Brain Injury

[Andwan]

Hey Erin, Steve wrote an interesting article yesterday, and in this article he mention that sometimes people have brain injuries which renders them emotionaly crippled.....What I want to know, is there a spiritual side to this? I read that these people are often angry, narcististic, and other negatives....If this is the case, their not free from their emotions, but are stuck in a negative emotonal state....What do you have to say about this????

[Andwan]

so noone is dealing with out of control emotions or know someone who has this condition, or at least know what I'm talking about?????

[emerge]

Andwan,

Not being an expert in this matter all I can give you is possibilities and/or my opinion.

While I have suffered a brain injury in the past and have recovered 95% of what I had lost I can only imagine the horror of what it would be like to be stuck feeling nothing but negative emotions or even have no control over your emotions.

With that being said there is always a spiritual side - to everything. As mere humans we are not often privey to such details. Some possibilities are as follows....

1) The soul/spirit of the indvidual might need to learn something by experiencing this condition.

2) The soul/spirit my have volunteered to experience this ordeal in order to teach something to one or more individuals.

3) To help advance scientific understanding of the human brain.

4) To motivate a certian individual(s) to persue learning alternative healing methods.

These are just the first things to pop into my mind. You just have to keep in mind that there are no accidents, everything happens for a reason. And because everything happens for a reason these brave souls deserve our respect and compassion.

If you look back in history people with mental illnesses were more often than not treated cruelly. They were often beaten and tortured with such sadistic brutality it would make most people today physically sick. But look at how things have changed. Our system today of treating the mentally ill may not be perfect but, it is much better than it once was.

Well, these are just my thoughts upon this matter. Hope they help.

[Andwan]

Its obvious that people post these questions, to some degree for personal reasons....I'm in a situation where for the past two years, all I've felt is rage...Before that, I was really depressed,but constantly being treated terribly by people turned that depression into rage....I cant take it...I know you said that this may be for the advanment of medicine, but it may be for teh advanment of the soul...The spirit and all its attributes(love,joy,peace), overcoming negative energy like hatred?????

[emerge]

Originally Posted by Andwan

I know you said that this may be for the advanment of medicine, but it may be for teh advanment of the soul...The spirit and all its attributes(love,joy,peace), overcoming negative energy like hatred?????

Remember my first reason was --1) The soul/spirit of the indvidual might need to learn something by experiencing this condition. -- That would be advancing the soul as you have said. There are dozens of possible reasons.

Andwan, by any chance have you heard the term Indigo Children? The vast amount of Indigo kids have been born between 1975 and 1995. Although there are Indigo kids born before and after that time frame. One of the things with the Indigos is that they are very sensitive people. They feel things very deepy. And if they have not been taught how to handle what they feel, depresson and rage are quite common. I know at least one author who claims the kids involved in the Columbine shootings were Indigo kids.

I really think you could benefit from doing a web search on Indigo Children. And even better if you could get your hands on a book called "The Care and Feeding of Indigo Children" by Doreen Virtue. Indigo children are very special and are here for important reasons.

Do you know what brought on the depression? You know what turned the depression into rage, but what brought on the depression. Depression has been called a withdrawl from life. Recoiling from some part of life that caused you pain or fear. It happens like a kinda fight or flight response. You don't know how to fight it, don't have the tools needed to cope with it, so you pulled back into a shell of sorts. Like you were trying to protect yourself. Other people saw that as a weakness and targeted you for cruelty. Preying upon the weak.

Now the rage takes over. Rage can make us do things we know are wrong but, we have to let it out sometimes or we will explode. Rage is way more powerful than anger and more dangerous. You know that and that is why you began this thread. You need a way to channel your rage and anger into something positive. I keep seeing you doing this with clay. You can hit clay, slap it, mold it, and do all sorts of things to it all while venting your rage upon it. (You can use clay, play doh, or do an internet search for homemade modelig clay and make your own.)

Once you have vented your rage till you only feel anger or something even less than that you can turn your attention back to what ever caused your depression in the first place and then find a way to fight that. You can find an organization or group that fights what ever caused the depression in the first place. If there are none you can start one, or write letters to people who might be able to change things. Write stories about it, channel your feelings into art of some kind, find your own unique way to express your feelings about what caused the depression in the first pace.

Part of why we feel rage and anger is because we feel helpless to change things. Doing something, doing anything will make you feel better and less angry and hopefully a lot less rage.

[Moriarty]

Originally Posted by Andwan

Its obvious that people post these questions, to some degree for personal reasons....I'm in a situation where for the past two years, all I've felt is rage...Before that, I was really depressed,but constantly being treated terribly by people turned that depression into rage....I cant take it...I know you said that this may be for the advanment of medicine, but it may be for teh advanment of the soul...The spirit and all its attributes(love,joy,peace), overcoming negative energy like hatred?????

Deal with the body first, then worry about the spiritual aspects.

[cmany]

Andwan...

There is also another aspect to take into account. When we have major depression, there are changes that take place in our brains...consider it a sort of re-wiring...this happens with depression, chronic illness...etc...

Part of being able to get over the depression is learning how to rewire your brain in a more positive way...learning to interrupt your thoughts and not allow where ever your negativity goes...this includes your rage...

So finding an outlet, like Emerge suggested would be really really good...helps distract your mind and you can use the energy to produce something for yourself that makes you feel good...

But learning to be aware of what you are thinking and feeling is very important. Recognizing that your thoughts and feelings are going in a negative direction - and then NOT allowing yourself to BUY into it...

Like saying, "OK, I feel like I want to smash a window"...recognize and acknowledge the thought...and then let it go...because you don't want to go there...and replace it with something positive...

Learning to rewire your brain into a more healthy pattern of thinking and responding and difficult and challenging...but can be done...you can also look into things like DBT therapy - which can help you find techniques for making these changes...

I myself learned to beat severe depression on my own, without meds or therapy...I have other issues that I needed help on...but the depression - that I got rid of 100% on my own...and it feels great...

And yes, there are lessons to learn in all of it...even if you simply need to learn that you CAN overcome any obstacle in your way - including yourself...

Christine