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Elo comments on Open thread, Apr. 18 - Apr. 24, 2016 - Less Wrong Discussion

2 Post author: MrMind 18 April 2016 07:19AM

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Comment author: Elo 18 April 2016 11:45:05PM 0 points [-]

worth considering: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourette_syndrome - for uncontrollable compulsion to do a thing.

I imagine a condition causing these symptoms would be tested by putting the person under observation for a day or a few days. It might be possible to get them to attend a sleep lab, if the events happen while they are asleep too then that might be a key to diagnosing it as easy/fast as possible. Otherwise does the person know of anything that causes the events more or less?

Also the general rule for diagnosing/treating conditions - is it negatively impacting their life? If not then leave it alone.

if:

  1. they are curious and really want to know, get further testing done.
  2. they are in danger - i.e. find themselves unable to drive a car safely due to strange events
  3. their life is impacted greatly (i.e. cannot drive a car)

If it's not doing anything bad; leave it.

If it's an early symptom of a condition it might help them to be diagnosed, I don't know why but it could also be like Schizophrenia.