WIL Weekly 5-Point Review #12
Trauma doesn't exist, T-Boosting sap, appetite reducing nootropic and more
This is my free weekly newsletter covering 5 interesting points from the week. Subscribe if you’d like to get it in your inbox each week!
1. Trauma doesn’t exist? Adlerian Psychology
This week I met up with a friend at a cafe while he was visiting Japan. I thought we were going to talk mostly about meditation, but after he introduced me to Adlerian Psychology, we ended up talking about pretty much just that. The Japanese version of Fumitake Koga and Ichiro Kishimi’s Adler-inspired book The Courage to be Disliked was a hit here in Japan. For the longest time I thought ‘that sounds interesting’ but never bought it. I just finished listening to it on Saturday. It’s a great intro into Alfred Adler’s psychology. Great book, you should check it out but for now I’ll focus on just one aspect of it: in the book they say point-blank that trauma doesn’t exist.
I suspect this is partly a semantical issue because they acknowledge that certain life events will have an effect on people, how they perceive the world and how they perceive themselves in relation to others. However, they argue that the issue with the Freudian/Jungian approach to trauma is that it focuses on etiology rather than teleology.
◇Teleology is a reason or an explanation for present feelings or behavior in terms of what goal it is directed at in the future.
◇Etiology is the examination of what the “causes” of present feelings or behavior may be, given events in the past.
▲Freud, taking a etiological approach, would say ‘so and so has X trauma, thus he engages in Y behavior.’
▲Adler, taking a teleological approach, would say ‘so and so has Z goal, so he engages in Y behavior, and justifies it with X trauma.’
Some people may experience physical trauma to the body that prevents them from engaging in certain activities. You can’t be a boxer if you have no legs, no matter who you are. However, two people may have experienced very similar negative and impactful experiences, but whether it manifests as a hindering trauma or not depends on the person.
Freud would say ‘you had XYZ childhood experience, thus you are the way you are.’ It makes a lot of sense, but the only problem is it’s not useful to focus only on that. Kishimi equates it to a doctor telling you that 3 days ago, you were exposed to a virus and this is why your throat hurts, why your nose is running, and then that doctor sends you home with no solution to your problem.
The Adlerian perspective would instead be that some part of the brain of traumatized people has decided to use trauma to justify certain behaviors so they can achieve certain goals. That is, while their current situation may not be ideal … it is easier or more comfortable to maintain their current situation, and they justify maintaining their current situation by saying that they can’t change because they have trauma. (Whether they are conscious of this process or not is a different story.)
Kishimi gives the example of shut-ins in Japan. They may say because they have trauma (perhaps they were bullied or humiliated in the past), they can’t go outside. However, Kishimi argues that they don’t want to go outside and so they construct this conception of trauma to justify that goal. Why would anyone do that? Well, Kishimi says that often parents do not want to disturb their shut-in child too much as they are in a fragile state, so they are usually extra caring and very kind, walking on eggshells to avoid causing distress on their child while they work up the courage to go out into the world. This is how such a strange behavior like not leaving the room could have some benefit: it garners extra care and attention from their parents.
This all may sound like brutal blaming of the victim considering certain people have have been subjected to truly wretched abuse, neglect or malice. However, regardless of the severity of the traumatizing experience, Adler would say that the only solution is to employ the courage necessary to move towards their goals that will lead to their ideal life. While it may be incredibly difficult, the less they self-identify with their trauma, the less hindered they will be.
*If you speak Japanese, Nakata Atsuhiko gives a decent breakdown of the book.
2. T Compound I’m trying: Shilajit
Since 2007, a growing number of studies in support of its uses and health-related effects have been published. This 2017 textbook refers to it as a “revitalizer,” that promotes physical and mental energy, enhances physical performance, and relieves fatigue. It enhances spermatogenesis and increases testosterone.
In Ayurveda, Shilajit is employed for the management of male reproductive disorders, and in particular, under the parlance of Vrisya (an aphrodisiac with special reference to spermatogenesis) (Sharma, 1998).
A 2015 study found that it significantly increased total testosterone, free testosterone and even the precursor to testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEAS), compared with placebo.
Shilajit has many nutraceutical compounds in it with various functions. It’s even being considered as a pro-cognitive substance that may be helpful in ameliorating Alzheimer’s disease.
It should arrive at my house today so I’ll report back if it has noteworthy effects.
3. Reducing stress and appetite with L-Theanine
L-Theanine is a nootropic I’ve brought up more than once in the past that has the effect of slightly relaxing you in general, but notably ‘chilling out’ your caffeine buzz. Basically it makes you more relaxed without hampering focus, and many people report they get a more satisfying experience out of their coffee when paired with L-Theanine. It reduces jitters and mild anxiety associated with coffee. One thing I didn’t talk about is its potential as a mild appetite-suppressant.
You’re probably familiar with the concept of “stress eating,” which is a real phenomenon where craving for highly-palatable foods increases during times of stress. A 2017 paper in the journal Obesity found that higher cortisol and chronic stress were predictors of weight gain.
A 2019 randomized controlled trial found L-Theanine not only to improve cognitive performance but to decrease measures of stress-related symptoms. Even the Irish Veterinary Journal explored L-Theanine as an agent for reducing stress related behavior in cats. It only took 15 days to see a positive effect, but effects were better after 30 days.
While human research is limited, a 2004 paper in mice found investigating compounds in green tea found that at least caffeine and theanine confer a suppressive effect on body weight increase.
These results indicated that at least caffeine and theanine were responsible for the suppressive effect of green tea powder (GTP) on body weight increase and fat accumulation.
I find the effect of L-Theanine to be quite subtle but nonetheless effective. It’s nothing like say marijuana where you are undoubtedly more relaxed, but if I pay attention, I can notice that I am indeed say 10-15% more chill and slightly less bothered by food cravings.
4. Brute Force Melodies
A man and his friend created a program that ‘brute forced’ virtually all conceivable melodies. What this means is it just pumped out all thinkable variations of notes - ‘do-do-do-re, do-do-do-mi, do-do-do-fa…’ Within a few hours, the prototype made 3000 melodies and now they have 471 billion melodies. By writing those to disk, they become copyrighted and then they placed everything in the public domain to protect ‘you stole my melody’ lawsuit defendants.
teleology <3
Been taking 500mg of l-theanine since February, and found it drastically reduced my OCD, anxiety, & other benefits.