Your brain is here to keep you alive, not happy

I have often wondered why this massive glob of structured mush we call the brain often seems to want to ruin us instead of helping us be or stay happy. We can suffer from mental illnesses, such as depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, Alzheimers, and many other illnesses.

The brain is designed to keep you alive; it is not designed to keep you happy.

Surviving (with) the Brain

1. The amygdala is the brain’s fear and threat detection system, ensuring immediate survival by triggering the fight-or-flight response. When your fight-or-flight response is triggered, it will come at the cost of your happiness and well-being. As LeDoux (2002) discovered in his study, the point is to survive now, ask questions later, and the amygdala is the part of the brain that ensures you will survive at any cost.
2. The anterior cingulate cortex is a fascinating pain-processing center of the brain that drives behaviors to avoid harm and make decisions in uncertain situations. Avoiding harm includes procrastination and self-sabotage. When we see behavior as a threat, such as getting out of bed, cleaning, or writing that novel we’ve wanted to work on; our anterior cingulate cortex kicks in to start procrastinating – after all, why would we want to start or continue a behavior that is deemed harmful, right? Read more about the anterior cingulate cortex here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK537077/
3. Our basic needs are regulated by the hypothalamus, which regulates survival functions such as body temperature, stress responses, hunger, and thirst. The hypothalamus ensures the body maintains homeostasis so that the body stays alive.
4. Over generations, evolution wired the brain to pay more attention to negative stimuli than positive ones. “If not friend then why friend shaped?” reminds us of our default negativity bias! That is why when something bad happens anywhere in the world or to us, we remember it more and pay attention to it more than we generally do positive ones. Remembering bad things helps us avoid bad things from happening again… usually.

Happiness relies on rewards and bonding systems with our selves and to those around us. Stress or danger compromises the conditions on which bonding can occur. Our emotional well-being, while necessary for long term survival, does not keep us alive when we are in constant threat for our safety and our lives. Our brain is designed to mitigate and regulate the stress as much as possible, in order to keep the body alive.

It’s no wonder when we constantly live in “unprecedented times” that we feel overwhelmed with our own existence. Our brain is overloaded. So the next time you feel depressed, anxious, angry or upset, just remember: your brain is trying to keep you alive. Be kind to it and yourself, and cut yourself some slack.

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