is this anon's suggestion accurate?
if it is what can someone do about it besides suicide.
>>7697574
Find love.
>>7697574
It's nowhere near as profound as that poster implies. The grand meaning and absolute (very narrow) spectrum of outcomes is also largely incorrect.
Long term high stress levels do cause atrophy and volume loss in various regions, but the real issue lies in functional changes of those structures. Many of which are reversible to some extent. That which is seen cannot be unseen, and we remain capable of becoming any former version of ourselves. In many cases this causes psychological conflicts that must be reconciled to truly change, even after getting rid of the stresses or whatever it might be.
I'm relatively certain I myself have some degree of brain damage. I've been under high amounts of stress for most of my life. I've been alone most of my life. I've had health problems most of my life. I've had chronic pain ~1/2 my life. All of these produce changes in the brain. I can't really summarize what I've noticed, but I do know the psychological basis much of it stems from.
It is not strictly physical. Work on your problems and stopped drowning in self pity about being a miserable virgin or whatever your issue is.
>>7697598
can you say that the brain damage you think you've experienced has significantly interfered with your life?
>>7697588
lolk
>>7697613
My life picture is a bit complicated, and it's hard to explain what facets of what relate with what. Breaking it down mechanically also isn't really viable.
Life has changed me. Obviously, that's to be expected. Most of my problems stem less from hard (artificial) physical limitation, and more from present life situation and the tendencies that result. My frame of awareness is much different though. I'm not always fully... present, in a way that's hard to put words to.
Nothing really has very much weight. I rarely feel embarrassment. I don't ever feel hurt by another person, only irritated or disappointed. I don't know. It can't properly be described. The picture is too large and contains too many elements to tell you anything that is both accurate and meaningful.
>>7697574
If this is true I think it might explain a lot about some people on /r9k/.
>>7697681
does it feel like your remote controlling a person instead of simply being one at times?
>>7697574
I had/have Cushing's disease. It gives me higher cortisol levels than a non-pathological person could touch.
The one thing I'll concede right away is that I'm ass at creative stuff.
Threatened constantly? No.
Bad at logical thinking? I'm in my senior year of a math major and chem minor, and in my free time I'm programming. This is probably another flat out "no".
Not empathetic? I don't really know. I'm a dude. I don't cry at shit, but I definitely know how people are feeling when they're in bad situations. I love my little toddler niece. Now that I'm thinking about it, this is probably another straight up "no".
I personally think this anon was off the mark.
>>7697708
Also, I was under the impression that the hippocampus was far more associated with memory than with creative thinking. So, I'm not even sure that that's related.
>>7697574
Feels good to be a wizard. I never felt loneliness at all and could do well with love, but am perfecly okay without.
I also ran away from anything stressful and could have seen as lazy, but in the end I just dodged brain damage after all
>>7697574
Meh, people have survived many a more stressful experience than the comfy first world life wizards likely enjoy. If anything their problem is a distinct lack of actual danger.
Wittgenstein wrote a book on logic in the trenches of WWI.
>>7697708
One more thing to add, the routine thing is pretty spot-on, but it vanished almost as soon as I got the tumor out. So, I guess that suggests some ability for that part of the brain to revert to it's previous state?
I just remember at one point before my first surgery, my mom came and told me that we were gonna go to dinner with my sister and her husband, and I legitimately almost had an anxiety attack because I already had planned what I was gonna have for dinner.
>>7697574
>>7697730
I'm hugely intrigued by this.
First off, I'm not a virgin. I have had gfs and many friends when during my teenage years.
But I was in a horribly abusive home. Not often physical (single mother) but it was an extremely tense environment where I would plan my days around avoiding talking to her or bringing attention to myself. This went on for about 14 years.
I often had experiences where I would become so overcome by anger and depression that I would just zone out entirely for 20/30 minutes and stare at a wall. This was towards the end of the 14 years when I was running out of patience for the nonsense I had to suffer every day. I saw friends as an escape from this up until I was around 17; then I stopped talking to any of them. There was no dramatics because I can't stand dramatics, but I determined not to waste my time on people that seemed just like my mother in their stupidity and inanity.
I also began to experience severe anxiety around this stage. It came out of no significant event. I then insisted on taking a year off before college where I began reading 14 hours a day on average. I went to live with my father for a few months in the other side of the world and discovered he was the exact same; a malevolent fool. I talked to nobody and spent all day in my study while he was at work. I returned home after 3 months and went to college.
All the time alone instilled a hatred I can't put into words. I am gifted and I am doing fine in my studies, but I am having more frequent crises where I realize that nothing is giving me joy apart from being alone. I am suicidal at this stage and I am saving up to live for a few years in entire isolation (like Wittgenstein) to work on a book before I either kill myself or go back to employment to save for another few years.
Can any biologists weigh in on this? It reeks of fedora, but there is often some truth in fedora speak.
>>7697779
You just sound like a pretty standard hermit to me.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermit
Not all that uncommon really.
>>7697779
>there is often some truth in fedora speak
stopped reading here
>>7697802
You stopped reading at the end?
That was tongue in cheek anyway. Another anon commented on how the original atheist fedora is essentially right, he just expresses it like a retard. I think that's pretty accurate.
>>7697800
i wouldn't say standard. i think he just didn't have any outlets or peers at his level so he looked inward which is something i wish i could do.
>>7697574
This is all interesting but I'm doubtful of the truth of it.
I'm a generally lonely person I would say and yes virgin. For a long time it did bother me immensely and I did kinda feel like I was going crazy at times but I made some changes in my life and how I view things and I feel much better now though I am still generally lonely and a virgin so idk, I think there's truth to what he's saying but I also think its possible to make peace with being alone.
