We all have bad habits.
Let's face it. And we often don't even know that we are doing them. Some bad habits might creep in under the radar. I certainly don't know what my bad habits are, do you?
Don't be snarky, I am asking you if you know what YOUR bad habits are.
Of course not.
It's part of the human experience that we are unaware of what our own bad habits might be and how they drive the people around us crazy, so that they want to beat us to death with the fireplace poker.
We have no fireplace pokers in our house.
On purpose.
The first step in dealing with this problem is identifying what horrid habits you have and how they are making those close to you start looking for the poker. I did some research about this (saving you the trouble, since I know you are busy and have a life etc. etc.) and found these pressing behaviors that drive others crazy. The list is long, so I have selected 3 of the prominent ones to provide advice about.
Popular Bad Habits (find the complete list here):
1. Picking your nose or some other body part.
This one is hard to be attentive to. Your hand just creeps up there and goes for that little thing in that one nostril and the next thing you know you have three fingers in there doing a boogerotomy.
Nobody likes to see this.
The psychiatric advice is to replace this repulsive activity with some other actions that are more socially admissible. If you are a dog, this is where you hump the couch leg rather than the leg of your mother-in-law who happens to come over for dinner. It's called "displacement" in the psychological world.
Since handcuffing your offending hand to the chair is impractical, you need to find another way to "displace" the disgusting pastime. This requires a conscious commitment to engaging the offending fingers in some other activity.
What other things could you ask your hand to do?
a) Straighten your tie. This requires you actually wear a tie, so it might not work for some people (like me), but for the average professional it might be a good solution.
b) Hold your chin thoughtfully. This can work for anyone, and makes you look pensive and intelligent. Don't go too far with this and do a "face palm" as that could convey the wrong message.
2. Passing gas
It's simply too facile to say you should stop eating beans or not swallow your food whole as a way of solving this problem. The gas just seems to want to squeak out on its on—usually during an important meeting with your boss or when you are trying to impress a date.
Unfortunately there is no "displacement" activity that your ... er... posterior can do to take the place of the unfortunate "fracking" going on down there, so other steps need to be considered.
a) Sit near someone older than you. This way when you release your fumes, others in the room will probably blame the "old fart" next to you. You can encourage this by side-glancing at him quickly and sort of edging your chair away slightly.
b) Comment on it, so that it is clear you didn't "deal it". Don't be too obvious with "fart comments" but say something general like "What IS that smell? Are they emptying the dumpsters or something out there?"
3. Taking forever to get to the point in a conversation
We all have met those with this unfortunate condition, people who blather on and on. He usually catches you with some "hook" of an opening line like "Oh, Fred! I wanted to say something about your vacation plans to Maui." And then he will talk about his trip to Oahu and how the towels in the hotel were really fluffy and nice and how they managed to "sneak" towels out for their snorkeling trip to Hanauma Bay where they got sunburned and his wife had to go to the hospital and get treated for it and then she had to stay in the room for the next couple of days, so he went out on his own and met this really cool "chick" and how they just "hit it off" and how they had lunch together in a really cute place right off Waikiki beach... blah, blah, blah." And meanwhile if they took an EEG of your brain at the moment, you would be a perfect candidate for organ donation.
The problem with this bad habit is that people who have it are congenitally incapable of KNOWING they have it. "Who me? What do you mean 'get to the point'? I was just giving Fred here some advice about his trip to Maui! Sheesh!"
So the only thing you can do is to develop strategies to deal with this sort of individual. Conventional tactics such as looking ostentatiously at your watch will not make the slightest impression, so you need to take drastic action.
a) Change the subject. Look intently at his face and say something like, "Hey, Ralph... I don't mean to interrupt, but have you had a doctor look at that unusual growth... that dark spot there on your cheek recently?" This is guaranteed to stop him dead in his tracks and give you the opportunity to escape.
b) Invoke "stand your ground" laws and shoot him in self-defense. Ha ha. Just kidding about this one, OK?
The list of bad habits is long, but the best professional advice is that you should not try to rectify more than one at a time. Try to outline your worst habits and start slowly to eliminate them and become a better you. Perhaps by the time you are on your deathbed, people will say "What a guy! He has absolutely no bad habits at all!" Of course being on your deathbed is a bad habit in itself, but maybe there are some tactics you can use to deal with that one too.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Monday, July 15, 2013
Supermarket Sensitivities
Not so funny, but interesting?
In Japan, the shopping carts just barely hold a supermarket shopping basket.
In the US, the shopping carts are like trucks–children can even ride in them.
In Japan, EVERY cherry tomato (even in your salad) comes with a little bit of stem on top*.
In America, you cannot find cherry tomatoes in stores (or restaurants) with the stem tips.
In Japan, mayonnaise comes in a tube.
In America, it comes in a jar.
In Japan, condensed milk comes in a tube.
In the US, it comes in a can.
In Japan, most fruits and vegetables come in packaging (10 string beans in a pack) or at least with a piece of tape around them.
In the US, you help yourself to bins (sometimes very large) of them.
