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A brain injury removed my ability to perceive time

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Re: A brain injury removed my ability to perceive time

#121

Post by Aeolun »

tveita wrote: post #116
dendrite9 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That book helped someone I know he was mostly face blind. Recently I was listening to a discussion where someone was trying to explain her synesthesia about time to a bunch of people who didn't experience that. I found it really hard to wrap my head around, but there is a picture in this article of how one person visualizes time over the course of a year. The idea is just so far from what I think of as normal that it…

Somewhat related, a survey of how Norwegian people visualize time: https://nrkbeta.no/2018/01/01/this-is-what-the-year-actually...

This almost caused me an existential time crisis until I drew out my own year and realized it’s still as I remember. It just gets a bit smeared out in my head.

Re: A brain injury removed my ability to perceive time

#122

Post by Karsteski »

Aerbil313 wrote: post #119
LoganDark wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ADHD is sometimes wittily described as time dyslexia As someone with ADHD, this wildly misrepresents the actual disorder. ADHD itself has nothing to do with time, it has to do with executive function . Someone with ADHD can try to will themselves into doing something and simply not be able to. They'll try to make a command, and their body or brain will not listen to them. It will completely refuse to do what they t…

[flagged]

You say that, but as another anecdote, I'm fit and lift weights, and I don't eat junk food. I wish my sleep were better but that's not for lack of trying.

LoganDark's comment about some people with ADHD being absolutely unable to will themselves to do certain things describes me so well it's scary. It's something I've struggled with for years, and has affected me at work lately.

I've always known I'm not lazy or stupid, and in the last few years I discovered programming and taught myself software development. I fixate on things strongly yet I struggle to do mental work if it just so happens that I find it uninteresting or pointless. It's fucking me up. My therapist even pointed out a few weeks ago that it's a strong sign of ADHD, but I hate the thought of having that... I guess now I really should seriously explore this. I only know that I started feeling like my dev job is pointless even though it's a great job, and my coworkers are fantastic. It's more deep than just pointless but now I can barely will myself do anything related to work...

The brain really is fucked ha

Re: A brain injury removed my ability to perceive time

#123

Post by newsclues »

et1337 wrote: post #43

I think it's interesting that HN in particular seems to be fascinated by brain injuries, myself included. Losing brain functionality is a scary thought for people who enjoy using their brains all day. edit: also I find my HN comment history to be a really good check on my perception of time. It's weird to see the random thoughts I wrote out in my down time. I ALWAYS think, "wow that was 3 months ago?"

Good news, is that the brain is very resilient.

I had a tennis ball sized mass removed from my brain years ago, and it's less losing brain function, and more experiencing different brain function.

Re: A brain injury removed my ability to perceive time

#124

Post by LoganDark »

Aerbil313 wrote: post #119
LoganDark wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ADHD is sometimes wittily described as time dyslexia As someone with ADHD, this wildly misrepresents the actual disorder. ADHD itself has nothing to do with time, it has to do with executive function . Someone with ADHD can try to will themselves into doing something and simply not be able to. They'll try to make a command, and their body or brain will not listen to them. It will completely refuse to do what they t…

[flagged]

> poor general mental health which would be solved if the person in question didn’t mouthbreathe and eat sugar, and slept well and exercised regularly.

I cannot do those things.

I've been to physical therapy multiple times for things that are caused by a lack of physical activity. Their advice is the same every time: it would take less than 15 seconds every day to do a single stretch. Here are diagrams showing you how to do them. Look how easy it is.

But even that is too much. I don't want it to be too much, I know it's dead simple and any normal person would be able to do it without a second thought, but that is the problem. I'm not a normal person, and my brain doesn't work like a normal person's does. It does not let me do that.

It does not let me know when I should do that. If I set a timer/alarm, then when it goes off, I can't even listen to it. Either I just can't get up, or I want to finish what I'm doing first and then I completely forget.

This isn't something that I control. It's not something that I chose. And it's not something that I can fix by simply being less pathetic. Because as much as I'm aware of these behaviors and now ridiculous they are, I cannot help them. There is no way for me to just make myself do something.

My brain just only lets me do what it wants.

Re: A brain injury removed my ability to perceive time

#125

Post by causi »

abrookewood wrote: post #42
js2 wrote: post #19

Diane Van Deren is an ultra runner who had part of her brain removed to treat her seizures. It also affected her ability to perceive time and to read maps. She originally started running to self-treat her seizures, but eventually running no longer staved them off. Oddly, not being able to perceive time may have benefitted her running: > Dr. Gerber credits her endurance in part to her brain limitations. He says runner…

There's a book by Oliver Sacks that covers people affected by strange neurological disorders and it is fascinating [0]. I can't recall any of them being viewed in a positive light, but it's still worth a read. [0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63697.The_Man_Who_Mistoo...