More than anything else I found what was toxic to my happiness was focusing on societies standards of what a "man" should be. Ever since I let go of that shit I feel fine and I spend my time of stuff I like rather than obsessing over why I'm a "failure".
Life has no purpose, you're not a failure if your not fucking somebody. Everybody's headed to the same place. Just try to enjoy existing while you can.
>>7697574
Meditation greatly reduces stress and improves mental well being.
>>7697947
Also what about all the great authors/artists/musicians who were lonely people? There are even many lonely mathematicians/scientists. That anon is definetly wrong that it effects creativiry.
Its not being alone that's the problem, its how you view it.
>>7698031
I think that being alone and viewing it as something bad can actually be good for one's creativity. You sort of try to compensate your social inabilities by developing other skills.
>>7697574
>the action and effects of oxytocin from gf are different than those of exogenous oxytocin
No. If anything taking it orally is a bioavailability problem.
Furthermore there's no evidence to put oxytocin alone in this messianic life-saving role
>>7697574
it's exagerrated and in many cases not true at all
firstly perception counts. if you're happy and alone, then no, there won't be any explosive cortisol buildup
many things are worse for cortisol than loneliness. it can be bad if you make it a huge issue inside your head though
lot of the shit he describes are actually caused by lack of stimulation. instead of sitting on your ass watching tv or something, exercise, study, do art, etc. engage your brain. and you'll be fine
>>7698654
also, what kind of a person you are and your upbringing is significant.
put someone used to communal living and lots of social activity into metropolis apartment complex loneliness and yes that person will have hard time adjusting
someone who grew up with no siblings in a modern culture where parents weren't around much during the day + naturally introverted might not even notice anything negative
>>7697574
>is this anon's suggestion accurate?
No. Observations suggest that depression correlates with slower and deeper thought, permitting connections between disparate ideas farther afield than normal thought.
>>7697574
Cortisol levels are mostly increased through stress both physical and mental. Not really "loneliness" though depression does have an effect.
But in general you want to minimize your cortisol levels, this means minimizing inflammation of all types which is the most significant source of cortisol. One of the most important "unseen" inflammations is gut inflammation which is related to your diet. Slight allergens that you might have (casein and whey being common ones) will cause this as will alcohol and caffeine.
In the long term none of matters that much though, hormones are self-regulating, eating healthy and getting enough exercise is all you can do to try optimize your levels, but unless you're willing to buy steroids you're always going to have more or less normal levels.
>>7697927
I also disagree with that hermit comment.
You say it is something you wish you could do? There's nothing very special about me anon. I was reading some studies of classical musicians and composers and began noticing how they consistently boiled these things down to the time spent practicing. I then listened to jazz and discovered their habit of 'woodshedding' where musicians would take time out to practice all day for several months or years before returning to the jazz scene with new ideas and new compositions.
That inspired me to begin viewing these things in terms of time. As in, to git gud, I just had to put in the hours, IQ or whatever the fuck had nothing to do with it.
Ever since then everything came up my way. Anything I turned to turned to gold simply because, while others were just studying for exams, I'd be studying ahead in all modules and in my own interests. It didn't get rid of my temperament however, I'm constantly spewing hatred when I'm around people I know and otherwise I have a serious ego problem. I'm not autistic, I just do not have a single person around me that is in some degree thoughtful or given over to anything with passion; they just breathe, go out on the weekends, panic when a deadline comes about and complain when nothing is going on. It's something that is glaringly evident as soon as I meet anyone new and it breaks my heart, quite frankly. I feel alone in a way more fundamental than just not having a current love interest.
>>7699609
>>7697779
What you are experiencing is nothing remotely special. While not some genius, you have analytical ability, and can apply it to see most people cruising by on comfortable (hint: your workaholicism shows good work ethic but is simply your version of cruising by on comfortable and familiar).
You also make the common mistake of applying your analytic nature to your own psyche. By focusing on the seemingly isolating and unique emotions you have, you train your brain to feel them stronger and more frequently. Hell, just identifying with the suicidal label starts a cycle of confirmation bias that will, if you keep this up, make you truly suicidal.
The solution, if you want to call it that, is to not ruminate. By reveling in these dark thoughts, and feeling satisfaction at becoming "le ascended misunderstood genius man", you artificially limit your brain from reaching its full potential. Try to focus less on how people around you are inferior, and more on finding ways to tolerate and even appreciate their company - they may not be able to teach you new approaches to scholarship, but the ability to fully enjoy leisure pursuits can be just as important.
Finally, consider meditation. Disregard all hippy religious bullshit, seek objective information on the practice of mindfulness and training your mind to be aware of its thought patterns instead of encouraging negative ones. This is no liberal arts meme - sustained practice will allow you to better focus on your studies, and will precipitate structural healing of your atrophied, special-tormented-snowflake brain.
> Cortisol is the sole cause of not being a normie
No.
> Your brain cannot be repaired once it has 'shrunk'
No. Most new depression research is about restoring neurogenesis in the hippocampus. Studies on alcoholics have shown that lost brain mass can be restored.
Nothing else in the op is even worth addressing, it's baseless opinion.
>>7699609
>I just had to put in the hours, IQ or whatever the fuck had nothing to do with it.
not true
just by your thought processes I can tell you're above average IQ
there's fuck tonne of people out there that can't form the trains of thought and observation that you exhibit there
you can't make a dumb ass learn shit, it's just impossible, they don't have the motivation or inclination, they aren't attracted by ever increasing complexity