In Japan, rice, pasta, dried fruit, grains, cereals, etc. are sold in commercial packages.
In the US, you can also scoop them from bins–as little or as much as you like.
In Japan, if you ask a store employee where something is, s/he will take you there and show it to you.
In the US, they will say something like, "It's on aisle 5", or (happened yesterday) "Let me call and find out" (nobody answered the phone).
In Japan, the cashier says, "Please wait a moment (while the customer ahead is being checked through)", then "Welcome", then "Thank you and come again".
In the US, the cashier chats you up, "How's your day going?", or "What are your plans for the weekend?", or "Oh! I really like this product (in your bag) too! Did you know you can mix it with this other product we have?".
In Japan, the cashier takes the items out of your shopping basket, scans them, and puts them into another shopping basket which the customer carries to another counter to self-bag.
In the US, the customer puts the items on a conveyor belt and the cashier scans them and then bags them for you.
In Japan, the cashier will put a bag around the cat food or shampoo separately.
In the US, they bag the meat this way.
In Japan, the cashier swipes your credit card and enters the data.
In the US, the customer does it.
In Japan, they always give you your change on top of your receipt or the receipt alone.
In America, they often toss the receipt into your shopping bag.
In Japan, you cannot get cash in addition to your groceries when you pay with a card.
In the US, you can (no need to use an ATM, no ATM fees).
- - - - - - - - - -
* Why IS that?!
In Japan, the shopping carts just barely hold a supermarket shopping basket.
In the US, the shopping carts are like trucks–children can even ride in them.
In Japan, EVERY cherry tomato (even in your salad) comes with a little bit of stem on top*.
In America, you cannot find cherry tomatoes in stores (or restaurants) with the stem tips.
In Japan, mayonnaise comes in a tube.
In America, it comes in a jar.
In Japan, condensed milk comes in a tube.
In the US, it comes in a can.
In Japan, most fruits and vegetables come in packaging (10 string beans in a pack) or at least with a piece of tape around them.
In the US, you help yourself to bins (sometimes very large) of them.
In Japan, rice, pasta, dried fruit, grains, cereals, etc. are sold in commercial packages.
In the US, you can also scoop them from bins–as little or as much as you like.
In Japan, if you ask a store employee where something is, s/he will take you there and show it to you.
In the US, they will say something like, "It's on aisle 5", or (happened yesterday) "Let me call and find out" (nobody answered the phone).
In Japan, the cashier says, "Please wait a moment (while the customer ahead is being checked through)", then "Welcome", then "Thank you and come again".
In the US, the cashier chats you up, "How's your day going?", or "What are your plans for the weekend?", or "Oh! I really like this product (in your bag) too! Did you know you can mix it with this other product we have?".
In Japan, the cashier takes the items out of your shopping basket, scans them, and puts them into another shopping basket which the customer carries to another counter to self-bag.
In the US, the customer puts the items on a conveyor belt and the cashier scans them and then bags them for you.
In Japan, the cashier will put a bag around the cat food or shampoo separately.
In the US, they bag the meat this way.
In Japan, the cashier swipes your credit card and enters the data.
In the US, the customer does it.
In Japan, they always give you your change on top of your receipt or the receipt alone.
In America, they often toss the receipt into your shopping bag.
In Japan, you cannot get cash in addition to your groceries when you pay with a card.
In the US, you can (no need to use an ATM, no ATM fees).
- - - - - - - - - -
* Why IS that?!
Monday, July 8, 2013
Wheat-a-Belly
A lot of people in the US these days are talking about the threat of genetically engineered foods. Wheat, for example, is now said to be especially dangerous. A heart doctor, William Davis, has written a popular book entitled "Wheat Belly", making the claim that the wheat we eat today is nothing like the wheat our ancestors enjoyed and is responsible for the blossoming of belly blubber in the United States today. Specifically, the wheat developed over the past 50 years has more gluten in it. To help us understand the danger that this poses, we met with Professor Colin Graankleefstof, PhD of the International Baking Society (IBS) and asked him about what gluten actually is.
Pterosaurish: Thank you for meeting with us today, Professor.
CG: You are very welcome indeed.
Pterosaurish: So please tell us in laymen's terms, what actually IS gluten in wheat?
CG: It's a protein. It's necessary for making bread products rise. We have strong wheat and weak wheat flours; the former are what we use in making donuts, bread, and pizza... did I tell you I know how to make a really great pizza dough, using two different kinds of high gluten flour?
Pterosaurish: Um.... no... but what about the weak flours?
CG: OH! Yes! The weak flours... you would never make pizza with them. Do you know why?
Pterosaurish: Er... not really?
CG: Their gluten levels are too low, so the pizza wouldn't rise properly. No... we use these weak flours in making cakes and the like.
Pterosaurish: So what are the differences we are talking about here?
CG: Well, the pizza dough requires a high gluten flour, so I use a flour with 12.5% gluten. To make a cake I would use a flour with about 8% gluten.
Pterosaurish: I see. Well, thank you very much for this enlightening information about this dietary danger.
CG: It has been entirely my pleasure.
