Mental Drainage

[Weliddryn]

www.take-20.com/2007/10/26/how-to-stop-wasting-your-mental-energy/

This is an article regarding the feeling of stagnation via mental energy.

Some key points:

Wasted Energy=
-Upholding self importance
-Fighting present moment
-Unwillingness to accept responsibility for circumstances in life

The Cure=
-Accept the present for what it is
-Accept responsibility for your cirumstances
-Defenselessness

The article explains, more in depth.

My questions:
-Have you ever experienced this feeling?
-Why do you experience it?
-How do you overcome it?
-Do you believe elements of this article are valid?
-How would you expand upon the reasoning/theories expressed in the article?
-How does this feeling relate to various MBTI types and what would be the ideal way for each type to handle that situation?

 

[nickgray]

Mental energy... now that's an "interesting" concept. And mental drainage makes me think about the "BRAAAAAAINS!!" catchphrase, for some reason.

Do you believe elements of this article are valid?

Metaphysical stuff. I really disliked this article. I'm not strictly against "cooking up" explanations for certain things in a certain way, but certainly not in this type of approach, as exhibited in that article.

Have you ever experienced this feeling?

The only similar thing I can think about (without the self-help-like nonsense) is mild depression and depression in general (as in clinical depression, not depressed mood).

 

[Anthile]

Hm, I'm with nick here. Way too metaphysical to really take it seriously.
I almost wondered that no one wanted to sell me a book at the end of the article...


See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnout_(psychology)

 

[JUN]

How about something that talks about a Burnout because of a burnout ? Because I'm on an infinite loop of burnouts.

...Oh wait, that's just what a burnout seems to be, I actually went through every single phase of a burnout, how awesome.

 

[Weliddryn]

Thank you for the feedbak thus far. And Anthile, thanks for the link.

 

[Toad]

I can understand the feeling of being mentally drained. I used to lie to myself all the time that everything was ok.

Lies and excuses I used to come up with:
I'm not a drug addict.
Those guys will forget I owe them money.
I don't have to deal with my problems.
I don't even have any problems.
I'll take care of it later.

Problems just build up and the lie I create starts to crack. I used a lot of energy maintaining the lie.

I'm not sure if this was what you are talking about. I didn't really read the article lol.

 

[Weliddryn]

It all works. ^^ Thanks for your reply.

Anybody up for drowning themselves in a murky swamp? For some reason this thread is making me entertain exciting thoughts regarding the idea.

And, no. I'm not drunk or high. xD

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

I'm not sure if this was what you are talking about. I didn't really read the article lol.

Lazy bastard!

I thought about only skimming it but it was short enough to read (unless there was more pages in which case...not. gonna. happen.)

To the point:

I feel mentally drained often but have never attributed them to such things. It's possible I am overlooking them however. I've found certain people in my life to be mentally draining, I call them brain suckers. They are the emotionally needy types mostly. I suppose I am responsible for being in that situation and may benefit from accepting the moment.

I felt the article was incomplete at best.

 

[Weliddryn]

Indeed, but how would you build upon it?

It seems to be a self delusion tactic to obtain an inner harmony, thus better enabling the individual to move forward.

I know a person who was utterly convinced by this- SJ.

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

Indeed, but how would you build upon it?

It seems to be a self delusion tactic to obtain an inner harmony, thus better enabling the individual to move forward.

I know a person who was utterly convinced by this- SJ.

I don't know if I could build on what it already has. I would probably take a different tack towards methods for re-storing mental energy once drained. Don't know what that is either beyond things like rest, meditation, removal from draining circumstances and such. There has to be more I'd imagine.

 

[Ashenstar]

I feel drained mentally every damn day of my life. Perhaps once a month I get a day or two where I get this short burst of almost manic happiness. I have my own kooky metaphysical beliefs about energy and people draining me and whatnot.

I really hope some day I figure it out because it's kinda sapping the joy out of things I love such as learning Russian, cooking, art projects etc etc. I look forward to the day when my mind can work as it should I know it has the potential to.

 

[Da Blob]

I did not see anything new. Most of that I have threads posted about- the most recent was about Stress I think.

It is almost amusing how desperately defensive most people are. They build these massive fortresses, that just end up being their own prisons. The sad thing is people are just vulnerable. There really just is not any way to dodge the pain of being in the Here and Now. Defensive people end up defeating themselves. There is a cartoon image in there somewhere... For example I criticize and mock myself in a defensive effort to avoid being criticized or mocked by others... But what if others were not going to criticize or mock me....? (Wails!) but they have to!, otherwise i just beat my self up for no good reason....

 

[warryer]

I feel drained mentally every damn day of my life. Perhaps once a month I get a day or two where I get this short burst of almost manic happiness. I have my own kooky metaphysical beliefs about energy and people draining me and whatnot.

I really hope some day I figure it out because it's kinda sapping the joy out of things I love such as learning Russian, cooking, art projects etc etc. I look forward to the day when my mind can work as it should I know it has the potential to.

Resounding yes (at learning Russian too!)

I figure that it comes from the idea that at the end of this life, nothing we have done really mattered. Sure we can make a scratch in the course of human history but for the most part it didn't do much on the larger scale.

Perhaps our brains (or something) are trying to tell us material isn't very important. Sure you gain some self satisfaction but, at the end of the day what does that count for?

I think it's about freedom. In society we apply restrictions to ourselves based on what's acceptable.

Wouldn't it be great if we could all just roll out of bed in our most comfortable clothes and go to work/school without being looked down on? Then why is reputation so fiercely guarded? I think it boils down to mating.

If you think about all of this, it kind of makes sense as to why priests take vows of poverty and chastity. (the idea not the religion)

Now to the article.

I can see what they are pointing to but, I don't think the author has a grasp about what they are talking about. I have experienced moments of clarity where I just flow through each moment, as they would put it. I am not claiming any more expertise here.

It's hard to explain but, in these moments of clarity I am an outside observer to myself. I am on autopilot and I do the 'task' at hand perfectly. I say the right words, I perform the correct actions (referring to social situations) to get my meaning across. It's moments like these that allow people to see what I am really all about.

For those of you that are quick to dismiss the metaphysical; perhaps this is talking about ego destruction?

 

[Carnap]

Interesting about mental draining by other people. I have one draining ex that seems to feed on my positive emotions and if I talk to him for more than thirty minutes and share details of my life with him, get excited about something I learned or someone I met, I don't know what he does, but after I get off the phone I feel like sleeping or just tired and grumpy.

I think it has to do with personal boundaries. He's my ex, he's still trying to hang on, and by sharing things with him he somehow subtly rapes me in a mental way. He's manipulative in very subtle ways. It's like how they talk about verbally abusive people who are so good at abusing their girlfriends that they convince the girl she's crazy for any opinion that might make him look bad.

He's a really sick person I think, underneath his phony, shallow exterior. He has hundreds of pictures of himself without a shirt on in his computer.

It's weird, like he has no empathy and can't understand emotions at all. I know they say that about INTPs, but this is different and I for one have a lot of empathy when in person, I think it's biological (related to dopamine).


That was a little off topic, but Ashenstar's post reminded me.


Anyway I do wish him the best, maybe we just clash as friends.