One of the more terrifying books ever written, if nothing else for the fact it opens one to the possibility we may all have such disorders on a species-wide level. What if there are things none of us allow ourselves to perceive?

Re: A brain injury removed my ability to perceive time

#126

Post by coremoff »

Aerbil313 wrote: post #119
LoganDark wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ADHD is sometimes wittily described as time dyslexia As someone with ADHD, this wildly misrepresents the actual disorder. ADHD itself has nothing to do with time, it has to do with executive function . Someone with ADHD can try to will themselves into doing something and simply not be able to. They'll try to make a command, and their body or brain will not listen to them. It will completely refuse to do what they t…

[flagged]

You fundamentally misunderstand ADHD and your word choices are very antagonistic.

Re: A brain injury removed my ability to perceive time

#127

Post by vjerancrnjak »

abrookewood wrote: post #42
js2 wrote: post #19

Diane Van Deren is an ultra runner who had part of her brain removed to treat her seizures. It also affected her ability to perceive time and to read maps. She originally started running to self-treat her seizures, but eventually running no longer staved them off. Oddly, not being able to perceive time may have benefitted her running: > Dr. Gerber credits her endurance in part to her brain limitations. He says runner…

There's a book by Oliver Sacks that covers people affected by strange neurological disorders and it is fascinating [0]. I can't recall any of them being viewed in a positive light, but it's still worth a read. [0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63697.The_Man_Who_Mistoo...

Another book that is very illuminating is "My Stroke of Insight" by Jill Bolte Taylor. Reading the brain stroke description can give non-experiential understanding of various Zen koans, including the non-verbal one where Buddha simply holds up a flower and it becomes entirely understandable to Mahakasyapa.

It also points to the natural tendency of human beings to attribute profoundness or spirituality to various forms of brain malfunction. The author does it in the later chapters of the book.

Re: A brain injury removed my ability to perceive time

#128

Post by LoganDark »

unobatbayar wrote: post #91
LoganDark wrote: post #37

I don't have much difficulty perceiving time in general, but I have a dissociative disorder that can really, really fuck with it: Dissociative Identity Disorder, formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder. (It's not an "identity disorder", but a "dissociative identity" disorder, the clinical name for the so-called "personalities".) When one of the other "personalities" is out in my place, that length of time wil…

I truly understand you. I've researched into this for a long time but found that it's not currently curable. Have you tried healing your trauma? Please share anything you've tried or done to cope with DID.

My trauma really isn't healable, on top of just getting a healthy dose of Fresh trauma a few weeks ago.

Honestly, DID isn't meant to be cured and coping sort of just consists of accepting that this is your life now. Now, I did a lot more than that because I encouraged plurality and allowed each identity to express themselves and have fun lives, and that's honestly probably the best coping that could have been done. Living life as multiple is just different.

Some people are able to integrate and become just one person, but I would rather die than do that. Being multiple is my identity. Without that, I'd be lost.

Re: A brain injury removed my ability to perceive time

#129

Post by coldtea »

causi wrote: post #125
abrookewood wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a book by Oliver Sacks that covers people affected by strange neurological disorders and it is fascinating [0]. I can't recall any of them being viewed in a positive light, but it's still worth a read. [0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63697.The_Man_Who_Mistoo...

One of the more terrifying books ever written, if nothing else for the fact it opens one to the possibility we may all have such disorders on a species-wide level. What if there are things none of us allow ourselves to perceive?

How would that be terrifying?

After learning it, it would still be the same exact world as was before we learned about it.

Re: A brain injury removed my ability to perceive time

#130

Post by coldtea »

lloeki wrote: post #107
jen729w wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha! What a lovely way with words you have. That made me laugh. I’ve recently ‘gone solo’ and I decided to experiment with caring a little less about time. The only starkly visible clock in the house is on the oven, so I reset it. But it still tells a time, and I knew I’d eventually figure out the delta, so I covered it with tape. It’s funny how lunch is supposed to be at ~midday, but when you don’t know when midday i…

I've always had a peculiar, extremely elastic relationship with time, which I do perceive, only it's wildly all over the place, day in day out; a "moment" could fold hours into an eyeblink, or it could make split seconds last an eternity and a half. A tidy calendar, reminders for basically everything, and setting up "mental tripwires"† is the only way I found to be any sort of reliable. Finding balance between the co…

>I've always had a peculiar, extremely elastic relationship with time, which I do perceive, only it's wildly all over the place, day in day out; a "moment" could fold hours into an eyeblink, or it could make split seconds last an eternity and a half. A tidy calendar, reminders for basically everything, and setting up "mental tripwires"† is the only way I found to be any sort of reliable.

All quite common in ADD/ADHD.

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