Mental health is a combination of gut bacteria and your brain muscle. If your gut bacteria is balanced, the muscle that is your brain will be toned and developed in a healthy manner. Mental illness is like trying to run a marathon in high heels. You may accomplish it, but it will be harder and extremely painful.
Can you imagine what your leg muscles would look like after training to run a marathon in high heels? That is what your brain muscle looks like when you are mentally ill. Your brain muscle is developed in a manner that makes using it in a healthy manner very difficult. Muscle memory gets you to walk on your tip toes because that’s what it’s used to. Which means mental illness is basically just a bad habit and an addiction. In order to be mentally healthy, you have to use your brain muscle appropriately. You have to train to be mentally healthy.
Personality disorders mean that you do not have a well developed personality or personal reality. Your frontal lobe is where your personality lives in your brain. The frontal lobe is responsible for higher cognitive functions such as memory, emotions, impulse control, problem solving, social interaction, and motor function.
Having a personality disorder means not having a well developed frontal lobe. And the frontal lobe is where things come together in your brain. If your brain is a wood shop, your frontal lobe is where the furniture is actually built. It’s where the magic happens. So, to correct a personality disorder you need to grow your frontal lobe. Which means creating a personality of your own and a personal reality.
People with personality disorders also have an enlarged striatum. This part of your brain is involved in motor control, reward, emotion, and decision-making. You know how people with personality disorders have a hard time regulating their emotions. This is the consequence and the cause. They don’t regulate their emotions and the striatum grows. Which makes it harder to regulate their emotions. It is a cause and effect of emotional dysregulation. The more emotionally unregulated you become, the harder it gets to regulate your emotions. Muscle memory goes into effect. When you train for a marathon in high heels you start walking on your toes even when you don’t think about it or have high heels on.
Another reason the striatum is enlarged is from looking forward to things. People with personality disorders rarely enjoy the moment. They have almost an inability to be present because they are always plotting, planning, and looking forward to things. They use these strategies to try to emotionally regulate. “I’m not happy right now. So, I will do this, this, and this in the future.”
Part of emotional regulation is learning and accepting that not all moments are pleasant or enjoyable. Being mentally healthy means being present in moments that are uncomfortable. You dont have to accept that life will always be uncomfortable. But you have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
When you accept something, you no longer have to run from it. Being present in uncomfortable moments is about acceptance and not spending your whole life running from uncomfortable things or situations. Because that running is what perpetuates the discomfort. Running from uncomfortable things is what is uncomfortable. When you accept what is, then you can move forward and change things. Rather than be stuck in a mental health spiral.
Also, having an enlarged striatum effects your dopamine levels. Because the striatum is your reward center. When you look forward to something you produce a large amount of dopamine. So, looking forward to things is a rush and makes everyone happy. But the kicker is when you actually get to that moment or event your brain does not produce as much dopamine. Looking forward to something creates more of a dopamine rush than actually experiencing the event or thing. This is how personality disorders get set up for disappointment. They look forward to things constantly, but are always disappointed when it happens. They seem impossible to please because they don’t know how to manage their neurotransmitters or expectations.
The only way to overcome this lack of dopamine from looking forward to things is by learning to be present in the moment. Being present in the moment can also produce a rush of neurotransmitters. But if you are constantly looking forward, rather than being in the moment, you will not get this rush of neurotransmitters. Constantly looking forward to things, but not knowing how to enjoy and be in the moment kills your joy. Because it is dysregulating your dopamine levels.
This is also where our c diff infections come into play. C. Diff dysregulates our dopamine and this causes addiction. Learning how to overcome personality disorders is about learning how to get high on life and regulate your neurotransmitters, especially dopamine.
There are countless cause and effect scenarios happening in everyone’s brain all the time. But people with personality disorders have not learned how to regulate these causes and effects. Your brain is a muscle. You just have to learn how to train it.