Everyone's a little bit crazy (normalising thread)

[Ruthie]

Hi,

I'm doing a session for a carers' group about working with "delusional beliefs". I want to present them with some examples of "delusional thinking" or intrusive thoughts from the "normal population".

Does anyone have any superstitions, unusual ideas, intrusive thoughts or images or anything else that is frankly a little bit quirky that they would be willing to share here and for me to use in a session for family members and close friends caring for peope with diagnoses of psychosis.

Mine are that when I'm on airplanes I get quite a strong urge to rip open the emergency exit. This doesn't bother me, but I do find the reactions of other people when I share this intrusion with them (preferably whist flying) very entertaining. In the queues at check in desks and also in the tube at London I get the urge to talk abour terrorism - loudly!!

My real quirk is that I will not touch or go near animals if I can possibly avoid it for fear that I might start to smell and never be able to get rid of the smell ever again....ever.

Anyone else willing to share? Please bear in mind that if you post on this public internet forum, I will assume it is ok for me to share your quirks in teaching sessions - and potentially also with clients. If you're happy to can you also let me know what your job role is. I'd quite like to say, so who said this crazy thing? Was it a mental health service user....no....it was a clinical psychologist!

Thanks in advance!!

Ruthie

[BlueCat]

Not eating icing on birthday cakes because of all the spit from blowing out the candles.

Can't abide using a pen that has lost its lid - it is incomplete and makes me uneasy. Its OK if its a click pen that isn't supposed to have a lid. If a biro loses its lid I have to give it to someone else.

If a piece is lost from one of my son's games, even if it is still playable, I don't like it and used to have to put it aside until I found it (but with a three year old this is so regular that I am getting more tolerant of incompleteness).

In a particular period of stress, I kept ringing home because if the answerphone picked up the house hadn't burnt down!

I really hate losing things. I mean REALLY hate. To the extent that I still remember things I have lost from more than fifteen years ago and would probably still look for themif I went back to where I lost them.

I sometimes get the urge to jump off things when I am very high up. Not in a suicidal way, just in a "what if" way.

Probably more will post if I think of them.

[BlueCat]

The globophobia what's your fear thread a little way down is probably a good source too.

[Ruthie]

Yes - I'll probably steal some from that as well!

[matt.berlin]

Irrational thoughts from a soon-to-be AP:

I have the same thing about emergency exits on planes. It won't stop me sitting next to one if needs must, but I prefer to sit in a different row so it doesn't bug me throughout the flight (preferably one back so I am near enough the exit if the plane crashes so I can exit quickly still!). Despite this, I love flying!

I used to have a similar thing about opening car doors as a passenger. Also talking of cars, I usually lock my car. Then think: 'oh no I haven't locked it, someone is going to nick it / steal my stuff' and then have to unlock it and re-lock it again. This is despite the fact I know I have locked it properly in the first place.

In my flat in Germany I have a loft bed (3 metres up from the ground) and I often have the thought of just jumping down to the wooden floor rather than taking the ladder. I don't however as I value the use of my limbs.

[chixta]

I frequently get the urge to throw cups of water in peoples faces - like in supervision and interviews. Also when I went to Niagara Falls, I couldnt look at the water because I was convinced I was going to throw myself over the falls. It actually made me feel nauseous with fear! Oh and sometimes when I'm driving, I wonder about what would happen if I just decided to drive on the other side for fun! (not that I would ever actually do this, or indeed any of the things I have mentioned). I just have a very vivid imagination!!

[mandy20]

Sunflowers make me feel agitated. I was in a bad mood once and as i was walking past someones garden, when i saw a GIGANTIC sunflower peering over the hedge, i angrily threw my chips (with hot chilli sauce in) at this sunflower, and ran away whilst lauging to myself

Really wierd hey

[lakeland]

You can borrow my t-shirt if you want - it's an Alice in Wonderland one, and says "we are all a little mad"

[Ruthie]

Sunflowers make me feel agitated. I was in a bad mood once and as i was walking past someones garden, when i saw a GIGANTIC sunflower peering over the hedge, i angrily threw my chips (with hot chilli sauce in) at this sunflower, and ran away whilst lauging to myself

Really wierd hey

THAT is brilliant! Mandy, can I ask what your job role is - because I'm planning to use this for sure!!

Chixta I will almost certainly use your quote, " (not that I would ever actually do this, or indeed any of the things I have mentioned). I just have a very vivid imagination!! " It's the interpretation of the experience, not the experience itself that is distressing - beautifully put!

As for Mandy, I am imagining how that would come across if you said it to a consultant psychiatrist in a ward round. "Ms20 is not a risk to herself but is a risk to sunflowers..."

Oh my giddy aunt, that is HILARIOUS! I will be laughing incongruously for the rest of the day!

[louby]

Mine are that when I'm on airplanes I get quite a strong urge to rip open the emergency exit.

I'm an AP. I always get urges to jump off/out of things, although I know I never would. When I'm a passenger in car, especially when its going fast on the motorway, I get really strong urges to open the door and jump out - just to see what would happen. Even though I know I wouldn't do it I quite often sit on my hands just to make sure I can't!

In a particular period of stress, I kept ringing home because if the answerphone picked up the house hadn't burnt down!

I've done this too!!

[baa]

I have intrusive thoughts about most things, most of the time But ones that haven't been mentioned yet:

- Thinking about stabbing people when they're in the kitchen at the same time as I'm cooking, I'm not annoyed with them, just holding a knife.
- A new one is whenever I make a cup of tea - digging my eyes out with the teaspoon. My friend told me that she has that one, and now I think about it whenever I get the damn teaspoon out.
- I heard music coming out of the back of my head once, I've no idea why it was doing that, but it sounded like an orchestra. I think I was tired, but I was definitely awake at the time! It went away after about 15 minutes...

[baa]

Oh! I have waking dreams if that's of any use. I wake up and see people standing around in my room - I thought they were ghosts or something when I was younger, especially as most of them look a bit dead (I see dead people ). Or another time I saw my friend sitting in the corner of my room crying, when I woke up properly I was convinced that there was something wrong with him. It turned out he'd had a major bust up with his girlfriend, so for a while I decided that these waking dreams were some kind of premonition.

Lately, I've been seeing supermarket trolleys and spiders, so I'm not sure what kind of event I'm predicting now.

[eponymous85]

When going to bed I used to get a really omenous feeling and sort of see an attacker's-eye-view of someone running up the stairs to get me, so I would try and move around with my back to the wall

(NB I've never actually been attacked so this was not a legitimate fear or a flashback...)

[Mr Ben]

Whenever I see a UPS delivery driver I want to loudly sing:

"HeLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" - Like I on the advert.

...but I don't as I worry that they might not get it!



I also get the urge to sing rock ballards - or frank sinatra songs ('fly me to the moon is a firm favourite at the mo), whistle loudly, burp and make weird noises whilst in echoy places - like public toilets, museums and Court rooms. I did Jury duty the other month - I had to work hard to shut myself up!

[Batfish]

I have really strong intrusive thoughts that I've left my straighteners on. I've texted my OH to get him to check, and even driven back home and been late for work. A friend suggested I take a photo of them unplugged with my phone to look at in the day if I get worried. This works great because my phone makes a note of the time and date that the photo was taken. I still sometimes nip back in from the car to make sure I didn't switch them back on after taking the photo, though....