No question about it. If you look at many popular foods, wheat is a major ingredient. It's the number one ingredient in Cinnamon Toast Crunch (breakfast cereal) for example. Cosmic Brownies also contain wheat. Twinkies (soon to make a comeback in the American diet) contain this dangerous substance. And even popular Krispy Kreme donuts have — yes, you guessed it — wheat, as the main ingredient! And that is not all! Even Entenmann's Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies and Pepperidge Farm Pretzel Goldfish are laced with this high-risk material! And every, single one of the 14 billion pizzas pumped out by the Pizza Hut chain (founded in 1958) last year was adulterated with wheat flour.
Who knew?!
Is it no wonder that Americans are getting fat? The good doctor is right! And not only fat, this viciously introduced "hybrid" wheat is responsible for "heart disease, diabetes, fatigue, acne, arthritis, IBS and even dementia"!
Dementia!
Some clearly deluded naysayers (maybe suffering from early on-set dementia?) make the spurious claim that baguettes (French bread) have been around for centuries and require a high gluten flour to make them, and nobody had "wheat belly" in Queen Antoinette's day (Her admonition, "Let them eat cake!" clearly showed her concern for the health of the masses, since cake contains less gluten than bread). But these naysayers don't have the anecdotal evidence that Dr. Davis has from patients to support their view.
What is next? What frightening steps will the food giants take to engineer their products to make them easier to grow and more profitable? Adding genes from migratory insects so that the wheat will migrate throughout the year, self-adjusting its sunlight and temperature for increased yields? Or engineer it with polar bear genes so it can be planted and grown throughout the winter in icy lands. Can adding squid genes to the wheat be far behind, setting the stage for underwater farming? It is a vast underutilized part of our planet after all!
It is critical that each and every one of us be aware of this grave danger and take immediate steps to correct our eating habits to avoid terrible health problems. I —for one— intend to
cut right back on the number of doughnuts I eat in the morning for breakfast. My health is too important to be left to the devices of unscrupulous companies like Krispy Kreme!
Pterosaurish: Thank you for meeting with us today, Professor.
CG: You are very welcome indeed.
Pterosaurish: So please tell us in laymen's terms, what actually IS gluten in wheat?
CG: It's a protein. It's necessary for making bread products rise. We have strong wheat and weak wheat flours; the former are what we use in making donuts, bread, and pizza... did I tell you I know how to make a really great pizza dough, using two different kinds of high gluten flour?
Pterosaurish: Um.... no... but what about the weak flours?
CG: OH! Yes! The weak flours... you would never make pizza with them. Do you know why?
Pterosaurish: Er... not really?
CG: Their gluten levels are too low, so the pizza wouldn't rise properly. No... we use these weak flours in making cakes and the like.
Pterosaurish: So what are the differences we are talking about here?
CG: Well, the pizza dough requires a high gluten flour, so I use a flour with 12.5% gluten. To make a cake I would use a flour with about 8% gluten.
Pterosaurish: I see. Well, thank you very much for this enlightening information about this dietary danger.
CG: It has been entirely my pleasure.
No question about it. If you look at many popular foods, wheat is a major ingredient. It's the number one ingredient in Cinnamon Toast Crunch (breakfast cereal) for example. Cosmic Brownies also contain wheat. Twinkies (soon to make a comeback in the American diet) contain this dangerous substance. And even popular Krispy Kreme donuts have — yes, you guessed it — wheat, as the main ingredient! And that is not all! Even Entenmann's Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies and Pepperidge Farm Pretzel Goldfish are laced with this high-risk material! And every, single one of the 14 billion pizzas pumped out by the Pizza Hut chain (founded in 1958) last year was adulterated with wheat flour.
Who knew?!
Is it no wonder that Americans are getting fat? The good doctor is right! And not only fat, this viciously introduced "hybrid" wheat is responsible for "heart disease, diabetes, fatigue, acne, arthritis, IBS and even dementia"!
Dementia!
Some clearly deluded naysayers (maybe suffering from early on-set dementia?) make the spurious claim that baguettes (French bread) have been around for centuries and require a high gluten flour to make them, and nobody had "wheat belly" in Queen Antoinette's day (Her admonition, "Let them eat cake!" clearly showed her concern for the health of the masses, since cake contains less gluten than bread). But these naysayers don't have the anecdotal evidence that Dr. Davis has from patients to support their view.
What is next? What frightening steps will the food giants take to engineer their products to make them easier to grow and more profitable? Adding genes from migratory insects so that the wheat will migrate throughout the year, self-adjusting its sunlight and temperature for increased yields? Or engineer it with polar bear genes so it can be planted and grown throughout the winter in icy lands. Can adding squid genes to the wheat be far behind, setting the stage for underwater farming? It is a vast underutilized part of our planet after all!
It is critical that each and every one of us be aware of this grave danger and take immediate steps to correct our eating habits to avoid terrible health problems. I —for one— intend to
cut right back on the number of doughnuts I eat in the morning for breakfast. My health is too important to be left to the devices of unscrupulous companies like Krispy Kreme!
