Maria, clearly your father and my grandmother must never meet. It would be like a black hole of overworrying.
Add my mother, an Olympic class worrier, and we could suck up the whole galaxy. My mother worries when anything happens in the whole state, regardless of how far away it is. She called me at 5:30 a.m. after the Olympic Park bombing, after worrying all night. That wasn't completely unfounded; I was volunteering nearby and had walked through the park about a half hour before the bomb. It just didn't occur to me to call my mother at 1 a.m. and say, "Still not dead."
In the scenarios you describe is it just a simple knowledge that tapping that twenty times makes things right again? What does "not right" consist of, then?
I think the difference is you seem to assume that all compulsive behavior is initiated by the perception of something being "not right" and I think there are instances where it is initiated simply by the perception of the pattern.
Okay, off to pick up the kids.
Back when Psychoanalysis was influential in Psychology and Psychiatry, Neurosis was the general concept and Compulsion was one of many symptoms of Neurosis. Lots of time was spent figuring out whether the patient was neurotic and which neurotic processes were responsible for the symptoms. It was great fun, with Ink Blot tests and sitting around a table discussiong the patient and feeling smart and insightful.
At this point, though, Psychoanalysis and its concepts are rejected by nearly all experts in Psychology and Psychiatry, so Neurosis has no official meaning--you won't find it in any official diagnosis, for instance.
My friends in English departments say that Psychoanalysis is still useful in literary criticism. It makes sense that a product of Freud's imagination might be useful in explaining the products of other people's imaginations. But it's never been shown to be of any specific value in helping people with their problems. It's mostly used as an example of how big a fool you can make of yourself if you accept theories without putting them to a scientific test. Kind of a sad end given the high hopes for Psychoanalysis at the start.
So, I heard a rumor that McDonald's had Iron Man toys, so I went off to get a Happy Meal...and got a Speed Racer toy. Of course, I then realized that of course they wouldn't have IM at McD's, that's Burger King. Der! Oh well, I guess I'll have to go to BK next.
For Tep - breakfast pizza.
That looks good. No Bacon!
Adorableness - Dylan is sitting at my feet right now pretending to drink out of a bottle of eye wash (with the cap on tight). After each "sip" he's giving an exaggerated refreshed-sounding "Aaaah!" Too cute.
Agh!
Friday I had tickets to a movie, so I left the house at 4:30. The UPS lady came at 5:45. Ah well. It was not meant to be.
Today, I had to mail my rent check. But I had morning meetings. So I leave the house and run down to the post office, and was back home by 3:30. I hoped she would come late, anyway. But no...the UPS lady had come at 3:15. Aaaaaagh!
Tomorrow, UPS lady. Tomorrow I shall await you, you and your stealthy ways...
I think the difference is you seem to assume that all compulsive behavior is initiated by the perception of something being "not right" and I think there are instances where it is initiated simply by the perception of the pattern.
Why complete the pattern, is my question? In the scenarios to which I've been exposed, I've seen people's deepening distress at not being able to finish up, so, yeah, they looked like something was not right to them.
Lots of time was spent figuring out whether the patient was neurotic
Oh, we're all neurotic. That's what too much free time'll do to ya.
For Tep - breakfast pizza.
*I* was the one who wanted breakfast pizza!
