Psychiatrist reacts to: 'I have too much self-awareness'

Dr. K goes over a reddit post about being self aware at all times can be a leading problem to things like depression in people. He also goes over examples of how this is the case and how some treatments for this work to tackle an overly active sense of self awareness.

▼ Timestamps ▼
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00:00 - Reddit Reaction
00:34 - Default Mode Network Explained
01:28 - Deer Example
02:24 - Over Active Default Mode Network
04:11 - Overview of Why Self-Awareness if the Problem
04:33 - Novel Treatments for Depression

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[AndreasFroehliPoker]

This can be a blessing and a curse, there's a thin line between being highly reflective and constantly worrying

[invisibleworlds]

being overly self aware -> reflecting on yourself all the time -> reflecting on your reflection -> thinking you're selfish because you always think about yourself

[MrMegaManFan]

This actually explains why I used to binge drink. I was so sick of my brain constantly being self aware that I would do anything to shut it down, even at great risk to my own health. I wasn’t addicted to the alcohol, I was addicted to the euphoria I felt when I could talk to people in social situations and not constantly think about how it sounded. Fear, gone. Anxiety, gone. I had to relearn how to function socially without that crutch and it’s STILL a challenge.

[Fredreegz]

Honestly, my self awareness is even more than this. It’s not just “am I a loser?” but it’s more “are these thoughts that I’m having genuine, or are they motivated by toxic unknown subconscious biases I haven’t even identified yet? How do I know any of my thoughts (like this one right now) isn’t also compromised in the same way? How do I know whether my memories also haven’t been distorted?”

[Intrafacial]

“Do you have an internal monologue?”

“Bruh, I have an internal _dialogue_ with _director’s commentary.”_

[sincerelydhruv]

So self awareness has basically made me less authentic in front of other people because I was too busy reflecting instead of reacting.

[ihaveaplan.ijustneedmoney.]

I have come to the point where I listened to this and was able to relate to it, but my brain says "you just think that to feel special, you don't have depression, you just want an excuse for your incompetence"

[ITmn]

I remember really digging into a non-self aware person for the first time and being totally mind blown. Like youre not constantly thinking?? all the time?? its such a weird thing to think about. people really just be living in the moment. i do not have the ability to do that. at all.

[methylatedlysine]

When you dedicate your life to knowing your entire life story well instead of actually living it

[christiner]

The irony of this hyper self-awareness is you can never truly see yourself as others see you so you can't really know if they think you're "ugly" or "stupid". However, because you think they do you react to that idea and can end up looking standoffish, which can repel them, which confirms your insecurities. I think I just got flushed down a rabbit hole of self-awareness.

[eskurian]

I've recently finally been working on a similar problem. I could never get a health care professional, because they would all say "you're articulating your problem very well and the steps you want to take, you're doing fine". The first part is true. I massively overcompensated my lack of social development in my teens into becoming very empathatic, but in a way that I am very good at analyzing emotions but quite bad at actually feeling and handling them.
I hope health care pros take a good lesson from my story and this video: don't mistake competence with health.

[Snowfoxie]

Ah! My therapist told me the same thing! I’d started dating a guy after being single for a long time. When I told my therapist I was expecting her to tell me to be cautious but she was just excited for me. When I told her I’d been expecting a reality check, she started laughing and said “you give yourself enough reality checks for the both of us. If anything you are too self aware and too in your head. Remember we talked about challenging that overthinking?”

[NoctecPaladin]

So we evolved to get self awareness, then kept evolving until we got depression, so we evolved to get disassociation to combat depression.
That's a hell of a perk tree

[ellap]

"If a deer looks around for food in ten places and doesn't find food, the deer doesn't start to feel like an idiot because it hasn't been able to find food." IDK why but this got me cracking up. I felt called out I guess LMAO

[Knaeben]

There's a difference between being self-aware and being overburdened with self-consciousness.

[Mary-TT]

this is good to hear. i remember being 12 years old and praying as hard as i could to be able to have "my own thoughts" because it felt like every emotion i experienced was fabricated, steeped in layers and layers of self-reflection. now i can ask my therapist what i can do about it. thank you, this is a game changer.

[GrimFemme]

so THAT is what that is called. it literally feels like i live in my head with how much i'm constantly self-analyzing. my world doesn't exist that much outside of my brain and my body.

[dominic]

the worst part of being overly self aware is the infinite spiral of having realized your thoughts are irrational and feeling guilty for having them. Which just leads to a whole new layer of low self esteem that feels hard to escape from

[amazinggrapes]

This also explains why self-centered and closed-minded people seem to be so much happier. Incapable of asking questions, incapable of being disturbed by the possible answers.

[fruitgummi]

I used to be horribly aware and recently I just kind of realized I'm just a person. I can make mistakes and that's okay, and I can just as easily grow from it. Allowing myself to be morally gray and not live up to the impossible expectations of being a "perfectly good person" or "mary sue" has helped me a lot. That doesn't mean I don't have my morals or values (I have many strong values I hold and try to live by in my life)- but if I do something a bit silly goofy, I can take a step back and know that at the end of the day I'm only human too. Allowing myself to make mistakes helps me grow in the best way, and embarrassment doesn't last forever.