Monday, July 1, 2013
Monday, June 24, 2013
The Scientific Solution
It's not all fun and games here.
Often we have undertaken to solve some of the pressing problems of the day by force of sheer intellectual power. Remember the Senkaku Island dispute? Yep, we came up with an ingenious solution that – somehow – the parties involved are ignoring; there is no accounting for obstinate ignorance. Or how about solving some of our desperate energy predicaments? Yes indeedy! We have been right on top of that too with win-win solutions that save the day.
So to continue that serious intent and not just waste your time with more silliness, today we would like to discuss the problem of global warming that I am sure you have heard about.
First, scientists always tell you... well, actually a lot of other people also tell you – like my teachers in high school who hated me (but that's a different story) – that you need to "define your terms".
They say, "Before we can have a meaningful discussion about this topic, you need to "define your terms" so that we know we are talking about the same thing, on the same page, so to speak. Or they would write (like on one of my term papers that I spent all morning writing!), "You did not define your terms adequately, so your conclusions are nonsense! Attila the Hun being 'hungry' did not lead to the establishment of the country, Hungary."
So what are the terms we need to define in this case? Clearly "global" is one of them. Let's go ahead and define that right here.
global (adj.): referring to globe or globes (like duh?)
Clearly this definition is not adequate to "define our terms" in a way that would have been acceptable to – say – Prof. T in college who I hope has "gone on to his reward in heaven".
(Gone on to (someone's) reward in heaven (v): died)
So let's define "globe" next.
globe (n): a spherical or rounded object.
OK now we are getting somewhere.
Next we need to define "warming".
warming (n): experiencing increasing temperature
So bringing our defining of terms together, we can understand that "global warming" means that spherical or rounded objects are increasing in temperature!
That was easy, wasn't it. It makes you feel good when you do things in a scientific way, knowing that you are on your way to making iron-clad arguments.
(I don't know why the arguments are iron-clad, but if we define our terms, I am sure we can analyze it in a very scientific manner.)
The next step is to look at the terms as defined and try to figure out exactly why this poses a problem. Some spherical or rounded objects – basketballs, for example – can overinflate if they experience too much warming, so we should take steps to keep them in a cool place, maybe out of the sun.
Other spherical or rounded objects, such as cupcakes, will melt the icing you put on them if they are warm, so you should take them out of the oven and let them cool BEFORE you try to frost them.
Other spherical or rounded objects, such as marbles, do not seem to be affected by warming at all, so we cannot identify any specific problem that needs to be solved in a scientific way with them.
- - - - - excuse me, someone is telling me something....
Apparently, the spherical or rounded object in "global warming" that everyone is referring to is the Earth! Who could have guessed that? Someone out there is clearly not "defining terms" adequately and would also get an F from Prof. T.
So the whole Earth is warming. OK. This is not an insurmountable problem. We simply need to find an analogy in more local terms (think locally, act globally) to help us understand how we can deal with the larger problem.
We mentioned basketballs earlier. Hopefully you still remember that. What was the solution to the basketballs being overly warm and getting overinflated?
Yes, you are right. We need to keep them in a cool place out of the sun.
What can we do about the Earth getting overheated? Same thing! We need to keep it out of the sun.
What do you do when YOU want to keep out of the sun?
You go indoors.
OK, this is not an acceptable solution. What else do you do?
You carry an umbrella.
Now we are getting somewhere!
We need to make a big umbrella that can be launched into space to shield our planet from the sun's rays. This umbrella cannot shadow the Earth all the time, as we need some sun for growing crops, keeping our weather moving, and getting suntans to look good on the beach. But it could be put into an orbit that would shadow the earth – say – an hour or so a day during daylight hours, reducing the sun's heat hitting the earth by 10%. This would immediately have a cooling effect on our planet, and we could go on using fossil fuels and increasing global warming gases in the atmosphere with impunity. If it got warmer again, we could simply shoot up another bumbershoot.
I hope you have learned something about the scientific approach to problem solving today. There are too many people out there who simply refuse to recognize that science can provide answers to problems and instead rely on outdated techniques such as prayer or rain dances.
- - - - - - - - - -
I thought I was the first to come up with the umbrella solution, but apparently not. There are other deep thinkers out there who have also hit upon this same solution! Another idea they have is to paint large areas of the planet white (think Australia) to reflect the sun's rays and keep the planet cool.
Often we have undertaken to solve some of the pressing problems of the day by force of sheer intellectual power. Remember the Senkaku Island dispute? Yep, we came up with an ingenious solution that – somehow – the parties involved are ignoring; there is no accounting for obstinate ignorance. Or how about solving some of our desperate energy predicaments? Yes indeedy! We have been right on top of that too with win-win solutions that save the day.
So to continue that serious intent and not just waste your time with more silliness, today we would like to discuss the problem of global warming that I am sure you have heard about.
First, scientists always tell you... well, actually a lot of other people also tell you – like my teachers in high school who hated me (but that's a different story) – that you need to "define your terms".
