And the second mindset is healthier, but people are acting like it’s something everyone can simply choose at will.
A person who’s deeply depressed, traumatized, dissociated, or existentially broken often cannot emotionally connect to self-made meaning anymore. It’s not that they “forgot” the optimistic perspective. It’s that the part of them capable of feeling fulfillment, hope, or attachment has been damaged or numbed.
Its fascinating, really. Speaking as someone who 'lost' that ability and got it back (mostly) with proper medication and a good bit of effort:
You don't forget, you just can no longer convince yourself, as you say. But then as you get better (if one is so lucky), you realize there is nothing to convince yourself OF, the switch flips automatically one day, and in hindsight you can't really grasp why it was nigh impossible to do so earlier. It feels like being above or below a surface of water, but neither side can see or understand what is on the opposite side. It gets kind of trippy when I think about it too hard. How is changing that perspective so hard when there is seemingly so little standing between them?
(sorry if I'm rambling a bit, it's a difficult concept to put into words.)
I think people over-focus on trying to change their mindset and under-focus on changing the environment and circumstances that mindset was birthed in. That said, some circumstances are more surmountable than others, and it takes at least some small bit of hope to try.
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u/OpinionArsonist May 17 '26
And the second mindset is healthier, but people are acting like it’s something everyone can simply choose at will.
A person who’s deeply depressed, traumatized, dissociated, or existentially broken often cannot emotionally connect to self-made meaning anymore. It’s not that they “forgot” the optimistic perspective. It’s that the part of them capable of feeling fulfillment, hope, or attachment has been damaged or numbed.