Mindfulness - why/wtf??

[BeansOfRequirement]

Mindfulness/meditation and whatever else that gets you out of your head (exercise, "adult" coloring books (hentai) , baths, etc) all go for the same effect; to remove the ability to ruminate. One would assume that a statistician would not make a judgment of these practices by sampling a suicide forum, but who knows?

I personally don't think it's a panacea since it requires time, effort and consistency and can have huge drawbacks. From what I've gathered mindfulness and similar practices are not supposed to serve as a drug (this part is important), but rather as a medicine.

I've personally have attained temporary moments of peace and happiness from various forms of mindfulness meditation and adding my own spins to them. It will most likely increase pain-and-stress tolerance, if there's anyone that wants to get that effect...

 

[IsThisTheEnd?]

They all conveniently skirt around the real issues as well. It's almost like they've made a business out of telling people to "suck it up, buttercup", and they make $100+ per the hour for it. What a scam LOL

is "If you think enough about how bad you feel and why you feel bad, you MUST be able to stop feeling that way!"

CBT is "if you stop doing the things you do because you feel bad, you'll obviously stop feeling bad"

Both are deeply flawed and nonsensical ways of thinking.

I think it's very cheap and only probably works if you had normal problems to start with.
have heard it works for some but seems no different to me than some rubbish self help book.

 

[blue_muse]

Just another way of saying "Take this piece of advice, but if it doesn't work - you're screwed!".

 

[SuicidallyCurious]

It's not always possible especially if you are in a place that is a hellscape

 

[Partial-Elf]

I went to a new therapist today and he recommended this, like all the others. Let's just take a minute and compare, shall we?

Me: I wish I could die peacefully and on good terms with everyone because the world sucks and I don't like the direction my life has taken. It's my body, life, and consciousness so I should be able to do this.

Therapist: Have you tried mindfulness when you have these thoughts? Maybe picturing something comforting, like riding a bike? Or drawing a square in the air with your finger and breathing in and out? Or putting ice cubes on your eyes to achieve the mammalian dive response and calm down your tension?

...I kid you not, these were his suggestions. Like, what? Who seems like the rational adult in this setting? The mindfulness thing is just a buzzword fad bs. Fucking beyond useless.

 

[wait.what]

This has been preached at every ward I've been at.
No, I'm not being mindful of the taste of this meal for 10 minutes, I'm just gonna sit here and chew on it thinking about how much I don't wanna be alive and nothing can sway my thoughts away from it whether I want to or not.

I had a therapist who had me spend 10 minutes eating a raisin. Reminded me of the worst of my eating disorder days, actually. A total waste of 10 minutes and one perfectly good raisin. Weird thing to ask an insurance company to pay for, when you think of it.

It's not always possible especially if you are in a place that is a hellscape

This. Why on earth would I want to become "more aware" of my surroundings if my surroundings are horrible? Mindfulness has its uses—I've found it a good tool for dealing with the kind of obsessive worries that drive panic attacks. It does jack shit for depression though, and that's my main problem.

For what it's worth, the whole mindfulness thing is just imported, sexied-up Buddhist meditation tradition. Nothing wrong with that, but if it was a mental health panacea, Japan wouldn't have a Suicide Forest. I guess they're all just doing their own Zen meditation techniques wrong. Or something.

 

[EmbraceOfTheVoid]

I went to a new therapist today and he recommended this, like all the others. Let's just take a minute and compare, shall we?

Me: I wish I could die peacefully and on good terms with everyone because the world sucks and I don't like the direction my life has taken. It's my body, life, and consciousness so I should be able to do this.

Therapist: Have you tried mindfulness when you have these thoughts? Maybe picturing something comforting, like riding a bike? Or drawing a square in the air with your finger and breathing in and out? Or putting ice cubes on your eyes to achieve the mammalian dive response and calm down your tension?

...I kid you not, these were his suggestions. Like, what? Who seems like the rational adult in this setting? The mindfulness thing is just a buzzword fad bs. Fucking beyond useless.

Did you have a 5 year old in the room with you, maybe that's why he was suggesting useless coping methods?

For the amount of money you paid him you could've bought an actual bike, coloring book, and had money to spare for some nice kratom that would've actually accomplished something.

 

[NightmareTour]

My favourite part of CBT was when they told me that I could fix my insomnia by just going to bed early. And also that going to bed early would fix all of the problems that cause my insomnia in the first place, because sleeping well makes trauma, depression and chronic pain magically go away.

 

[moonchild]

Why on earth would I want to become "more aware" of my surroundings if my surroundings are horrible?

Also, if you're depressed because your surroundings are horrible, mindfulness (and CBT for that matter) is nothing more than trying to gaslight yourself.

 

[booray]

I've tried mindfulness meditation and, more often than not, ended up having panic attacks.

 

[Partial-Elf]

Did you have a 5 year old in the room with you, maybe that's why he was suggesting useless coping methods?

For the amount of money you paid him you could've bought an actual bike, coloring book, and had money to spare for some nice kratom that would've actually accomplished something.