They say, "Before we can have a meaningful discussion about this topic, you need to "define your terms" so that we know we are talking about the same thing, on the same page, so to speak. Or they would write (like on one of my term papers that I spent all morning writing!), "You did not define your terms adequately, so your conclusions are nonsense! Attila the Hun being 'hungry' did not lead to the establishment of the country, Hungary."
So what are the terms we need to define in this case? Clearly "global" is one of them. Let's go ahead and define that right here.
global (adj.): referring to globe or globes (like duh?)
Clearly this definition is not adequate to "define our terms" in a way that would have been acceptable to – say – Prof. T in college who I hope has "gone on to his reward in heaven".
(Gone on to (someone's) reward in heaven (v): died)
So let's define "globe" next.
globe (n): a spherical or rounded object.
OK now we are getting somewhere.
Next we need to define "warming".
warming (n): experiencing increasing temperature
So bringing our defining of terms together, we can understand that "global warming" means that spherical or rounded objects are increasing in temperature!
That was easy, wasn't it. It makes you feel good when you do things in a scientific way, knowing that you are on your way to making iron-clad arguments.
(I don't know why the arguments are iron-clad, but if we define our terms, I am sure we can analyze it in a very scientific manner.)
The next step is to look at the terms as defined and try to figure out exactly why this poses a problem. Some spherical or rounded objects – basketballs, for example – can overinflate if they experience too much warming, so we should take steps to keep them in a cool place, maybe out of the sun.
Other spherical or rounded objects, such as cupcakes, will melt the icing you put on them if they are warm, so you should take them out of the oven and let them cool BEFORE you try to frost them.
Other spherical or rounded objects, such as marbles, do not seem to be affected by warming at all, so we cannot identify any specific problem that needs to be solved in a scientific way with them.
- - - - - excuse me, someone is telling me something....
Apparently, the spherical or rounded object in "global warming" that everyone is referring to is the Earth! Who could have guessed that? Someone out there is clearly not "defining terms" adequately and would also get an F from Prof. T.
So the whole Earth is warming. OK. This is not an insurmountable problem. We simply need to find an analogy in more local terms (think locally, act globally) to help us understand how we can deal with the larger problem.
We mentioned basketballs earlier. Hopefully you still remember that. What was the solution to the basketballs being overly warm and getting overinflated?
Yes, you are right. We need to keep them in a cool place out of the sun.
What can we do about the Earth getting overheated? Same thing! We need to keep it out of the sun.
What do you do when YOU want to keep out of the sun?
You go indoors.
OK, this is not an acceptable solution. What else do you do?
You carry an umbrella.
Now we are getting somewhere!
We need to make a big umbrella that can be launched into space to shield our planet from the sun's rays. This umbrella cannot shadow the Earth all the time, as we need some sun for growing crops, keeping our weather moving, and getting suntans to look good on the beach. But it could be put into an orbit that would shadow the earth – say – an hour or so a day during daylight hours, reducing the sun's heat hitting the earth by 10%. This would immediately have a cooling effect on our planet, and we could go on using fossil fuels and increasing global warming gases in the atmosphere with impunity. If it got warmer again, we could simply shoot up another bumbershoot.
I hope you have learned something about the scientific approach to problem solving today. There are too many people out there who simply refuse to recognize that science can provide answers to problems and instead rely on outdated techniques such as prayer or rain dances.
- - - - - - - - - -
I thought I was the first to come up with the umbrella solution, but apparently not. There are other deep thinkers out there who have also hit upon this same solution! Another idea they have is to paint large areas of the planet white (think Australia) to reflect the sun's rays and keep the planet cool.
Monday, June 17, 2013
When a Cat Goes Wrong
Hello everyone and welcome to our show: Your Pet, Your Life.
We all do what we can to make sure our pets are happy and healthy. We pay for their medical check-ups and vaccinations. We buy the best food. We entertain them with toys and exercise. But despite our very best efforts, sometimes the pet diverges from the straight and narrow, goes rogue and becomes a delinquent pet.
Today we will explore these issues of pet psychology with our guest, well-known cat psychologist, Dr. Gato Pussi.
Pterosaurish: Welcome to the program Dr. Pussi. We are all interested in hearing what you have to say about how owners can best prevent their pets from developing serious psychological disorders.
Dr. Pussi: Thank you so much. Frankly, a lot of a pet's psychological well-being depends on its owners.
Let's start today by picking up a typical example of what can go wrong in an owner-pet relationship and how the pet can be disturbed for life by the experience.
Here is a case that was recently reported to my clinic by one of my interns.
A female cat — we will call her "P" to protect her identity — has been living in her owners' house now for 12 years. Found languishing under a shrine where she had been discarded by her first owners, she was brought into her new place at still a very early age, perhaps several months old. Her life, therefore, began in trauma, but — dutifully — her owners undertook to overcome the dysfunction of her early months by welcoming her and providing the stability and security that they thought she needed.
There were already two female cats in the house, so introducing a third was clearly establishing an uncertain balance. Groups of three are notoriously unstable among humans, so this seemingly small defect in P's new environment might have planted the seeds for her formative pathology.
