u/Aphotic_Acid

Recently I've had this issue when I swallow a pill and it just doesn't *feel right,* I become convinced it is stuck in my esophagus and start drinking more and more water. The water isn't an issue, it's that I often feel it is not enough, so I start doing weird things to my throat. Despite all this, I'm not really satisfied with my efforts because the sensation is still there. I know that even if it does end up going down, it will still feel a little weird. It just makes me nervous that I'll never know if the pill went down or not.

Does anyone else have experience with this? What do you do about it?

Are there any specific names or types of names that would prompt you to question if whoever named them is a hippie?

I've always felt out of place talking to people about how listening to music makes me feel. When I was in middle school, the music teacher was telling us when we were performing a specific song, she could see a ball of light growing bigger and bigger. I thought she must have synesthesia, because the concept sounded completely foreign to me. This was shortly before I discovered I have aphantasia, and I later learned that I possibly have synesthesia. Music does have color to me, I just can't see it.

However, she might not have synesthesia. What she was seeing wasn't a color, it was symbolic imagery that captured her feelings. I assume her experience is not uncommon. What alienates me so much is not that I don't see things, but that I don't feel things. Or at least, not in the same way that others do. The lack of a visual imagination doesn't necessarily equate to not having emotional responses to things. Considering the aphantasia-alexithymia link, perhaps that does play into the reason after all.

Does anyone else feel like they respond differently to music/art? Have you found ways to bridge the gap with others in conversations about it?

I believe I have associative musical sound-color synesthesia. To me, musical pieces have an associated color palette, I've heard others see swirls of color. What about y'all?

I'm a college student with an interest in behavioral neuroscience. I've engaged in various forms of research. Currently I serve as a research assistant for a psychology professor. My favorite research experience was an independent project in which I studied biological factors related to autism.

I'm not a professional, I'm just a student. If you have questions about behavioral neuroscience, I may have little to no knowledge of the particular topic. But with the power of library databases, I will try to find you a paper that answers it.

Sometimes my vocal tics will match music that I'm listening to. Not necessarily the right lyric at the right time, but nobody's perfect. It's annoying though, so when that happens I just try to sing along normally. Sometimes I just sing even if there is no music if I'm getting annoyed with the vocal tics. Does not help with the motor tics though, I would probably need to dance for those.

Other people do this too, right?..

For example, why do people often vote in a way that aligns with their family/community. even if that is not how they would choose to vote without this influence? Is it because of an aversion to withholding that information and/or lying, fear that somehow people will find out what they chose, something else? Does the same apply for online environments like Reddit?

I'm in the process of getting a new psychiatrist, and I'm not sure what to bring to an intake appointment. From my experience, the process is quite informal and unstructured. Sometimes important information fails to get shared that leads to miscommunications later on. This appointment will likely be a while out, but I want to make sure I have everything ready well in advance. Here are some things I'm going to try to make sure I have written down so that I'm confident with my answers when they get asked.

- General demographic information

- All diagnoses, age of receiving them, setting received, and type of provider

- Suspected conditions and reasons why

- Main symptoms of concern and their triggers

- Information about my personal history that explains some of these symptoms/triggers

- What my goals are from treatment

- Psychotherapeutic treatment history with types of treatment received, effects of treatment, start/stop dates, reasons for starting/stopping

- Giant spreadsheet of all psychotropic medications ever taken with the dosage/frequency, effects they had, start/stop dates, reasons for starting/stopping

- Family history containing diagnosed and suspected conditions of family members as well as types of treatment received

- All non-psychiatric medical conditions

- All medications I take for these conditions or may end up needing

I just want this first meeting to go smoothly, I've had so many struggles in the past. I just want to make sure I come in prepared. Is there anything else I could possibly need?

Sometimes when I'm doing something normal like petting my cat, studying, eating, hygiene, etc., I'll get a sense of "I've done this before." Which is... absolutely correct. But the strange part is that I'll also feel that whatever thoughts/emotions I was having in that moment, as well as any memories of events that had happened within the day of that moment had also happened before. This has contributed to some of my hygiene avoidance, so I'm wondering is there anything I can do about it?

Years ago when I got a general psychological evaluation, they were testing my ability to read and write. Later when I was being told the results, and asked about learning disabilities, my psychologist said that they did find something wrong with my reading, but "you're so smart we don't need to do anything." I was a minor at the time, this assessment had been requested by my parents.

My parents later gave me access to the full report, we didn't find anything about this in there. I guess "not doing anything" also meant not even putting it on record. Knowing my psychologist, he probably wanted to "preserve my reputation." I'm inclined to believe what they found was dyslexia, but I just don't know what else exists. What are some differential diagnoses?

My psychiatrist will spend the whole session asking me about how my life is going, with no clear intention to discuss medication/other treatments. I believe that because she knows that I do not see a psychotherapist (and she really wants me to), she tries to fill that position instead. I do not want that from her.

I want her to recommend me off-label medications that I haven't tried yet. I want her to give me psychometrics and help me understand my results. But we never get around to what I want to talk about in session because I don't l know when and how to cut her off from her incessant questions. What do I do?

I've found myself in a few situations where I'm dealing with *mystery liquid* that may or may not be water. Sometimes it's something I didn't even touch, so I don't have knowledge of what substances they were using. If not water, I guess that it's more likely an acid or base given what we tend to use. I just don't always have something with me to test the pH. I'm an undergraduate, I'm not even supposed to handle these things on my own. But if I'm the only person in the room, I like to clean things up so I can leave with peace of mind.

It occurred to me that litmus paper is not that hard to get. I could just carry it with me at all times, or at least know where I can find it in every lab. But with organic compounds, there are probably other things I need to worry about. I'm taking organic chemistry this year, so I'll get to learn all about that. Is there anything else that I can use that is easily accessible and non-hazardous to assess if a chemical is safe to pour down the sink? That's usually all I want to know.

I liked the idea of a dungeon you could travel deeper and deeper into as you progressed through the story. I think there is a way to do it that doesn't make it boring and repetitive, but still keeps the charm of the motif. What does everyone else think?

During the daytime, whenever I need to tint things blue to see the difference, I just hold them up to a window. However with fall coming, that's going to be harder because it'll get darker earlier. What can I use instead?

I have a lot of aloe vera plants, and I don't harvest as often as I should because I don't want them to go moldy in the fridge. It's done that to me before even when I was harvesting one leaf at a time. What are some good ways to store it that aren't too labor intensive and don't compromise its utility?

To me, orange is less easy to distinguish from red and yellow than green is from yellow and blue. I do not know if this is how everyone sees it, or if this means I am indeed a little color blind.

For example: Sitting cross-legged vs on knees, kneeling vs squatting, etc. I know that some of it has to do with joint mobility, but are there other genetic influences? I've heard from one of my biology professor that hand clasping is a genetic trait, but then I saw an article that said that was debunked. https://udel.edu/\~mcdonald/mythhandclasp.html