The author himself acknowledged this book was “ loosely based on his experiences “…. Take that as you will

So —this is based on the theory that emotions are names for body states. Ie it’s not I am thinking about a test and feel anxious and then I get nauseous. Instead how emotions work is basically brain which already knows about the test is sending out various chemicals that are increasing your heart rate, increasing gut motility etc—and as a very small child you learn to name that feeling as fear. Your body is sending out chemical signals etc before you KNOW you are scared.

So you ought to learn “ everything in the gut is going at a normal rate, no changes in blood flow or digestion”= a peaceful state, contentment etc

Same with cardiovascular responses: your heart , diaphragm, lungs etc responds to things and you learn to name the response in some way—sadness, excitement etc.

Depending on your brain chemistry and your upbringing your name for the response may or may not be congruent with what is really happening in your life. For example I had an abusive childhood and was afraid a LOT. I learned that it’s “fear” and “bad things are going to happen” if my heart rate increased, stomach motility increased etc.Now when I am excited about something like a vacation, I will initially name the sensations in my body as “fear”—-sometimes to the point of wanting to cancel the thing I am excited about. I had. To do a lot of body centered therapy to rewire my names for my body’s responses and I had grown up in a dangerous environment so I tended to interpret any kind of arousal as a negative emotion.

It sounds like they are saying that people who ruminate negatively a lot have become insensitive to their bodies messages. So even though their stomachs are calm, heart beating normal, all the things that say things are ok in the world—-they cognitively are still feeling life is going badly. They aren’t receiving the messages from their body saying everything is actually pretty ok right now

Of course it’s really pretty complicated but if you struggle with anxiety or negative emotions interoception is very interesting to read about.

Was in a similar boat. Have you tried meditation? That did wonders for me. Now when the thought starts to come up I can take a breath, hit pause in my brain, try to understand what in my life might be triggering the thought , and then let the thought go without dwelling on it. Turn my mind to doing something about the current situation that might be triggering the thoughts. I know it is a trite suggestion but it really did work for me. I almost never think about suicide beyond the automatic “maybe I should kill my self “ thought. No rumination or anything

Unlikely. Maybe if you call your therapist repeatedly at 3 am threatening to do it but not just talking about it. Suicidal ideation is much more common than people think and is not the same as being actively suicidal. A decent therapist usually knows the difference. I have had suicidal ideation for YEARS ….AND I have easy access to a very definitive method of suicide….and I’ve been in therapy for years and talk about it openly. The only time I was ever kept against my will was when I basically set everything up for the suicide,then got scared bc I wasn’t 100% sure I wanted to die but I was 100% sure I would be dead in a few hours if someone didn’t do something. I told someone who drove me to the ER. Even at the ER if I had the chance to change my mind ( not sure what would have happened then) but didn’t bc I knew if I went home I would kill myself that night. I did get stuck there for a few days which were largely useless but got me through the impulse to die safely. It did cost though I am lucky to have insurance. But It’s not as if the moment you mention suicide you are involuntarily committed, at least not in any of the US states I have lived in