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Comment by lisper | Hacker News Reader

It's plausible [1] [2].

I am by all accounts neurotypical (except perhaps for a touch of Aspergers) but I have an involuntary tic. Every now and then (like once or twice a week) a memory of some incredibly stupid thing that I once did -- sometimes decades ago -- will pop into my head and before I can re-establish conscious control I'll make a vocalization that sounds like a cross between a whimper and a sneeze. It's kind of embarrassing, but usually I cover it up with a cough afterwards. I don't think anyone has ever actually noticed except me.

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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earworm

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrusive_thought

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I have this happen to I've always assumed it was an anxiety response. The interesting things is I am able to control it to some extent, I used to hit myself, now I mutter profanities. Anyone else do something like this?

Yup. I just say fuck and shake my head. Apparently this is rather normal behavior...

According to who? I have the same issue and it's annoying.

Well sure? Remembering embarrassing stuff is annoying.

I've found that sitting with the thought for a little while and processing the emotion prevents it from coming up again. You can't just remember that girl in first year of uni that made an effort to hug you every day and flee the thought every time, painful as it is. You have to sit there and go through it. Yes I was young and stupid, but the reason I even cringe thinking about it is because I am now better. And that is ok.

Yes, according to WHO. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240003927

That's a good one :D

Well, there are a bunch of us in this thread, and I've heard many people talk about it over the years both IRL and elsewhere on the internet. Maybe "normal" is the wrong word, but it does seem to be exceedingly common.

https://img.ifunny.co/images/81b1345612c2c66153ac111e99d41b2...

https://www.thecut.com/article/how-to-stop-reliving-embarras...

https://harleytherapy.com/blog/posts/cringe-attacks

Is this not totally normal and very common though? This exact thing happens to me all the time, with some specific memories linked to seemingly random acts like shaving the left side of my neck.

Yes, loads of people get this. A couple of random reddit threads:

https://www.reddit.com/r/socialskills/comments/hzgm1n/how_to...

https://www.reddit.com/r/socialskills/comments/2nnff4/how_to...

I do it. When i'm alone, and one of those thoughts hits, me, i often vocalise a bit. If i'm in company i just wince (if i made a noise in front of other people when i thought of something embarrassing, that would be embarrassing, so that would lead to a sort of embarrassment Kessler syndrome).

> embarrassment Kessler syndrome

Thank you, this is a genuinely great turn of phrase.

I have no idea if it's common or not. It might be. It's not the sort of thing people generally discuss. This is the first time I've ever talked about it.

A (long) time ago, I noticed something not dissimilar in my behavior. I've never noticed it in others, so it quite likely that your behavior goes unnoticed too.

But what I did was tell myself to not react like that again next time. Of course, that didn't work, but it made me notice it better. And after repeating that for some time, I had timely control over the reaction (not over the stimulus that provoked it). If your tic is light and annoys you, you could try that. Your subconscious is capable of picking up more than you think, and it is (somewhat) malleable.

I have SAD and this happens to me several times a day. Though it's not so much that it pops into my head, more that my train of thought leads me there by association.

In a lot of ways SAD feels like a form of PTSD where instead of a single extremely traumatic experience, or many extreme experiences(known as complex PTSD), it's a huge amount of slightly traumatic ones. So it's sort of like a flashback.

One of the things I've noticed is that when I'm on SSRIs and they're working(which has never been a long-lived state of affairs, unfortunately), this phenomenon is drastically reduced or even gone altogether.

Are you talking about Seasonal Affective Disorder? Or can you define what SAD is if not?

Sorry, forgot about seasonal affective disorder, which I also have, ironically. But I was referring to social anxiety disorder.

From context my guess is Social Anxiety Disorder.

That makes more sense. Thanks.

I think this is a bit different from a tic though that's an unqualified opinion.

This happens to me as well, but usually I just kind of mutter 'damnit' under my breath or 'ugh'. Maybe shake my head a little.

I also do that from time to time, though less regularly, maybe once a month. But then I also sometimes talk to myself (not excessively, just occasionally when I take a walk or while at home, replaying some conversation or imagining a possible situation). I thought this was rather normal, or at least not too far from normal.

I didn't think it was, but I'm learning here it's at least a lot more common than I imagined!

Holy shit, I thought this only happened to me. Hey fellow weirdo! Glad to know i'm not alone

I too have issues with these kinds of thoughts that very nearly cause a whole-body shudder, followed by a kind of yell just to get it out of my system. It doesn't happen often, but hearing others talk about this gives me hope that I'm not a total weirdo... even though I know I am in many other ways LOL!

I've also wondered if my ADHD somehow factors into it, but that I don't know.

As a someone who recently realised/accepted that I have loads of adhd traits, I can see the connection. I personally think that the fact my mind is never really "calm" means I/we have more opportunities to play over these things when doing other tasks.

I get the impression those without adhd can just concentrate without a mind full of fluff - I can't imagine what that must be like!

This is me to a tee! I either get a neck spasm when my chin gets brought down (also happens spontaneously, but often with a cringe worthy thought from the past), or I'll 'almost' same something out loud while replaying something.

Assumed it wasn't just me who did this but glad to know there are others.

Interesting.

I am wondering if you've tried EMDR after the event happens? So you have the thought that triggers the tic and then you'd focus intensely on the event and do the EMDR stuff. That may reduce the intensity of the past event and reprogram your nervous system to not trigger so intensely on it.

See my response here:

https://news.ycombinator.com/edit?id=33887467

I had a significant tic, and found profound relief through Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). I strongly recommend "Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life".

Happens at least twice a day to me, sometimes a lot more. My wife finds it bewildering so I’m not sure it’s totally normal, but I know it’s not uncommon either.

EMDR therapy may help with something like that.

EMDR looks mighty hinky to me.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11393607/

"In sum, EMDR appears to be no more effective than other exposure techniques, and evidence suggests that the eye movements integral to the treatment, and to its name, are unnecessary."

These days EMDR is a synecdoche for bilateral stimulation techniques. Eye movements aren't actually integral to EMDR.

That doesn't make it any less bogus.

There's plenty of anecdotal experience saying it's been helpful. I've tried it personally and I found it "too much" which is why I stopped.

That research is likely out of date.

Out of date does not necessarily mean wrong. If you want to challenge this result the burden is on you to cite some more recent work with different results.

You can simply google more recent things dude. You picked an article from 2001. Try 2021 or 2022. Clearly you have an agenda.

But here's a case report showing a reduction in tics after EMDR.

https://ijponline.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13052-...

In a single patient. Published in the Italian Journal of Pediatrics, which is not exactly a top-tier journal.

If that's the best you've got, that makes me even more confident that EMDR is bogus.

> Clearly you have an agenda.

Indeed I do. My agenda is to seek the truth, and to debunk bogus scientific claims wherever I encounter them.

There is growing evidence that EMDR works. If you can't find any articles yourself and read the literature well then it is your loss.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.0218...

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