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The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

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Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#61

Post by spicybright »

willcipriano wrote: post #35

I had a weird tick as a kid where anytime someone said something to me I had to mentally adjust the length of the statement so the number of words was divisible by 5. So for example if you said "Are you going to school today?" I'd add "my good friend, Will" in my mind. It drove me nuts, but I was unable to stop. Then one day it just went away. Still have no idea what that was but it plagued most of my childhood. I re…

Have you considered writing children's books? :) /s

It's so interesting how many weird states our brains can get into like that.

Congrats on kicking the habit though!

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#62

Post by csteubs »

hawkesnest wrote: post #28

I heard/read a similar mental "hack" about folks who fear leaving things "on" when travelling. Take pictures with your phone of all the things just before you leave. They'd be easily available, verifiable evidence that the stove is off, all the doors are closed/locked, furnace set, water shut off, and so on.

FWIW, this is also great advice from an insurance point of view. I went on a 3 month trip and took pictures of all the appliances before leaving--mostly for peace of mind, but also because the building was fairly old and had a history of leaking pipes, faulty outlets, etc.

Sure enough, a month into the trip and my downstairs neighbor has his bathroom ceiling fall in due to a leaky drain pipe in my shower. I had photo proof that the water wasn't on or leaking and the building's insurance policy ended up renovating both of our bathrooms. Came back to a brand new rainfall shower and granite countertops.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#63

Post by stordoff »

teucris wrote: post #44

Having lived through OCD and come out the other side, I completely understand why the solution was considered bad. Sure, this solves the particular obsession. But the issue is that OCD is never satisfied. You develop rituals like this and they work for a while, giving your brain that little dopamine boost every time you look at the hairdryer in your car. But that dose diminishes over time, and soon taking the hairdry…

Also having OCD, I can see how this would be helpful though. You can fall into a stable position where you're doing enough to keep the OCD at bay (taking the hairdryer with you) without it being something that interferes with your life. I don't think it's an _ideal_ long-term solution, as the OCD can latch onto something else, but as a starting point for ERP (leaving the hairdryer at home on shorter trips) or if other solutions have been tried and failed, I can see it being useful.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#64

Post by TuringTest »

teucris wrote: post #47
sunshineforever wrote: post #6

The idea that the entire psychiatric community wouldn't be completely on the side of the author is one of the reasons that I have such little faith in their field. The reason being is that the underlying condition could always be worked on after first taking the small, practical steps to dramatically reduce the impact of the problem. I have personally experienced situations like this and it was so frustrating until I…

Except that the small steps that seem innocuous actually turn into dramatic problems in the case of OCD.

But if you dramatically improve the patient's life right now, it will probably be a lot easier to treat the underlying problem, without the added worries of stress and a failing career.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#65

Post by bullen »

I actually have a triple buffered solution for this on my stove and water pump in the summer house (which has dodgy electric wiring and home made plumbing):

1) Manual switch with a light when on.

2) Timer (runs max 60 minutes, makes some clicking noise when on)

3) Remote switch that I can turn off with my mobile phone from anywhere.

That way if I forget to manually switch things off, I can turn the remote switch off and if that fails the stove and pump are powered maximum 60 minutes = wont burn the house down or flood it too much hopefully.

In a future without insurance this is the only way to have a modern life without bringing the pump and stove with you! Xo

By the way I don't think she had OCD, I think everyone else is reckless.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#66

Post by stordoff »

MarkusWandel wrote: post #16

Seriously, I wasn't even through the second paragraph before I thought the same thing - just take the thing with you. It doesn't try to solve the OCD, but it solves the problem. Nobody in my household has OCD, but we had a garage door that sometimes, unpredictably, would decide that there was an obstruction at the very bottom, and go back up. Did you really, really watch it go all the way down before driving off? Did…

> Engineer's solution rather than psychiatrist's - simply rig something that lets you check over the internet and close the door (but not open it!) if necessary.

Wouldn't necessarily work for OCD, as the obsession can easily morph into "Did the sensor fail?" I can see it being helpful though.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#67

Post by teucris »

stordoff wrote: post #63
teucris wrote: post #44

Having lived through OCD and come out the other side, I completely understand why the solution was considered bad. Sure, this solves the particular obsession. But the issue is that OCD is never satisfied. You develop rituals like this and they work for a while, giving your brain that little dopamine boost every time you look at the hairdryer in your car. But that dose diminishes over time, and soon taking the hairdry…

Also having OCD, I can see how this would be helpful though. You can fall into a stable position where you're doing enough to keep the OCD at bay (taking the hairdryer with you) without it being something that interferes with your life. I don't think it's an _ideal_ long-term solution, as the OCD can latch onto something else, but as a starting point for ERP (leaving the hairdryer at home on shorter trips) or if othe…

Sure, but the quote seems to deride the other medical professionals involved. They were likely not idiots: they were likely thinking longer term.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#68

Post by paulcole »

hallway_monitor wrote: post #19
kayodelycaon wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve had the same problems with regular doctors and medical issues. A lot of my problems turned out to be a milk allergy.

In my experience most doctors are pretty useless trying to solve a difficult problem. I had my daughter's colon biopsied before someone suggested using a hypoallergenic formula.

> In my experience most doctors are pretty useless trying to solve a difficult problem

This applies to nearly every profession. Most people are average at their jobs and most people aren't that great at consistently solving the harder (or hardest) problems their job presents.

It's as true for doctors as it is software developers or truck drivers or teachers.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#69

Post by zestyping »

MarkusWandel wrote: post #16

Seriously, I wasn't even through the second paragraph before I thought the same thing - just take the thing with you. It doesn't try to solve the OCD, but it solves the problem. Nobody in my household has OCD, but we had a garage door that sometimes, unpredictably, would decide that there was an obstruction at the very bottom, and go back up. Did you really, really watch it go all the way down before driving off? Did…

Same here. The solution was immediately obvious. I'm amazed that she actually got as far as talking to a psychiatrist, unless I suppose she was so ashamed of the problem that she had never told anyone about it before.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#70

Post by cowboysauce »

I've read most of Scott's blog posts and he rarely mentions OCD and when he does it tends to be "this is what I think people with OCD experience" and not "this is what my patients have told me" which leads me to believe that he is not an expert in OCD.

I have OCD and it's ruined my life in ways that are hard to articulate. Which is why I can point out two good reasons why what's being described might not be a good idea. First, giving into compulsions just legitimizes them and reinforces the patterns that are central to OCD and can ultimately make things worse. Secondly, OCD has a habit of changing how it manifests. Sure, maybe the woman is no longer bothered by the hairdryer, but what happens when it becomes changes to worrying if the oven is on? She'll be right back where she started.

I doubt that the anecdote actually happened as described. It's way too contrived, simplistic and borders on "Psychiatrists hate her! Cure your OCD with this one simple trick!". Realistically, OCD is incredibly insidious and if it were that simple to cure then nobody would have OCD. What's described is, at best, a short-term fix and half the psychiatrists likely knew that such things rarely stick.

I've had the same thing happen to me more times than I can count. I think I found the silver bullet, a way to permanently defeat my obsessive thoughts. If I'm lucky then it'll last a week before my OCD comes back in full force. But the truth is that you cannot directly fight OCD, it's like squeezing dough. When you clamp down in one spot, it just squirts out somewhere else. There's a quote that I think describes it perfectly "To hate me is to give me breath, to fight me is to give me strength". Fighting OCD or giving into its demands is just falling into its traps. You only truly win when you reach a point where you don't respond to it.

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