state of refinement. By incorporating new sensory experiences, we can enhance our simulations, making them more robust and reliable. These updated models equip us to navigate the world more effectively.
The video titled "Asking Psychologists About the Past, Present, and Future of Mental Health" delves into the intricate relationship between our past experiences, present realities, and future predictions. It highlights how psychologists view mental health through these lenses and offers insights into creating a balanced mindset.
Section 1.1: The Weight of the Past
For many individuals, confidence in a specific prediction can overshadow their current reality. They may disregard their feelings to uphold their original forecasts, even in the face of errors. This inflexibility can stem from various factors.
Traumatic events can leave deep emotional scars, leading the brain to overemphasize these experiences in future forecasts. While this might be a protective mechanism aimed at preventing future harm, it often results in a generalized sense of anxiety or an exaggerated response to non-threatening situations.
However, one doesn't need to endure trauma for their mind to overly prioritize certain predictions. A multitude of individuals subscribe to conspiracy theories or unfounded beliefs, which may not have a basis in reality but fulfill significant psychological needs. For instance, many religious belief systems offer cultural and community values that contribute to collective identity. To belong, individuals may prioritize group beliefs over personal experiences, reinforcing their views even when they conflict with reality.
This cognitive override can shape perceptions profoundly. A strong belief in a deity, for instance, can skew sensory experiences to provide evidence affirming that belief. While it’s often said that "seeing is believing," it seems equally true that "believing shapes what you see."
In essence, when predictions dominate our thinking, we risk becoming rigid in our beliefs. This rigidity can manifest in various ways, from conspiracy theories to heightened anxiety and distorted trauma reactions. The mentally healthy individual can adapt their assumptions and expectations when faced with new information, using experiences to enrich their understanding and refine their predictive models.
Section 1.2: The Importance of Present Awareness
Navigating the world successfully necessitates predictions and expectations. Consider two players in a chess game. Both understand the rules, but their strategies differ. One player reacts to their opponent's moves, while the other anticipates future moves, often securing victory for the latter.
Being truly present means adopting a reactive stance—fully engaging with sensory input without prematurely interpreting it. Our predictions and beliefs dictate what information we regard as significant. Mental simulations help us discern meaningful signals from background noise.
Yet, when we fully immerse ourselves in the present and suspend our predictive frameworks, distinguishing between important and trivial information can become challenging. Stripped of predictions, we may feel overwhelmed by sensory stimuli.
Anyone who has attempted to meditate knows how easily the mind can drift. When focusing solely on present awareness, like one's breath, thoughts quickly wander unless something demanding captures our attention. This tug-of-war between distraction and fixation can lead to feelings of being overwhelmed or fixated on a singular experience.
Present-centered awareness is crucial for fulfilling our basic needs. We constantly experience cues—hunger, pain, thirst—that guide our actions. Being attuned to these feelings is essential for recognizing our needs and desires.
The mentally healthy individual can balance their attention between external stimuli and internal experiences, effectively responding to their needs and desires. Conversely, the mentally unhealthy individual struggles to manage their focus, often feeling either distracted or fixated with little control over their attention.
Chapter 2: The Dance of Time
Life is not simply about focusing on one aspect of our mental landscape; it’s about skillfully navigating between the past, present, and future. We must engage with the present to stay grounded in reality, yet also allow ourselves moments of deep focus on singular tasks. Additionally, we need to embrace new experiences that help us discern signals from noise and prepare for the future.
True wisdom lies in knowing when to "zoom in" and when to "zoom out." We "zoom in" to gather insights from present experiences, updating our predictive frameworks, and "zoom out" to view the broader picture, considering how past experiences can inform future actions.
Being overly "zoomed out" may lead to a disconnection from reality, while an excessive focus on the present can prevent us from seeing the bigger picture. Striking a balance between these states fosters growth and learning, enabling us to access higher levels of consciousness and maintain mental well-being.