This was probably the initial mistake.
The first symptoms of her disorder appeared the very first evening of her arrival. She immediately decided that the other two cats were totally unnecessary to a happy and fulfilling cat-human relationship and did her best to pester and attack the other two pets, hoping to make them move out. Only the timely intervention by the oldest cat prevented P from asserting a problematic dominance in the household. These periodic "interventions" notwithstanding, P continued over the years to test the limits. When the oldest cat died, the second cat — totally lacking in any aggressive genes — was exposed to P's relentless persecution.
The evolution of P's chronic condition continued.
Several stray kittens, for example, were found beside the road and brought into the house temporarily by the owners as they looked for new homes for them. P demonstrated her unhappiness with these invasive competitors by trying to kill them. The owners, perhaps blinded by their years with P, did not see this development as a new turn for the worse in P's behavior.
And soon, to replace the oldest cat who had died, a new kitten (male) was brought into the household. P's refusal to accept any additional challenge to her position in the house caused her to try to kill the new cat at every turn. So aggressive was her behavior that the two of them had to be separated completely. Neither was allowed out of a closed room while the other had run of the house.
The newcomer, for his part, admittedly provoked P and can be blamed for some of the "acting out" that became more prominent in P's relationship with him and with the house itself which she clawed to ribbons in her frustration. But it goes without saying that the groundwork for a full-blown psychosis had already been well established.
Unfortunately, the new cat was run over after only three years in the household, but this enabled P to return to a seemingly more stable period of psychological equilibrium. Her protectiveness of her territory and constant vigilance in surveiling her domain, however, should have revealed the growing Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) that lay just beneath the surface of an outwardly calm demeanor.
On one occasion, for example, a stray kitten traversed the owners' lot when P was outside. It wasn't long before P brought the kitten — now dead — back to the house and dropped it triumphantly at the door, much to the shock and dismay of the owners.
Clearly their being in denial about the course their cat was taking was not contributing to the pet's rehabilitation or recovery.
As the years passed, P continued to exhibit adjustment "issues" most of which the owners attributed – falsely — to the trauma of having been abandoned as a kitten under the shrine by her first owners. Refusing to see that their own behavior in not setting rules and requiring P to follow them and also introducing a rival into the house, provoking her already well-developed pathology, the owners have to accept a lot of the blame for the problem.
When P would act-out or manifest symptoms of her underlying disorder, the owners would — perhaps jokingly — suggest loudly that P be returned to the shrine where she was found. Of course P could hear these comments, and this only contributed to an even greater sense of insecurity and tendencies towards OCD.
Pterosaurish: So what you are saying is that the owners themselves contributed to the problems that P was suffering from?
Dr. Pussi: Yes, there is no question about it. Though they were well-meaning and did all the things owners are supposed to do in raising a cat, certain of their actions undermined their well-intended behavior and caused P to suffer this psychological condition.
Pterosaurish: So what did you recommend for treatment?
Dr. Pussi: I first prescribed a regimen of drug therapy, involving powdered catnip, but P proved to be resistant to this remedy, so I had to go to the next level and prescribe "matatabi", a relative of the kiwifruit plant, which has a psychotropic effect on a cat's nervous system.
Pterosaurish: And was this successful?
Dr. Pussi: Yes, I am happy to say that this has provided some relief from the more aggressive symptoms of her disorder, but I am also recommending behavioral modification and counseling for the owners as a part of a complete rehabilitation program.
Pterosaurish: Well... we hope for the best for this poor kitty. Thank you so much for being with us today, Dr. Pussi. We look forward to having you back again to discuss other pet-owner problems and how they can be resolved.
Dr. Pussi: Thank you for having me; it's been my pleasure.
We all do what we can to make sure our pets are happy and healthy. We pay for their medical check-ups and vaccinations. We buy the best food. We entertain them with toys and exercise. But despite our very best efforts, sometimes the pet diverges from the straight and narrow, goes rogue and becomes a delinquent pet.
Today we will explore these issues of pet psychology with our guest, well-known cat psychologist, Dr. Gato Pussi.
Pterosaurish: Welcome to the program Dr. Pussi. We are all interested in hearing what you have to say about how owners can best prevent their pets from developing serious psychological disorders.
Dr. Pussi: Thank you so much. Frankly, a lot of a pet's psychological well-being depends on its owners.
Let's start today by picking up a typical example of what can go wrong in an owner-pet relationship and how the pet can be disturbed for life by the experience.
Here is a case that was recently reported to my clinic by one of my interns.
A female cat — we will call her "P" to protect her identity — has been living in her owners' house now for 12 years. Found languishing under a shrine where she had been discarded by her first owners, she was brought into her new place at still a very early age, perhaps several months old. Her life, therefore, began in trauma, but — dutifully — her owners undertook to overcome the dysfunction of her early months by welcoming her and providing the stability and security that they thought she needed.
There were already two female cats in the house, so introducing a third was clearly establishing an uncertain balance. Groups of three are notoriously unstable among humans, so this seemingly small defect in P's new environment might have planted the seeds for her formative pathology.
