Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

quotulatiousness.ca

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 275 posts

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#251

Post by krisoft »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #124
lazide wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is definitely not how it is defined through - it seems to be a straw man? The criteria is essentially ‘you meet these criteria AND it causes clear problems with your ability to live your life’. It doesn’t mean you have a bad job and X, therefore you have ADHD. Rather, you show ADHD traits and they get in the way (and cause you distress) in doing a job you otherwise would be entirely capable of doing. Or consiste…

That is absolutely not how strokes and broken bones are diagnosed. If one of your bones breaks, you have a broken bone. Whether it hurts, or stops you from doing things you'd like to do, is an unrelated question.

But it is absolutely how broken bones are diagnosed! We don’t run around randomly x-raying the population. We have ERs and similar places where those who are hurting go and there we try to answer what is the cause of their pain. If you have a bone broken but its not causing pain and not affecting you in any way how would we even know it? Now this is vanishingly unlikely with broken bones, thus not something we have to worry about much consciously.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#252

Post by teekert »

Nice! I solve this for myself with smart plugs haha, I am otherwise a pretty normal person, but sometimes one must think in solutions, not problems.

Get some sensors people, and learn about Home Assistant ;)

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#254

Post by FooHentai »

robotresearcher wrote: post #138
aspyct wrote: post #83

I personally have problems with doors, and stuff that should be locked. I can never be sure I locked properly. Totally did backtrack unreasonable distances just to check if I had closed the door. It's all fine when it's my door. Worst case scenario, I get robbed. However it's more of a problem when it's someone else's door. Worst case scenario, they get robbed, and that's a different story. Or pets get out... Obvious…

There's a very helpful method for being confident that you did something right, and while it may not be enough for people with compulsive disorders, it's great for many situations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointing_and_calling I think it works by recruiting more of your body & brain to the task of attending to something. Maybe the anxious could video themselves doing it, and watch it back later.

This is also a useful technique for keeping two people in sync about something situational and important. Whenever our pet bird flies down to the floor, which is often, it's vulnerable to being trodden on. So the wife and I call it out whenever we see it, and repeat until the other person also says it out loud.

Works with lots of other stuff, like hot stove tops. It can be a bit infantilizing to the other party unless they're also au fait and on-board with the technique.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#255

Post by ajsnigrutin »

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…

OCD is like a fire... you have trash can burning, and you have to treat the problem properly... so, water? Do I have a container to bring it? A glass is too small.. bottle to slow to empty... what about an extinguisher? Dust or CO2? Where are they? Can I use them= Damp towel? Baking soda?

If the can burning is in a garage, and you're able to move it to the middle of the asphalt (non-flammable) driveway, you still haven't put out the fire, but you've solved one half of the problem and given yourself a lot more time to think and find something that helps.

Driving back home 10 times per day, means that she might lose her job, become homeless and not be able to afford proper care... having a hair dryer in her purse (or wherever), means she can live a pretty much normal life, while slowly working on her problems (eg. start with leaving the hairdryer at the psychs receptionist, and start from there).

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#256

Post by animal531 »

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 used to break a sentence up into two's to see if it was even or odd.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#258

Post by zrobotics »

ljm wrote: post #250
causality0 wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried getting locks that only release the key when locked? If you've got the key in your pocket then the door is locked. More time efficient than taking a photo every day.

How would you get back inside the house without leaving the key in the exterior lock, making you unable to lock the door from the inside with the same key? Not to mention the potential of having someone lock you inside, taking the key, and then something bad like a fire happening while you're stuck.

They actually do make locks that only release the key when they are locked-LOTO (lock out tag out) locks. They are used to disable hazardous equipment for maintenance. The idea behind key retention is that it prevents leaving the lock in an unsafe state where someone else could unlock it. It's also supposed to make it easier to know that the machine is actually locked out, since the maintenance tech can check if they have the key. Similar idea to some of the solutions to OCD posted, the tech can check if they have their LOTO key to be sure it's disabled before entering something like a trash compactor. The key stays with the lock at all other times.

That being said, for a door all your objections are pretty reasonable, the only use for key-retaining locks I know of is fairly specialized, but interesting in how similar it is to the reminders people dealing with OCD use.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#259

Post by C19is20 »

aspyct wrote: post #83

I personally have problems with doors, and stuff that should be locked. I can never be sure I locked properly. Totally did backtrack unreasonable distances just to check if I had closed the door. It's all fine when it's my door. Worst case scenario, I get robbed. However it's more of a problem when it's someone else's door. Worst case scenario, they get robbed, and that's a different story. Or pets get out... Obvious…

When i leave the house i count to 7 before I close the door. House keys, wallet, phone, glasses, car keys, lock the door. Anything else is item 7, prepared the night before.

Re: The Hair Dryer Incident (2014)

#260

Post by sokoloff »

throaway46546 wrote: post #238
ben_w wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me of some of my… I guess I should call them “non-conscious automated vocalisations”. For a while I used to greet people with the greeting they’ve just given me: they say “hello”, I also say “hello”, they say “good morning”, I say “good morning”. Fine until my sister greeted me with “happy birthday”, though I did at least notice and stop myself after one syllable. More seriously was when I was following…

Waiter: Enjoy your meal. Me: You too.

Airline gate worker: Have a nice flight!

Me (literally done this): You too!

Post reply on HN