I was talking to a doctor client today about his CDROM , he is a psychiatrist. He wanted me to update his computer for Y2k, something I do all the time. I asked hime about Y2k concerns and mental health and he said something very simple and to the point:

"Its not about awareness. People who are doing all this preparing are simply those who are deemed to be 'hypervigilant'. Take one of these people and give them a focus and off they go. The internet gives them a place to congregate and they build on it until either the event passes or they break away from each other to stew on what they believe in."

Thats a pretty accurate quote, give or take a few words. Hypervigilant people always do this sort of thing. He recommended some books but I didnt want to spend time reading psycho mumbo-jumbo. He said once Y2k is gone they wont believe it is and will find something else to focus. He said you can usually find the fear based on anything that gives the fear 'legs'.

I am prepping and he knows it, he said common sense drives you to some preps but the 'deep end' people are the noise makers and are the pied-pipers of this sort of thing.

I dont agree with all he said, but it did have some validity.

-- hamster (hamster@mycage.com), November 28, 1999

Answers

He may be right, that's a good name for us "hypervigilantes." What should we call him if he's wrong and we're right? I'll start with a few: stupid, moron, idiot, couch potato, a shrink that will shrink.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), November 28, 1999.

Hamster:

"I was talking to a doctor client today about his CDROM , he is a psychiatrist. He wanted me to update his computer for Y2k, something I do all the time."

He has you working on Y2k updates all of the time [talk about hypervigilant; I apologize in advance for that statement]. From some of the things that I have read on the net [for example people planting explosives around the perimeter of their property] he could be right. Of course, one can never be sure how many of these comments are real.

Best wishes

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), November 28, 1999.

Lunatics, given the opportunity, will eat hamburgers.

Mad dogs, given the opportunity, will eat hamburgers.

Child molesters, given the opportunity, will eat hamburgers.

If *you*, given the opportunity, will eat hamburgers, I don't think I want to be anywhere near you, you mad dog lunatic child molester!

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), November 28, 1999.

BOOOOO!!!!!

did you jump? Hypervigilance correllates with the startle response.

just testing his theory....

Emotionally abusive childhoods cause permanent brain damage involving the release and processing of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Hypervigalence is a long term effect. So we really are crazy then.

Or this shrink is rationalizing.

You make the call.

-- Tongue In Cheek (nn@va.com), November 28, 1999.

Do computer systems affect our lives, or don't they? Is Y2K a problem that has cost hundreds of billions of dollars to fix and hasn't been so far? Why are we obsessed with Y2K when others obsess sports or Pokemon? Things to ponder. Ask a psychiatrist about a technical problem that affects more things than we can imagine and he comes up with a psychological answer as to why people are concerned. Of course, he has probably done no research and is probably incapable of extrapolating behind his office. Could it be that the code really IS broken? No, it couldn't be in the doctor's world . What is his psychological malady if he can even contemplate this topic?

DENIAL!!!!!!!!!!!!

-- PJC (paulchri@msn.com), November 28, 1999.

Hey - as Freud said " Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar". Sometimes one's anxiety is justifiable fear in the face of a realistic threat to your health, safety and security in which case it is adaptive behavior. I'm a mental health professional and I work with all manner of healthcare professionals everyday : believe me, these folks are no more insightful about most things than anybody else is.

JR.

-- JR.MINT (duckand@cover.net), November 28, 1999.

Before my awareness of Y2k, I was very happy "focused" in on my marriage, my job, auctions, my sideline antique business, remodeling the house, and my dog.

I wasn't looking for something else to "focus" in on. I like my life as it was before y2k awareness hit me on the head like a hammer.

This guy better get his nose out of the books and over to Sams and Walmart before the other Lessvigilant beat him to the last box of rice.

-- Mabel Dodge (cynical@me.net), November 28, 1999.

This is one shrink. If you were to poll 500 shrinks, you would have 600 different answers. It is just one mans opinion. Is he qualified as a programmer, any long history of computer programming or working on integrated systems? He had you upgrade his computer. Think that gives us a good insight into his computer savy.

-- suzy (suzy@nowhere.com), November 28, 1999.

I could not believe this stupid Y2K stuff my friend was nagging me about. What a kook! Then I began reading...

Yes, I do have a higher level of awareness as a survival mechanism, but in this case, I don't think that's the origin of my concern. If you can read about the National Guard being called out in California, about the federal government opening a $40 million Y2K center after billions being spent on remediation, about various places that will have generators and police out on the 31st, about the Social Security Administration going off the grid and onto generators even before there's any power problems, etc., etc., etc. uh, am I being "hypervigilant" in thinking that I personally ought to prepare, or simply prudent?

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), November 28, 1999.

Gotta watch out for those deep-enders...

Could be they're just in-deep-end-ent...

-- dinosaur (dinosaur@williams-net.com), November 28, 1999.

Hypervigilance, yes; hyperventilation, no

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), November 28, 1999.

hamster,

Two points:

1) You were working to "prepare" this doctor's computers for Y2K.

2) Why? Because he was "given a focus" so "off he went" and hired you to fix his computers.

Let me see if I understand now:

1) It's okay for people to prepare the computers that the people initially screwed up causing the Y2K problem in the first place.

2) It's not okay for people to stock food and water in order to prepare for Y2K computer problems because the people who caused the Y2K problem in the first place are now preparing the computers that they initially screwed up.

(Palm to forehead) Now I get it! Just because you screwed up the first time gives us NO RIGHT to prepare ourselves against you screwing up the second time.

WHA???....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

duh. Is there a doctor in the house?

-- GoldReal (GoldReal@aol.com), November 28, 1999.

I once read that if the only tool one has is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. (ie. Psychiatry)

-- Crazy (Crazyas@bedbug.com), November 28, 1999.

I am amused at this psychiatrist. He is having his CD-ROM checked for Y2K problems. What percentage of psychiatrists have done this? Can he be ranked with hypervigilant ones? What will his new focus be? I know he studied those psychiatry manuals and listened to all of those lectures, and he doesn't seem mean or angry. But I agree more with the person who talks about linear as opposed to lateral thinking models. We don't necessarily control to which one we belong, and I think we'd be wise not to criticize each other.

-- Constance A. Iversen (hive@gte.net), November 29, 1999.

Hypervigilant is a start of being overly sensitive to sounds or sights.

Per; Phyweb

What does that have to do with any of us?

-- P.A. (adkins@webbernet.net), November 29, 1999.

If someone really is out to get you, paranoia is just right thinking!

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), November 29, 1999.