This was probably the initial mistake.
The first symptoms of her disorder appeared the very first evening of her arrival. She immediately decided that the other two cats were totally unnecessary to a happy and fulfilling cat-human relationship and did her best to pester and attack the other two pets, hoping to make them move out. Only the timely intervention by the oldest cat prevented P from asserting a problematic dominance in the household. These periodic "interventions" notwithstanding, P continued over the years to test the limits. When the oldest cat died, the second cat — totally lacking in any aggressive genes — was exposed to P's relentless persecution.
The evolution of P's chronic condition continued.
 |
| P at rest |
And soon, to replace the oldest cat who had died, a new kitten (male) was brought into the household. P's refusal to accept any additional challenge to her position in the house caused her to try to kill the new cat at every turn. So aggressive was her behavior that the two of them had to be separated completely. Neither was allowed out of a closed room while the other had run of the house.
The newcomer, for his part, admittedly provoked P and can be blamed for some of the "acting out" that became more prominent in P's relationship with him and with the house itself which she clawed to ribbons in her frustration. But it goes without saying that the groundwork for a full-blown psychosis had already been well established.
Unfortunately, the new cat was run over after only three years in the household, but this enabled P to return to a seemingly more stable period of psychological equilibrium. Her protectiveness of her territory and constant vigilance in surveiling her domain, however, should have revealed the growing Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) that lay just beneath the surface of an outwardly calm demeanor.
On one occasion, for example, a stray kitten traversed the owners' lot when P was outside. It wasn't long before P brought the kitten — now dead — back to the house and dropped it triumphantly at the door, much to the shock and dismay of the owners.
Clearly their being in denial about the course their cat was taking was not contributing to the pet's rehabilitation or recovery.
As the years passed, P continued to exhibit adjustment "issues" most of which the owners attributed – falsely — to the trauma of having been abandoned as a kitten under the shrine by her first owners. Refusing to see that their own behavior in not setting rules and requiring P to follow them and also introducing a rival into the house, provoking her already well-developed pathology, the owners have to accept a lot of the blame for the problem.
When P would act-out or manifest symptoms of her underlying disorder, the owners would — perhaps jokingly — suggest loudly that P be returned to the shrine where she was found. Of course P could hear these comments, and this only contributed to an even greater sense of insecurity and tendencies towards OCD.
Pterosaurish: So what you are saying is that the owners themselves contributed to the problems that P was suffering from?
Dr. Pussi: Yes, there is no question about it. Though they were well-meaning and did all the things owners are supposed to do in raising a cat, certain of their actions undermined their well-intended behavior and caused P to suffer this psychological condition.
Pterosaurish: So what did you recommend for treatment?
Dr. Pussi: I first prescribed a regimen of drug therapy, involving powdered catnip, but P proved to be resistant to this remedy, so I had to go to the next level and prescribe "matatabi", a relative of the kiwifruit plant, which has a psychotropic effect on a cat's nervous system.
Pterosaurish: And was this successful?
Dr. Pussi: Yes, I am happy to say that this has provided some relief from the more aggressive symptoms of her disorder, but I am also recommending behavioral modification and counseling for the owners as a part of a complete rehabilitation program.
Pterosaurish: Well... we hope for the best for this poor kitty. Thank you so much for being with us today, Dr. Pussi. We look forward to having you back again to discuss other pet-owner problems and how they can be resolved.
Dr. Pussi: Thank you for having me; it's been my pleasure.
Monday, June 10, 2013
妻源病 or WID
It was bound to happen.
No sooner does Japanese psychology come up with an explanation for some of the illnesses of women by blaming it on their husbands (see earlier post here), than a similar cause for the disabilities of men is found in their wives, Wife-Induced Disease.
One thing is different; however, in the case of women their spousal "allergies" affect them at any age, while men seem to fall prey to this disorder in middle age.
What are the symptoms?
One man reported a rapid heartbeat and "pains in the area of his temples" on his train ride home from work. Another claimed cold sweats and dizziness so bad he had to be saved from falling onto the train tracks from the platform. All this from merely imagining the "frosty expression" on his wife's face.
What is the cause of this disorder?
One company doctor suggests that a devotion to work is common among middle-aged men and this gives them a great deal of pride. When a wife does not appreciate this effort – perhaps wearying of cleaning up after his drunken returns from company carousing – he feels stress.
Another psychiatrist, Dr. Yonekura, who works at the improbably named "Joy Total Clinic" (sounds like a "massage parlor") which is staffed entirely by young female physicians (only in Japan) suggests that men go through a menopause-like experience in their middle years too. This can cause palpitations and vertigo. These symptoms combined with spending more time with their wives in their "empty nest" houses can cause stress and an exacerbation of the disorder, according to Dr. Yonekura.
How do you know if you are susceptible to this disorder?
Well... first of all you need to be a middle-aged man – between the ages of 40 and 50 is perfect.
Then have a look at this checklist (conveniently provided by the Taishu Weekly which first reported this medical condition) and see if you are vulnerable.
