Very Low Emotional Permanence? How to remedy?

[Dark.Green.Feathers]

Positive influences in my life feel so fleeting emotionally, but I still get the benefits of them. The positive feeling fades very early and I go back to feeling nothing or something generally unpositive.
It feels like my accomplishments today have never happened, they have probably improved my confidence in some amount but emotionally I don’t feel anything about it anymore.

But at the same time, when I have a good day or two, or less bad day or two, I feel like it has been going alright for a long time, even if just a day or two before I was struggling a lot and very upset. A couple of alright days often feel like a week in my mind. But something genuinely good happening does not last long.

How do I get a clearer view of what is really happening? And how do I not lose emotions so quickly.

 

[Friday]

There are a whooooole lotta different methods... but one that's very effective with both PTSD & Depression is working with cognitive distortions.

Primary cognitive distortions (negative thinking styles)

Cognitive distortion forms the backbone of PTSD. Whether you know it or not, all moods and behavioral patterns originate from your cognitions-- your thoughts. The first thing that happens is a thought, and then a mood or behavior occurs. When you allow an area of your life to become dominated...

www.myptsd.com

 

[arfie]

journaling is my number one tool for this job.
sharing within my therapy support network is my number two tool.

 

[Dark.Green.Feathers]

journaling is my number one tool for this job.
sharing within my therapy support network is my number two tool.

Thank you, I’ll try journaling

 

[Dark.Green.Feathers]

There are a whooooole lotta different methods... but one that's very effective with both PTSD & Depression is working with cognitive distortions.

Primary cognitive distortions (negative thinking styles)

Cognitive distortion forms the backbone of PTSD. Whether you know it or not, all moods and behavioral patterns originate from your cognitions-- your thoughts. The first thing that happens is a thought, and then a mood or behavior occurs. When you allow an area of your life to become dominated...

www.myptsd.com

This is helpful. Thank you

 

[BrentFlaherty]

There are a whooooole lotta different methods... but one that's very effective with both PTSD & Depression is working with cognitive distortions.

Primary cognitive distortions (negative thinking styles)

Cognitive distortion forms the backbone of PTSD. Whether you know it or not, all moods and behavioral patterns originate from your cognitions-- your thoughts. The first thing that happens is a thought, and then a mood or behavior occurs. When you allow an area of your life to become dominated...

www.myptsd.com

Thanks for the link, you made my day <3

 

[DarrellAdams]

Positive influences in my life feel so fleeting emotionally, but I still get the benefits of them. The positive feeling fades very early and I go back to feeling nothing or something generally unpositive.
It feels like my accomplishments today have never happened, they have probably improved my confidence in some amount but emotionally I don’t feel anything about it anymore.

But at the same time, when I have a good day or two, or less bad day or two, I feel like it has been going alright for a long time, even if just a day or two before I was struggling a lot and very upset. A couple of alright days often feel like a week in my mind. But something genuinely good happening does not last long.

How do I get a clearer view of what is really happening? And how do I not lose emotions so quickly.

All good now?

 

[Dark.Green.Feathers]

All good now?

No, but I am trying.
Why do you ask?

 

[Weemie]

The positive feeling fades very early and I go back to feeling nothing or something generally unpositive.

There is something known as the hedonic treadmill which contributes to this, as well as studies which show negative emotions have a more prolonged impact and can usurp positive ones.

The hedonic treadmill is basically that our 'standard' is essentially neutral and no matter how happy we get we will go back to baseline where things will start bothering us again.

This is based on how the brain actually works which is to seek out novel stimulus. The only real remedy to this is to adjust your standards of happiness to be more in line with contentment and peace (which aren't emotional).

And to also prioritize momentary positive feelings and to seek those out rather than to expect a permanent shift. The permanent shift will be based on peace and contentment rather than time limited emotional bursts of happiness.

 

[Dark.Green.Feathers]

There is something known as the hedonic treadmill which contributes to this, as well as studies which show negative emotions have a more prolonged impact and can usurp positive ones.

The hedonic treadmill is basically that our 'standard' is essentially neutral and no matter how happy we get we will go back to baseline where things will start bothering us again.

This is based on how the brain actually works which is to seek out novel stimulus. The only real remedy to this is to adjust your standards of happiness to be more in line with contentment and peace (which aren't emotional).

And to also prioritize momentary positive feelings and to seek those out rather than to expect a permanent shift. The permanent shift will be based on peace and contentment rather than time limited emotional bursts of happiness.

This is very helpful, my standards of everything emotionally are skewed all over the place since the abuse. I'm closer to understanding/noticing when I'm content but it doesn't feel like enough. Then I fall into feeling inadequate and ungrateful for not feeling happy. This knowledge that I'm not supposed to be happy by default, just not suffering a lot is much easier standard for myself. Thank you.
This is new so I have a lot to adjust. I think my definition of contentment needs to be improved. I still lean towards the version of "contentment" I felt during the relationship. Which isn't contentment or peace, more so tolerance, I think.

I think a lot of my anhedonia comes from thinking I'm doing it "wrong". Being in a better situation and how I feel about it.