Right? Yeah, don't think I'll be going back. The thing is if I don't go to therapy the people near me say I'm denying help/treatment which is nonsense.

 

[Carrotcake]

Mindfulness is "If you think enough about how bad you feel and why you feel bad, you MUST be able to stop feeling that way!"

CBT is "if you stop doing the things you do because you feel bad, you'll obviously stop feeling bad"

Both are deeply flawed and nonsensical ways of thinking.

Thank you for this summary . Very accurate in my experience (which sadly, is a lot) and I passionately hate both of them lol.

 

[Dead beat dad]

Whilst it might help some I don't understand why it is touted as the saviour of all our problems? It's honestly one of the most invalidating things I've heard.

Oh I hear you're trying to kill yourself - have you tried mindfulness or colouring in?? Yes please love, I'd like to spend another 10 mins in my brain oh and have you got any crayons??

Sorry rant over - it's been winding me up for months!!

Different stokes for different folks I reckon.
Bit like that old hierarchy of needs thingy, in principle mindfulness is pretty sensible but if you're losing the plot and the world is tearing you apart it probably requires a bit of dedication.
Peace brother

DBD

 

[wordsonscreen]

Try for yourself. There are so many modalities.

 

[blue_muse]

I went to a new therapist today and he recommended this, like all the others. Let's just take a minute and compare, shall we?

Me: I wish I could die peacefully and on good terms with everyone because the world sucks and I don't like the direction my life has taken. It's my body, life, and consciousness so I should be able to do this.

Therapist: Have you tried mindfulness when you have these thoughts? Maybe picturing something comforting, like riding a bike? Or drawing a square in the air with your finger and breathing in and out? Or putting ice cubes on your eyes to achieve the mammalian dive response and calm down your tension?

...I kid you not, these were his suggestions. Like, what? Who seems like the rational adult in this setting? The mindfulness thing is just a buzzword fad bs. Fucking beyond useless.

Therein lies the problem; professionals like him don't seem to want to help you with the external things causing those feelings.

 

[diyCTB]

I once went to alternative medicine specialist. I was depressed, at the bottom, feeling useless and in a vulnerable position. It was a few brief meetings where he walked around me with knitting needles. He told me that my biological field is damaged. After paying him around ~$1600 he told my mom that we must continue sessions to which she said we will think. Thankfully we didn't return to him again.

For a long time I thought whether the sessions helped, sometimes trying to convince myself that it did to not ruminate about it. After a couple of years I felt a lot better but those sessions had nothing to do with that, yet I still tried to attribute them to that. I guess I tried to justify that money well spent. Plus, I saw written testimonials that specialist had in its office from people he helped I guess.

Oh well, this world is full of predators that prey on dumb, naive, vulnerable people. "A sucker is born every minute" is a saying there, meaning there is constant supply of new suckers where one replaces another. That's why this world does not deserve them and I hope this world will run out of them so only predators, psychopaths, criminals and other scum will remain here and tear each other apart while good people will stay in heaven or just in peace in their own perfect world.

 

[IsThisTheEnd?]

I once went to alternative medicine specialist. I was depressed, at the bottom, feeling useless and in a vulnerable position. It was a few brief meetings where he walked around me with knitting needles. He told me that my biological field is damaged. After paying him around ~$1600 he told my mom that we must continue sessions to which she said we will think. Thankfully we didn't return to him again.

For a long time I thought whether the sessions helped, sometimes trying to convince myself that it did to not ruminate about it. After a couple of years I felt a lot better but those sessions had nothing to do with that, yet I still tried to attribute them to that. I guess I tried to justify that money well spent. Plus, I saw written testimonials that specialist had in its office from people he helped I guess.

Oh well, this world is full of predators that prey on dumb, naive, vulnerable people. "A sucker is born every minute" is a saying there, meaning there is constant supply of new suckers where one replaces another. That's why this world does not deserve them and I hope this world will run out of them so only predators, psychopaths, criminals and other scum will remain here and tear each other apart while good people will stay in heaven or just in peace in their own perfect world.

I once went to a therapist who was just a predator praying on the vulnerable.

 

[theresonlyonewayout]

I am shocked, saddened, appalled and frustrated by the replies. I thought I would be the only person and there would be a whole host of 'good news stories' but I guess that just proves how stupid and naive I am!! If it had worked (I know it has for some who have replied) and it was that simple then there wouldn't be so many people here I guess.

$1600 for a guy with knitting needles - argh it makes me mad and for what my opinion is worth - you aren't a sucker. Earlier on I would have paid that for someone to help me climb out and I bet most on here would feel similar. Now I'd pay someone that much to stick them directly through my eyes and into my brain stem!!

Mind peace and love to you all.

 

[diyCTB]

@theresonlyonewayout Well some people lose all their saving to scammers and some lose their lives. Like one UK soldier who CTB'ed because he spent all his money on a business program that promised riches. He left his wife, daughter and parents here.