Tolkien was heavily expired by European mythology as well as ancient epics such as Beowulf. LOTR was part of his attempt to create a mythology for Britain, because he thought such a thing was lacking. Lord of the rings has a mythic quality and poetic prose. I have never read another series that feels quite the same. I think it a revered series not just because it was the first, but because it is one of the best. Admittedly it has been a long time since I have read it though.

As far as I know all studies (certainly most studies) that have found antidepressants as “effective treatments” for depression are much shorter than the durations for which antidepressants are typically prescribed. Most studies last a few months at most. The evidence for long term effectiveness is lacking, however, there is certainly evidence of long term harm.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21459521/

Unfortunately there is insufficient data on long term outcomes because such studies would be expensive to conduct and the results of such studies would almost certainly be harmful to the extremely lucrative sales of antidepressants.

My interest in stoicism comes from personal experience. I suffered a neurological injury ten years ago as a young man. As a result I have lost everything (although according to a stoic I have lost nothing). I lost my health, my agency, my independence, my career, my love life, my sex life, my hobbies, my friends, my social status, even my identity. I live in excruciating agony every day, my whole body feels like it is on fire, I have constant migraines, I spend half my time lying in the dark hiding from light and sounds because they are like knives being driven into my eyes and ears respectively. I have severe insomnia and it is not uncommon for me to be awake for three days straight. My eyes, hurt my vision is blurry, everything hurts. My body is failing and malfunctioning in so many ways I would have to write a small book to list them all. I cannot function, I cannot take care of myself, most of the time I can barely read, I can barely follow a tv show, I have not felt human touch in a decade, my life is comprised of (almost) nothing but illness and loss.

I became very interested in stoicism a few years into my injury. I wanted to believe that it was possible to live a eudaemonic life even though I had lost so much. I was passionate about the philosophy and tried to incorporate it as a worldview, every time I found myself feeling sorry for myself or pining for the things I lost and the things of which I was deprived I would stop myself and attempt to focus on virtue. For a while this helped, my outlook on life improved somewhat. But eventually I realized I wasn’t a stoic at all! I was tricking myself! I was focused on virtue for instrumental reasons, not because I truly believed it had intrinsic value. Part of me thought that maybe if I changed my attitude, that I would be able to heal, maybe my health would return, maybe I would be able to work again, to date girls again! However, this was not to be, the illness remained, the pain remained, and it soon became clear that virtue is small comfort to a man starving to death.

I think stoicism would be a great philosophy for most peoples However I think the more a person needs it, the less possible it is to actually practice it. I prefer Aristotle’s conceptualization of virtue ethics, as he accepts that people have fundamental needs to be met before virtue is actually possible.

I wish books could solve my problem.. I guess in theory the enchiridion of Epictetus has the solution, but is it actually possible in practice? According to Epictetus you could chop off all of someone’s limbs, gouge out their eyes, cut out their tongue and you would have taken nothing from that person. They should be able to be perfectly content living a virtuous, tongueless, eyeless, limbless life. Stoicism is a nice idea I suppose, and something to strive for, but not something that is actually possible for a human being facing extreme hardship.

Next time you meet a limbless, tongueless, eyeless person who happens to feel bad about their lot in life, I do not think you should recommend they read Epictetus in order to solve their problems. I think they would be quite offended lol.

An animals first store of energy is glycogen, it’s second is fat and it’s third is babies

Also mates are generally much more scarce than food (especially for non-carnivores). If a mouse was to pass at a chance to mate in order to eat who knows when it would have a chance to mate again, but if a mouse were to pass at a chance to eat in order to mate it is very likely that it would be able to find some food soon after.

Apparently some people really like the p&v translations. They are supposed to be a very faithful and direct translation from Russian. However, I think this results in a text that reads very unnaturally in English. Constance Garnett on the other hand is criticized by some for taking too many liberties with the text. I prefer her method though because it reads so naturally and feels like it was written in English in the first place.

I think crime and punishment is very readable and feels surprisingly modern, although it depends on the translation. I find the Constance Garnett translation very readable but not the p&v translation.

Sounds rough, I feel for you. I hope your therapist is of help. If you ever need advice with regards to the ocd, feel free to message me. There are also some knowledgeable people at the r/ocd who might be able to offer advice and support if you find yourself in need of it.

Ya it can be very insidious and have major impacts on our thinking and behaviour without us even realizing it. It also tends to be fairly Comorbid with tic disorders.

Ok no worries. Even if she doesn’t specialize in that she can maybe help you with other things. I hope she does.

How educated are you about ocd and exposure and response prevention (ERP)? The first step towards breaking the cycle is having a good understanding of it and knowing what to do (and what not to do) to get better. I’m sorry if I am giving too much advice and feel free to disregard, but I know firsthand that persistent application of ERP principles can make an enormous difference in ocd symptoms. It can get better! ERP is the only evidence based treatment for OCD and if applied consistently is virtually guaranteed to reduce the severity of the condition. I would recommend doing some reading on it if it is not already something you are well versed in.

I can’t really read anymore either, due to brain fog/fatigue in my case. I also struggle with ocd, though it does not impact my reading directly. Is the therapist you are seeing an ocd specialist who practices ERP? Most therapists do not understand ocd very well and are usually little help and sometimes make it worse. Someone who specializes in OCD and who practices ERP is essential if OCD is one of your major issues.

Hey it’s hard to give advice without knowing more details about how exactly reading triggers you. But the sentence “I’m not even sure if my inner voice is there reading along” sounds like possible ocd to me? If so, recovering from ocd always comes down to resisting compulsions. You need to identify the compulsive urges you have while reading, and resist! (For example checking to see whether or not your inner voice is present could be a compulsion) It may be anxiety provoking, it may be uncomfortable, it may ruin reading for you (in the short term) but in the long term it is the only way you can overcome this. And if I am mistaken and this is not ocd related then I apologize, it is quite difficult to give advice based on the limited info you have provided. But I am sorry to hear you are struggling and I hope you can overcome this.

Op asks reasonable and specific questions: gets downvoted.

Commenter makes vague, dismissive statements and refuses to give examples to clarify what they are talking about: gets upvoted