I’d be curious to know how many people suffering from depression have been diagnosed with NPD. Focusing too much on oneself - like the writer of this substack- is unhealthy. If it doesn’t drive you mad, at the very least you’ll end up depressed.
A normal standard level of happiness comes from thinking about other things and other people.
Obviously the brain is a physical organ, like the heart, lungs or eyes, brains can be “defective.” You can’t think your way out of schizophrenia. That said, the power of thought and meta cognition (and neuroplasticity) is underestimated far more than it’s overestimated.
bunson_burner•47m ago
I’m the author. I think the typical knee-jerk reaction would be to debate whether or not I have NPD (and I actually have thought about it) but I do agree that essentially too much introspection can be bad and that it’s critical to get out of your head and focus on the world around you. As much as I had a visceral reaction to the Marc Andreessen video that was going around, I have to admit I understood too well what he was talking about.
In my case, I believe it’s something a bit more than that — for instance, I feel DRASTICALLY different under, say, certain kinds of drugs, indicating that this might be a chemical thing, and I also have not felt this way until somewhat recently going off prescription medication.
This isn’t to say that I wouldn’t also benefit from essentially being forced to stop looking inward (i.e. have a job, get married, have kids, devote life to charity, etc.). But one of the issues I try to write about is that feeling the way I do makes even leaving the house a chore. It’s like having some kind of infection where the only antidote comes in the form of a 16 inch needle you have to plunge directly into your heart.
chiefalchemist•1h ago
A normal standard level of happiness comes from thinking about other things and other people.
Obviously the brain is a physical organ, like the heart, lungs or eyes, brains can be “defective.” You can’t think your way out of schizophrenia. That said, the power of thought and meta cognition (and neuroplasticity) is underestimated far more than it’s overestimated.
bunson_burner•47m ago
In my case, I believe it’s something a bit more than that — for instance, I feel DRASTICALLY different under, say, certain kinds of drugs, indicating that this might be a chemical thing, and I also have not felt this way until somewhat recently going off prescription medication.
This isn’t to say that I wouldn’t also benefit from essentially being forced to stop looking inward (i.e. have a job, get married, have kids, devote life to charity, etc.). But one of the issues I try to write about is that feeling the way I do makes even leaving the house a chore. It’s like having some kind of infection where the only antidote comes in the form of a 16 inch needle you have to plunge directly into your heart.