Interestingly, some of these items such as being a perfectionist and thinking one is helping as much as possible with the household chores are themselves causes for the women's ailment, HSD – Husband-Sourced Disease.
There are other suggestions as well, such as "trying to get along with your wife's parents better", but these seem like they would be more stressful to the middle-aged, Japanese salary man, so it's hard to recommend them here.
The divorce rate among middle-aged couples and those of retirement age has increased 300% from the early 1990s to the early 2000s. Moreover among those who have been married for 20 years (middle-aged couples, since Japanese marry late), the divorce rate has soared, in many cases because the wife is sick and tired of her husband spending so much time at work, and "being treated like a servant".
What can you – the middle-aged man – do if you are faced with these difficult symptoms? Divorce is not listed as one of the options for either of these conditions; far it be from me to suggest such draconian measures here. Instead, you should learn to develop a "playful mind". This is described in terms of finding some hobby (not having an affair) such as "playing with remotely controlled models"; in other words, entertain the notion of a second childhood.
The burgeoning divorce rate clearly shows that for many couples the cure for these two debilitating disorders has taken its own course, but you – the worried middle-aged guy – don't want to go the "nuclear route", so take my advice and have a second childhood! Go out and get that radio-controlled airplane you always wanted, or take up wind-surfing. Take to heart the common expression "boys and their toys"! When you clutter the house with your models and other toys, keeping a childlike absorption in your hobby, your wife will see you in a new light and the symptoms of your malady will disappear. Of course, your wife might too, but because you are in your second childhood, you might not notice — not until no dinner is served and the laundry piles up, at any rate.
No sooner does Japanese psychology come up with an explanation for some of the illnesses of women by blaming it on their husbands (see earlier post here), than a similar cause for the disabilities of men is found in their wives, Wife-Induced Disease.
One thing is different; however, in the case of women their spousal "allergies" affect them at any age, while men seem to fall prey to this disorder in middle age.
What are the symptoms?
One man reported a rapid heartbeat and "pains in the area of his temples" on his train ride home from work. Another claimed cold sweats and dizziness so bad he had to be saved from falling onto the train tracks from the platform. All this from merely imagining the "frosty expression" on his wife's face.
What is the cause of this disorder?
One company doctor suggests that a devotion to work is common among middle-aged men and this gives them a great deal of pride. When a wife does not appreciate this effort – perhaps wearying of cleaning up after his drunken returns from company carousing – he feels stress.
Another psychiatrist, Dr. Yonekura, who works at the improbably named "Joy Total Clinic" (sounds like a "massage parlor") which is staffed entirely by young female physicians (only in Japan) suggests that men go through a menopause-like experience in their middle years too. This can cause palpitations and vertigo. These symptoms combined with spending more time with their wives in their "empty nest" houses can cause stress and an exacerbation of the disorder, according to Dr. Yonekura.
How do you know if you are susceptible to this disorder?
Well... first of all you need to be a middle-aged man – between the ages of 40 and 50 is perfect.
Then have a look at this checklist (conveniently provided by the Taishu Weekly which first reported this medical condition) and see if you are vulnerable.
- I’m something of a perfectionist
- I have trouble falling asleep
- I suffer from unexplained episodes of sweating, vertigo or palpitations
- I help as much as possible with household chores
- Our children are financially independent and married
- I’m often at home since I have already retired
- I exhibit more fatigue than does my wife
- We never engage in marital spats
- As a married couple we seem to understand each other without the need to speak
- My wife suffers from menopause-related problems
Interestingly, some of these items such as being a perfectionist and thinking one is helping as much as possible with the household chores are themselves causes for the women's ailment, HSD – Husband-Sourced Disease.
There are other suggestions as well, such as "trying to get along with your wife's parents better", but these seem like they would be more stressful to the middle-aged, Japanese salary man, so it's hard to recommend them here.
The divorce rate among middle-aged couples and those of retirement age has increased 300% from the early 1990s to the early 2000s. Moreover among those who have been married for 20 years (middle-aged couples, since Japanese marry late), the divorce rate has soared, in many cases because the wife is sick and tired of her husband spending so much time at work, and "being treated like a servant".
What can you – the middle-aged man – do if you are faced with these difficult symptoms? Divorce is not listed as one of the options for either of these conditions; far it be from me to suggest such draconian measures here. Instead, you should learn to develop a "playful mind". This is described in terms of finding some hobby (not having an affair) such as "playing with remotely controlled models"; in other words, entertain the notion of a second childhood.
The burgeoning divorce rate clearly shows that for many couples the cure for these two debilitating disorders has taken its own course, but you – the worried middle-aged guy – don't want to go the "nuclear route", so take my advice and have a second childhood! Go out and get that radio-controlled airplane you always wanted, or take up wind-surfing. Take to heart the common expression "boys and their toys"! When you clutter the house with your models and other toys, keeping a childlike absorption in your hobby, your wife will see you in a new light and the symptoms of your malady will disappear. Of course, your wife might too, but because you are in your second childhood, you might not notice — not until no dinner is served and the laundry piles up, at any rate.
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