Swirl is a metaphor that describes an existential mood state; a common and deeply unpleasant experience that borders on despair and anguish.
Being in this state, emotional paralysis takes over. There is loss of voice, agency and will. In this state there is a feeling of being diminished, and life seems pointless. Self talk says: " I am bad and I am in this state because I am unlovable.
What is unique about the Swirl is that it denotes a range of distressful experiences that co-exist and relate to an internal physical, emotional and mental space which however might have measurable coordinates.
This blog is an attempt to understand and explore the origins dimensions and effects of the Swirl
Swirl is like a black hole, in the sense of the fall into a swirl or being sucked into a swirl. And the experience of being overwhelmed by something stronger than oneself. One of the features to explore is whether the Swirl effect comes from a combination of influences from inside and outside. How much from each?
The Swirl is different from other emotional states because it brings together descriptors like panic, anxiety and fear and places them in a three dimensional space eg sucked into a swirl as into a whirlpool.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is a swirl?
Grammar interesting. Refers to process and product. Experience of being caught up in......................and by..................and it names a power or energy that is destructive. This energy is both external and internal, has both internal and external manifestations. External crisis, social upheaval-internal crisis, internal upheaval. Macrocosm and microcosm. Links between them.
Swirl is reminiscent of the super ego, critical voice, internal saboteur.
In relation to such energy swirl is like a parasite, both on the inside and outside.
2 different get outs or phenomena. One is the parasite that has to be exorcised, gotten rid of.
The other is being sucked into a swirl which has to be escaped from.
2 different phenomena but the effects are the same. Are they?
Swirl reduces the functioning person into a cripple, and as such agency is absent.
What are its effects?
Reduce agency
Produce paralysis
Diminishment
Loss of voice
Fear, anxiety, panic.
Disorientation
Choice impossible
Hopelessness
Despair
Having a swirl experience feels too real and frightening to be thought of as a construct that is subject to the capacity for change. There is nightmarish terror, and paralysis and victimhood, which, though made up of self generated imagery, have an immediacy and reality that transcends current 'reality'. So it all seems too real and invasive and resistant to change because of the strength or power of the imagery.
We are saying it is everyone’s experience, this hell, and mostly it passes, as does a nightmare, but sometimes the effect of the swirl is lasting, and we feel anxious and depressed, with an underlying unease which can spoil our lives.
Shame and diminishment.
Being looked at critically and sense of deficiency. The other looms large.
The wish to hide from the critical eye and I.
Child playing hidie, re the one hiding. They are silent and waiting to be discovered. Like a hidden need to be loved and recognised, which is waiting to be discovered.
At a critical point in the spectrum, feeling embarrassed or ashamed turns into being shamed or humiliated. Internally generated shame turns into shaming -- something done to us that violates our sense of 'the fair-go' and not unnaturally we tend to react against this.
Diminishment.
Anything to avoid it. No protective shield. Alice in Wonderland. Everybody else is large whereas the victim is small and helpless.
Bereft of authority.
Classic victim position
Bereft of any adult functioning
The swirl is in charge, and wants no challenge, so talking about it is hard, as is trying to look at it, but putting what it feels like into words brings it into focus. Being in focus might bring other hidden things forward, and further upset inner equilibrium. The upset may be worth it, or may be just too hard, and the person might withdraw into a defensive shell and wait to be saved by someone or something magical.
Reclaiming agency.
Sacrifice. Sacrificial victim. Parent sacrifices child for whatever reason(s)-external child.
Adult who enters swirl continues sacrifice by repetition as a result of self destructive behaviour.
Swirl as a cage.
Swirl self created, and if it feels like a cage then we have made the bars. We have constructed this, partly as a container and a protected place to hide in away from the challenges from the world outside.
Swirl as retreat? If so it provides false protection.
Being in this state, emotional paralysis takes over. There is loss of voice, agency and will. In this state there is a feeling of being diminished, and life seems pointless. Self talk says: " I am bad and I am in this state because I am unlovable.
What is unique about the Swirl is that it denotes a range of distressful experiences that co-exist and relate to an internal physical, emotional and mental space which however might have measurable coordinates.
This blog is an attempt to understand and explore the origins dimensions and effects of the Swirl
Swirl is like a black hole, in the sense of the fall into a swirl or being sucked into a swirl. And the experience of being overwhelmed by something stronger than oneself. One of the features to explore is whether the Swirl effect comes from a combination of influences from inside and outside. How much from each?
The Swirl is different from other emotional states because it brings together descriptors like panic, anxiety and fear and places them in a three dimensional space eg sucked into a swirl as into a whirlpool.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is a swirl?
