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The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

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Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#141

Post by Zababa »

gwbas1c wrote: post #60
Ensorceled wrote: post #36

I remember a panel on a news program years ago where the one guest was a psychologist who was treating "untreatable" drug addicts by getting them "hooked" on running or weightlifting or martial arts. They would stop drugs but would instead be doing martial arts for hours a day or running 20 miles every morning. Then he would start treating the addiction personality and causes, but in many cases the patients would jus…

> could only be diagnosed with ADHD if your life was worse than "the norm" Because ADHD is a real situation for some people, and for others it's a way to legally take class-B stimulants. Yes, people really do try their friends' ADHD medication, enjoy it, and then shop around doctors to find someone who will prescribe it. It's called "drug seeking," and doctors do flag patients who do it. This, BTW, is what happens wi…

> Because ADHD is a real situation for some people, and for others it's a way to legally take class-B stimulants.

In some cases it's really clear, in some others it isn't. A few of my friends did better than me in school, and they had access to Ritalin. They were pretty good student while I was a problem child. I never really explored the option during school as I didn't really know how it worked and what ADHD was. I tried it later in life and it helped with work. Ritalin probably would have helped me during school. But was it because of some "real" ADHD? Was it because it's a stimulant and it helps anyone? Was my ADHD more or less real than them? I know that for them Rilatin and ADHD was a part of their identity, so maybe they convinced themselves they couldn't work without it? I don't think there's any good and objective way to measure that. Should I feel guilt when I take Ritalin now? I can function without it, but they can too. It's just far from optimal.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#142

Post by handoflixue »

fpgaminer wrote: post #92
Ensorceled wrote: post #36

I remember a panel on a news program years ago where the one guest was a psychologist who was treating "untreatable" drug addicts by getting them "hooked" on running or weightlifting or martial arts. They would stop drugs but would instead be doing martial arts for hours a day or running 20 miles every morning. Then he would start treating the addiction personality and causes, but in many cases the patients would jus…

> Recently I was reading a book on ADHD and the author was quite adamant that you could only be diagnosed with ADHD if your life was worse than "the norm". In this view, if you have symptoms of ADHD but can, for instance, hold down a good job then by definition you don't have ADHD. I deleted the book from my Audible account. IANAP, but that sounds correct to me. I recall the DSM requiring negative impact on one's lif…

> It would be unethical to subject someone to that risk for no possible benefit.

Let's take two people, say me and Einstein. Let's say Einstein has super-severe ADHD and thus performs so poorly that he can fairly be compared to me.

Is there really "no possible benefit" to curing that ADHD? Keep in mind that the real Einstein discovered relativity, and uh... I'm just going to say my contributions to science have been a bit less dramatic.

I don't think it's at all unreasonable to posit that there are plenty of people who are gifted enough to compensate for their mental issues, but they'd still benefit if they could fully apply themselves instead of wasting half their talent mitigating such issues.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#143

Post by robocat »

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 had any benefits? For example, has it made you much more accepting of the mental quirks of other people?

I really appreciate your disclosure of something so intimate, because it brings a sense of wonder into my world, and it reminds me we never really know what is going on in the minds of our friends (let alone my own mind!). Thank you.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#144

Post by cowboysauce »

meowface wrote: post #115
cowboysauce wrote: post #70

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 id…

I've suffered from symptoms of OCD on and off, and, personally, I totally believe this anecdote and think it's a great parable. I think the world is probably split into pro- and anti-hair dryerism, both among people who do and don't have OCD. >First, giving into compulsions just legitimizes them and reinforces the patterns that are central to OCD and can ultimately make things worse. Of course, but that's the whole c…

Despite my initial comment, I'm pro-hairdryer. If it works when nothing else does, then do it. I'm even pro-hairdryer in the sense that it could be used as a stop gap until the patient learns more effective ways to manage their OCD.

