Sarah Constantin

@s_r_constantin

Math/ML/data-science person now working on solving aging. Founder, LRI and Daphnia Labs. Discourse goes here.

Joined February 2019

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  1. Retweeted
    Jan 31

    1/14 Why does E. coli clear from the blood faster than S. aureus? I've heard this repeatedly but never fully understood the difference. One answer helps explain why cirrhosis is a risk factor for infection and introduced me to a Trojan horse of the immune system. Read on!

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  2. Jan 31

    If the trauma hypothesis is true, we'd expect to see people *becoming less rational and more biased* frequently, especially after being treated badly by other people. If the cognitive bias hypothesis is true, we'd rarely see this.

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  3. Jan 31

    Under the trauma model, it's still possible that the "untriggered state" has a bunch of systematic biases; but if your goal is to be more reality-oriented, and you're currently in a "triggered state" a lot, your first job is to fix *that*.

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  4. Jan 31

    "unlearning motivated cognition, as in the rationalist model, is really hard but potentially attainable; however, the kind of work involved is not limited to self-discipline, but also involves a lot of self-compassion, as well as curiosity/experimentation."

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  5. Jan 31

    "you may have had it naturally as a child, or you may fall into it now and then by sheer luck. Most if not all motivated cognition is the effect of a specific mental motion that you might call "self-punishment" or "flinching", which you learn to do from being bullied.

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  6. Jan 31

    The trauma model of motivated cognition is more like "There is a "default healthy state" which is at least MUCH MORE reasonable and reality-oriented than the way most people are when they're driven by motivated cognition. This state doesn't necessarily take effort to reach;

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  7. Jan 31

    "so we are *by nature* prone to flinch from harsh truths and otherwise avoid reality. But maybe if you're extremely motivated and work very hard to resist cognitive temptations, you can overcome them."

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  8. Jan 31

    The book's model is an alternative to the traditional "rationalist" model a la 's Sequences. The theory of cognitive bias is "people are full of motivated cognition by default; evolution didn't build our brains to think clearly and accurately..."

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  9. Jan 31

    Attributing *causation* accurately means "the Nazis traumatized the parents, who then beat their children, which caused trauma in the children." It doesn't necessarily mean you can't have compassion for the parents.

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  10. Jan 31

    To clarify: blame is complicated, in this model. There are studies showing that Holocaust survivors are much more likely than the rest of the population to physically abuse their children. Obviously, the survivors aren't pure "unmoved movers" who are evil for no reason.

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  11. Jan 31

    Actual progress, says the book, means *gradually* getting triggered *less often*, and catching your triggered states earlier so they don't escalate as high or knock you out for as long.

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  12. Jan 31

    But then if you get triggered again, you're back to being the person you were before, so you'll conclude the epiphany was "fake." It wasn't -- you really were in a better, saner state temporarily. But it wasn't a "cure" either.

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  13. Jan 31

    Inside that mental state, you feel like "Gosh, I was so insecure before! I don't feel *any* need to do those dumb things any more, now that I realize that I'm a basically good person and I can actually look at the problems in my life as solvable! I'm cured!"

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  14. Jan 31

    The model in the CPTSD book also neatly explains how you can get so many "life-changing epiphanies" that don't stick. Going to a self-improvement workshop, or reading a good book or having a good conversation, can *put you in a non-triggered, well-resourced mental state.*

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  15. Jan 31

    (obviously, it’s much harder to tell if you haven’t observed the person yourself, which is why speculating about the motives of people you only know from the news is so unreliable.)

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  16. Jan 31

    I often ask myself the question “was that person doing a dumb thing just there, or was it actually the optimal move in a game of N-dimensional chess I don’t understand?” Well, if they have the speech patterns and body language of a triggered person, it’s probably a dumb thing.

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  17. Jan 31

    Once I had this model, I see “triggered” behavior EVERYWHERE. “Is this person being reactive/defensive/flinchy/avoidant/appeasing?” Well, often, yes! It makes me both more compassionate and more judgmental, if that makes sense.

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  18. Jan 31

    (Mistreatment “counts” as such even if it’s normal in your culture. There are probably many things we think are “normal” to do to children which are wrong and damage their minds.)

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  19. Jan 31

    The book’s approach is a.) notice flashbacks *early* when they’re *little* and apply self-compassion; b.) make time for working through grief and anger at how you were mistreated in the past. Cry and yell. Put the blame on the perpetrators, instead of on yourself or on innocents.

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  20. Jan 31

    If you switch between states like that, and states where you have overwhelming cravings to do things you know are dumb, the latter state is an emotional flashback. And “I’ll never have a flashback again, now that I know they’re Bad” is an unrealistic promise to make.

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