Grammar interesting. Refers to process and product. Experience of being caught up in......................and by..................and it names a power or energy that is destructive. This energy is both external and internal, has both internal and external manifestations. External crisis, social upheaval-internal crisis, internal upheaval. Macrocosm and microcosm. Links between them.
Swirl is reminiscent of the super ego, critical voice, internal saboteur.
In relation to such energy swirl is like a parasite, both on the inside and outside.
2 different get outs or phenomena. One is the parasite that has to be exorcised, gotten rid of.
The other is being sucked into a swirl which has to be escaped from.
2 different phenomena but the effects are the same. Are they?
Swirl reduces the functioning person into a cripple, and as such agency is absent.
What are its effects?
Reduce agency
Produce paralysis
Diminishment
Loss of voice
Fear, anxiety, panic.
Disorientation
Choice impossible
Hopelessness
Despair
Having a swirl experience feels too real and frightening to be thought of as a construct that is subject to the capacity for change. There is nightmarish terror, and paralysis and victimhood, which, though made up of self generated imagery, have an immediacy and reality that transcends current 'reality'. So it all seems too real and invasive and resistant to change because of the strength or power of the imagery.
We are saying it is everyone’s experience, this hell, and mostly it passes, as does a nightmare, but sometimes the effect of the swirl is lasting, and we feel anxious and depressed, with an underlying unease which can spoil our lives.
Shame and diminishment.
Being looked at critically and sense of deficiency. The other looms large.
The wish to hide from the critical eye and I.
Child playing hidie, re the one hiding. They are silent and waiting to be discovered. Like a hidden need to be loved and recognised, which is waiting to be discovered.
At a critical point in the spectrum, feeling embarrassed or ashamed turns into being shamed or humiliated. Internally generated shame turns into shaming -- something done to us that violates our sense of 'the fair-go' and not unnaturally we tend to react against this.
These reactions include:
Attacking others (being 'defensive' is just another form of this);
Attacking (or blaming) ourselves;
Hiding from others;
or hiding from ourselves.
This compass of shame-avoidant responses also reflects four major social crises: aggression, depression, isolation, and addiction -- suggesting that the roots of much violence and abuse, suicide and self harm, social and ecological apathy and a wide range of addictive behaviours have a common root in unacknowledged shame.
We often use other feelings to avoid feeling shame. Indeed most of what we feel is more about the other feelings that come with or are associated with shame. Feelings of anxiety/fear, sorrow/distress, irritation/anger, and disgust/loathing are often masks for underlying shame.
They have very different body language and allow us to avoid feeling and showing what our shame might actually feel like. Consider how we use the word 'sorry' to express remorse or apology. The underlying feeling is often 'shame' or 'embarrassment' but saying 'sorry' rather than 'I am ashamed' expresses 'sorrow' or 'sadness' -- verbally and visually -- and it stimulates sadness (rather than acknowledged shame) in the other person.
Diminishment.
Anything to avoid it. No protective shield. Alice in Wonderland. Everybody else is large whereas the victim is small and helpless.
Bereft of authority.
Classic victim position
Bereft of any adult functioning
The swirl is in charge, and wants no challenge, so talking about it is hard, as is trying to look at it, but putting what it feels like into words brings it into focus. Being in focus might bring other hidden things forward, and further upset inner equilibrium. The upset may be worth it, or may be just too hard, and the person might withdraw into a defensive shell and wait to be saved by someone or something magical.
How to unpack a swirl? Look at the co ordinates; the feelings and thoughts that go with it. Stand back and describe the felt experience of being hemmed in, strangled, sucked in, with no escape. We may reduce the intensity of an existential mood state or swirl by looking at it, bringing it into focus, and facing the possibility that it’s a kind of addiction, a state of mind that comes back again and again, so is familiar and therefore in a strange way comforting as well as awful.
”Coordinates: intensity DSM symptoms are all coordinates. eg been depressed for ? months or an attribution to a feeling, rather than the feeling itself. Need to do an audit of the feelings and the thoughts - how big/small how long? Pain: locating it on a scale of 1 to 10 can ease it, because the pain is being observed in a mindful way. If you tense up, it’s worse; if you can relax, it eases. So, looking at emotional pain involves a fight, but the fighting makes it worse. Maybe there has to be some engagement/attachment for the fight to become something productive instead.
Reclaiming agency.
Sacrifice. Sacrificial victim. Parent sacrifices child for whatever reason(s)-external child.
Adult who enters swirl continues sacrifice by repetition as a result of self destructive behaviour.
Swirl as a cage.
Swirl self created, and if it feels like a cage then we have made the bars. We have constructed this, partly as a container and a protected place to hide in away from the challenges from the world outside.
Swirl as retreat? If so it provides false protection.
Comments
Post a Comment