Endorphins: Pain & Pleasure

How Stuff Works

Read that article this morning and it inspired me to post some quick thoughts on the subject.

The lymbic system, hypothalamus, endorphins - my therapist is always bring out his app that shows the map of the brain to help me understand better why my mind often works the way it does. An enthralling article that shows a bit of why people have poor coping skills. Sex and self-harm can meet the exact same needs for people struggling with intense emotional pain. A lot has to do with the endorphins. And while I believe in miracles and that God can do ANYthing, that's not always how He works. We need to trust Him to help us through it His way and in His timing. And often that means reaching to others for help and finding healthy techniques to survive the pain.

You wonder why so many teen girls cut these days? I'd say a good 75% are suppressing emotions that our society shuns and mocks them for. Think about that next time you want to scoff at a girl for crying over a high school breakup. Do you remember the first time your heart broke? It Blows and young girls just don't know how to handle that new kind of intense pain. Ignoring them, or worse, mocking them for their pain. Telling them to suck it up or that they have no idea what "real" pain is. Pain is pain. It sucks and it hurts, to varying degrees for each individual - and dismissing someone's pain out of hand, instead of acknowledging that they hurt is incredibly unhealthy for both of you.

For many young girls in high school today, because they don't know how to handle emotional pain in a healthy manner...they turn to self-mutilation. It helps them survive and while endorphins may not be addictive, this habit conditions our minds. The subconscious understanding that physical pain is a way to keep the emotional pain at bay becomes a bad habit and our go to coping mechanism. And for many, emotional pain is incapacitating, which is unacceptable if you have a job or are in high school. Especially with the stigma towards mental illness in our society.

You don't want to see someone crying? Help them find a healthy outlet. Don't call them an attention whore and add to their pain. They will eventually stop reaching out and look for other solutions. People are crying out for help! Can't you hear it? They hurt. And the ones who aren't probably have scars(although perhaps not visible to the naked eye) somewhere that shows how they handle the pain. If you think you don't know someone like that, you don't know your friends and family as well as you should. They would rather just hide it from you than tell you the truth and be shunned as every person who does, is.

I'm so tired of hurting. And I'm even more tired of hiding that I do. Of hiding the scars, the bruises and the total anguish of each and every day. I can't keep doing this if I want to LIVE. And I do. Very much.