DAE have daily cringe attacks like I do?

[Anonymous]

It is really not normal--and is in fact a symptom of several different potential diagnosable disorders--to be re-experiencing cringe thoughts about things that happened 35 years ago. You're probably correct that it's a plus for you from an evolutionary standpoint that you are not fleeing lions on the Serengeti, but that does not mean that whatever your brain does instead is good news.

You just don't have to live that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think of it another way, as a good thing.
To me the daily replay of something from 5 or 35 years ago just means that my brain isn’t fighting for survival and it’s using its excess processing capacity to clean up old files.

If I were facing disaster my brain wouldn’t bother showing me film from that time in HS when I unzipped in a bright room while everyone outside in the dark could see me.

Your basic needs are being met, your brain has room and bandwidth to repair corrupted file, it’s not a disorder that needs a name.

Hey, so.

I really felt giant relief at all the thoughts in this thread but this one resonated with me more ... when I'm faced with emergencies these things don't happen at all, but left alone with my thoughts they come back like ... "cleaning up old files" ... I don't think I'll forget that phrase

I'm somewhat glad to find out it's a little normal. Maybe like Ebenezer Scrooge getting re-introduced to all the stuff and regrets or other depictions of elderly people drifting back into their memories because they just have more of them and the time and space to entertain them.

Sometimes I also get reminded today in my mind that while things didn't seem wrong to me in the day, and I largely just kept going, now I look back and realize whether something was just a human mistake or if I really said something wrong. And I guess my mind just has the space to do that.

PP you replied to, when the cringe thoughts come on I acknowledged them and then direct my brain to something that really needs solving and most of the time that does it.

For the really stubborn ones I learned this amazing technique that completely overwrite the file and it will never come back again.

When you have your cringe thought think it through completely, then imagine the scene turns black and white but now it’s going to play in slow reverse, once you’ve gone back to the beginning of your memory you are going to fill the scene by adding cartoon characters, woody woodpecker, Bugs Bunny, Care Bears, whatever, now try and let the memory play out again but include your care bears and cartoon characters. The cringe memory loses all power, the file is over written and it will never bother you again.

Is this based in some psychological theory? I'm intrigued but would like to look it up to understand more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think of it another way, as a good thing.
To me the daily replay of something from 5 or 35 years ago just means that my brain isn’t fighting for survival and it’s using its excess processing capacity to clean up old files.

If I were facing disaster my brain wouldn’t bother showing me film from that time in HS when I unzipped in a bright room while everyone outside in the dark could see me.

Your basic needs are being met, your brain has room and bandwidth to repair corrupted file, it’s not a disorder that needs a name.

Hey, so.

I really felt giant relief at all the thoughts in this thread but this one resonated with me more ... when I'm faced with emergencies these things don't happen at all, but left alone with my thoughts they come back like ... "cleaning up old files" ... I don't think I'll forget that phrase

I'm somewhat glad to find out it's a little normal. Maybe like Ebenezer Scrooge getting re-introduced to all the stuff and regrets or other depictions of elderly people drifting back into their memories because they just have more of them and the time and space to entertain them.

Sometimes I also get reminded today in my mind that while things didn't seem wrong to me in the day, and I largely just kept going, now I look back and realize whether something was just a human mistake or if I really said something wrong. And I guess my mind just has the space to do that.

PP you replied to, when the cringe thoughts come on I acknowledged them and then direct my brain to something that really needs solving and most of the time that does it.

For the really stubborn ones I learned this amazing technique that completely overwrite the file and it will never come back again.

When you have your cringe thought think it through completely, then imagine the scene turns black and white but now it’s going to play in slow reverse, once you’ve gone back to the beginning of your memory you are going to fill the scene by adding cartoon characters, woody woodpecker, Bugs Bunny, Care Bears, whatever, now try and let the memory play out again but include your care bears and cartoon characters. The cringe memory loses all power, the file is over written and it will never bother you again.

Is this based in some psychological theory? I'm intrigued but would like to look it up to understand more.

Look for rewind technique NLP, they use it for trauma, I used it to process through betrayal but then I started applying it to the minor embarrassments that are presented to us from time to time and it blasts those away really well – for me anyway.

[Anonymous]

DAE?

[Anonymous]

Are there people who DON'T have this problem?

Like me, remembering that time in 2003 when I ruined a work surprise. They were passing around a card to sign and after I signed it, I unknowingly passed it to the person it was intended for. Oops. Someone had signed their name in huge letters on the top and I thought that was who it was TO. So thanks for that, Tim! Write smaller next time! And across the bottom!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DAE?

Does Anyone Else.

I just figured that out by my super duper self

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think of it another way, as a good thing.
To me the daily replay of something from 5 or 35 years ago just means that my brain isn’t fighting for survival and it’s using its excess processing capacity to clean up old files.

If I were facing disaster my brain wouldn’t bother showing me film from that time in HS when I unzipped in a bright room while everyone outside in the dark could see me.

Your basic needs are being met, your brain has room and bandwidth to repair corrupted file, it’s not a disorder that needs a name.

Hey, so.

I really felt giant relief at all the thoughts in this thread but this one resonated with me more ... when I'm faced with emergencies these things don't happen at all, but left alone with my thoughts they come back like ... "cleaning up old files" ... I don't think I'll forget that phrase

I'm somewhat glad to find out it's a little normal. Maybe like Ebenezer Scrooge getting re-introduced to all the stuff and regrets or other depictions of elderly people drifting back into their memories because they just have more of them and the time and space to entertain them.

Sometimes I also get reminded today in my mind that while things didn't seem wrong to me in the day, and I largely just kept going, now I look back and realize whether something was just a human mistake or if I really said something wrong. And I guess my mind just has the space to do that.

PP you replied to, when the cringe thoughts come on I acknowledged them and then direct my brain to something that really needs solving and most of the time that does it.

For the really stubborn ones I learned this amazing technique that completely overwrite the file and it will never come back again.

When you have your cringe thought think it through completely, then imagine the scene turns black and white but now it’s going to play in slow reverse, once you’ve gone back to the beginning of your memory you are going to fill the scene by adding cartoon characters, woody woodpecker, Bugs Bunny, Care Bears, whatever, now try and let the memory play out again but include your care bears and cartoon characters. The cringe memory loses all power, the file is over written and it will never bother you again.

Is this based in some psychological theory? I'm intrigued but would like to look it up to understand more.

Yeah I just tried it and I think it must take some practice. I even used woody woodpecker.

[Anonymous]

This can be easily treated with anti anxiety meds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This can be easily treated with anti anxiety meds.

Not OP but sometimes the side effects are undesirable. It would be so much better to have a trick. I love the suggestions so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's called anxiety. Are you a woman in perimenopause? It could be induced by hormonal fluctuations.

I've been an anxiety sufferer all my life, and the cringe attacks were particularly intense when I was a teenager. But now in perimenopause, my anxiety has come back again in the form of panic attacks and insomnia. It's bad. I tried anxiety meds and they made it worse, so I prioritize my sleep (which means sleeping in), go for daily walks, listen to calming music, employ self talk to reason myself out of the worst of it, etc...

Yes, I’m a very light-skinned Black woman. As a preteen/teen, I used to visibly blush if embarrassed. As soon as my face got hot, I’d get more embarrassed and turn red. Suddenly at 54, started doing it again. It’s hormones.