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Identifying Core Beliefs


14 years ago 0 2 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
The question, "How Do You think your past has affected your present?" really caught my eye.  It is strange that I have started to identify my childhood traumas.  While talking to my counselor, I told him about hearing something in passing about self worth connected with who we are. We need the self worth taught from birth.  If there is nothing but criticism and abuse for most of your life, one tends to have a low value of their life and many times end up screwing their lives up.

So absolutely!  My past has made me what I am today.  But it still doesn't make me feel better.
14 years ago 0 71 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0

 
i didn't have a sad childhood, but I was always somewhat sad as a child, if that makes sense. I always took things more seriously than they deserved (still do), and was very introverted, though I struggled mightily to hide it (still do).
 
I remember at age 12 crouched at the top of a flight of stairs, trying to work up the nerve to throw myself down them, because anything that happened had to feel better than how I felt inside. This wasn't hormones - that was still a couple of years away.
 
But that was many, many, years ago. This recent episode/downslide seems to have begun two years ago. I went through a couple of months of cluster headaches. If you look them up on Google, you'll see they're also called suicide headaches. They recur daily, at approximately the same time (midnight, in my case),  last for about 20-30 minutes, and are the most painful thing I've ever experienced. Far worse than kidney stones, gallstones, or a broken wrist. Imagine a steel rod being driven through your eye and out the back of your head. Now heat it up. It's something like that. And they don't respond to painkillers. After about two months, they stopped. If they ever come back, I don't know what I'd do. They look like this:
 
 
 
Anyway, for me, that was about the time I started to fall into depression. Withdrew, gained weight, stopped enjoying anything. But I managed to pretend to the rest of the world.
 
Coming to this place, and seeking medical help, has made my life a little better. Still a ways to go, but I'm trying.
 
Jason, not sure if this in on topic or not. If not, I apologize.

14 years ago 0 223 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
This is a big, big, biggie!

This process involves really deep introspection and a deal of self-understanding. Am I alone in feeling that I can't identify the onset of my depression? It seems to have just happened as life has accumulated around me, and I am unable to link it to a particular event or chain of events.

Evidently, the ways I view life now and the things I feel I should expect have all been shaped by my own past experiences and the environment in which I grew up. Personally, I feel that my depression has grown out of the gradual realisation that I have achieved few of the things, spiritually, emotionally and materially, that I feel I should have. I am not talking about grand ambitions here - I'm not an ambitious man - but I'm 49 and did expect to have reached a certain level of comfort in every sense by now. But I still feel as unstable and ungrounded as when I was 17, with the added ingredients of bitterness, wistfulness and a perception of myself as an abject failure. And massive jealousy of my contemporaries, and my brother and sister, who have all come from a very similar environment to my own and appear to have effortlessly achieved all that I have not. So I endlessly ask myself - why me? What is wrong with me that I have squandered the chances life gave me??

Also, I feel I am not living up to my own moral standards, the standards I expect from other people without compromise.

I have looked back with my therapist, and my parents did not push me towards perfectionism or severe self-criticism. These seem to be qualities I have conceived for myself.
14 years ago 0 223 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Members,

Here are two tips that will help you better understand your assumptions and core beliefs:

Identify the events linked to the start of your sadness or depression:

Another important way to uncover your negative core beliefs is to think about what was going on in your life around the first time you were experienced a long period of sadness or depression. One thing you can look for is a match between what happened in that situation and what your specific assumptions and core beliefs are.

However, remember that no matter who you are, it’s important to look at both your needs in relationships and your needs for success & enjoyment in other parts of your life.

Examine your childhood experiences:

In general, the strongest core beliefs and assumptions develop earliest in life from interactions with parents and other caregivers. They also develop more from interactions with school peers and friends. Your history of adolescent and adult romantic relationships is also something you should consider because they could contribute to the development of some of your beliefs about yourself and others.

How do you think your past has affected your present?

 
Jason, Health Educator


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