I think what bothers me about is that Scott doesn't mention that there are legitimate drawbacks to the solution in the story. It's a nice "thinking outside of the box" story but to use it as an excuse to be smug and very much "I'm better than the rest of these psychiatrists who don't actually want to help you" is distasteful.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#145

Post by Zababa »

zentiggr wrote: post #75
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…

I've had a habit for my entire adult life, of sorting the letters of words alphabetically in my head. The longer the word the better. It's even better when the sorted letters turn out to make any sort of repetitive pattern. And I count stairs, unless I specifically override the internal voice and say "1", "1", "1", "1,".... to myself.

I used to count stairs when I was younger too, and remember that most of them had between 16 and 18 steps for a floor.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#146

Post by kdmccormick »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #133
kdmccormick wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're missing the point. Let me be concrete. I'm diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Sometimes I feel axnious and euphoric, other times depressed and lethargic, both at extremes noticably deviant from the average person. This has caused all sorts of turbulence and distress in my personal and academic life. Being diagnosed allowed me access to therapy and prescriptions. There exist plenty of people who oscillate…

So when you find a person whose highs are higher than yours, and whose lows are lower than yours, and whose life is better than yours, that person doesn't have bipolar disorder, because they're not experiencing problems. Which makes the idea of "bipolar disorder" meaningless. That person demonstrates that your problems are not caused by bipolar disorder. But the disorder is defined by you having problems, even though…

> whose life is better than yours, that person doesn't have bipolar disorder, because they're not experiencing problems

Your argument seems to hinge on this idea that a good life => no distress, which, if you've interacted with anyone diagnosed with a mental disorder, is obviously not true.

My life is great. If I didn't take a mood stabilizer, it'd probably still be good, but not as good. Regardless, my mood swings can negatively affect me and those around me.

If one day I reach a point where I can live without meds or therapy and reap no negative consequences, then yes, it would be fair at that point to say that I no longer had bipolar disorder.

> That person demonstrates that your problems are not caused by bipolar disorder. But the disorder is defined by you having problems, even though the problems come from somewhere else.

Bingo. My symptoms (mood swings) + my problems ARE the cause my bipolar disorder diagnosis. Until I had problems, I had no disorder.

What causes the mood swings, then? Genetics, upbringing, life experiences, diet, idk. Nobody knows for sure. It's an active area of research, but there is no one known cause. For all we know, there may be five independent and unrelated risk factors that lead to someone developing bipolar disorder.

It's like you get it, but you're still dismissing it for some reason. I'm curious what ulterior point you're trying to make.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#147

Post by P4u1 »

That's amazing. Before I finished reading the article I thought one solution could be to throw the hair dryer away, and just use a towel or something(not ideal but beats being miserable I guess). But taking the hair dryer with her was way better.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#148

Post by dantheman »

kaibee wrote: post #81
dantheman wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let people take whatever medicine they want.

So like, in theory, yes, but in practice, now everyone has to take Adderall just to be able to keep up with their coworkers.

Not at all, there's more work than can possibly be done. It's not a sports competition - everyone can win.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#149

Post by sneak »

kaibee wrote: post #81
dantheman wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let people take whatever medicine they want.

So like, in theory, yes, but in practice, now everyone has to take Adderall just to be able to keep up with their coworkers.

It's straightforward/trivial to excel over coworkers (even those on stimulants) at most jobs.

Regardless, this idea that one needs to "keep up", as if work were a competitive footrace, is something you have invented.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#150

Post by spaetzleesser »

underwater wrote: post #126
Johnny555 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to work with someone who had that same problem with door locks, he'd sometimes leave work to make sure he locked his door. This was well before the days of ubiquitous web based home security cameras, but he rigged up a video camera and a video capture card on his PC to take a picture of the door (and door lock) and post it on a web page every minute. So he could easily check to verify that the door was closed…

I don't see why he wouldn't trust it. The OCD seems to be an anxiety triggered by the uncertainty of his memory, rather than paranoia.

That’s correct. My girlfriend has issues with locks and stoves. She doesn’t trust herself but if I tell her it’s all good she has peace.
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