Hacker News Reader

Comment by B1FF_PSUVM | Hacker News Reader

> I've heard than some mental illness (maybe schizophrenia) is theorized to be in part due to an inability to forget things.

My totally amateur pet theory is that paranoia is threat pattern recognition gone bonkers.

Actually, most of what we do with brains is pattern recognition, and if there isn't enough good input they will make shit up.

View on HN

> My totally amateur pet theory is that paranoia is threat pattern recognition gone bonkers.

Supposedly OCD is your brain’s cause-effect loop being too potent. As in, you have a random fear I.e. “stove is on, fire will burn down house,” you go to check the stove, and the act of checking (regardless of its being on) creates the feeling that you saved your house from burning down, so now you feel compelled to check every time. Paraphrased from the Huberman podcast.

I have OCD. This is basically accurate in that it's an anxiety disorder that affects your ability to judge whether a worst case scenario is likely or not, but the thoughts are more like "What if I drive across the median and kill a family of 5 in a minivan" or "What if I pull my genitals out in this meeting and try to fuck my boss". The compulsions are usually not as logically coherent as needing to check if the stove is on or the house will burn down (though there are people who experience ocd like this). Usually my compulsions happen as a way to try and stop thinking those thoughts, like pulling over and playing internet chess for half an hour. The problem is that the compulsions steal a lot of time and don't typically address the underlying obsessive thought.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com