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RE: AW: "Radiation free zones" etc/Paranoia



Everyone please pull your feet back out of the aisle for a minute--I want to

step on as few toes as practical. First, just because you're paranoid

doesn't mean no one is after you. :-)  More seriously, I've found that the

many hypersensitivities to which I've been exposed from other people, and a

few I've had myself, are developed. They haven't been on the level of a

reflex, but more of a habit. You can test this yourself by deliberately

reacting to any particular stimulus and see how adept you become at picking

it out--you'll get to where you'll know the stimulus was present because you

reacted to it. These can also be undeveloped. However, you have to decide

which ones are worth the effort and which aren't. I could suppress the

allergies I developed as an adult, but when I made the effort, it took so

much more energy that it was easier to take a little tablet when the

symptoms develop and go on with what I'm doing. Others have been more

significant and so were worth the effort.



Here's the toe-stepping part--I've also found that many people prefer to

keep their hypersensitivities for various psychological reasons. In response

to the question, "From a compassionate standpoint, how do you come to 

understand what these people are feeling?" I would caution to be empathetic,

but never sympathetic. There are times that it's easier to accommodate these

quirks in an adult with whom you choose to preserve a relationship, but

similarly to asking a child who's fallen, "Did you hurt the floor?" when you

know they're all right, so they don't over-react to it based on your

expression of concern or sympathy, being sympathetic to an adult will only

exacerbate the situation and won't benefit them or you. Obviously I haven't

been exposed to all types of these (strange) emotions, but I'm speaking from

the limited experience I've had in this area and as a long-time observer of

human behavior (as diplomatically as I can and still convey the point).



Jack Earley

Radiological Engineer





-----Original Message-----

From: Richard L. Hess [mailto:lists@richardhess.com]

Sent: Monday, September 16, 2002 3:39 PM

To: Bjorn Cedervall; radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Subject: Re: AW: "Radiation free zones" etc/Paranoia





Not to defend, but to try and understand:



 From history we have at least Tesla who was apparently hypersensitive to a 

wide variety of things, at least as reported in "Tesla: Man Out of Time" a 

biography by Margaret Cheney. (a popular book, I'm afraid).



 From "art" we have the bubble-man episode from the TV series "Northern 

Exposure." I understood at the time (10 years ago?) that there actually 

were people who had (or at least imagined they had) such sensitivities. I'm 

only bringing this up to the extent that art mirrors life (or sometimes the 

other way around).



I'm surprised in a way that there's such a large suspected population in 

Sweden that might have this challenge. I wonder if the fantastic support 

system there may allow people the time and confidence to be more 

introspective.



I honestly don't know anyone that fits this category. One friend from long 

ago MIGHT have had some sensitivity, but he loved playing with things 

electronic. He just could "feel" some things I couldn't.



One of my usual one-liners is, "I'm paranoid from birth--I'm a native New 

Yorker." We always knew who was around us on the Subways, who was lurking 

in shadows, which dark alleys to bypass on the other side of the street. I 

think you grow up wary in a place like NYC. (And I'm not picking on NYC in 

particular--I just happened to have grown up there).



I think most of us think this hypersensitivity is at least over-blown if 

not bunk. BUT, from a compassionate standpoint, how do you come to 

understand what these people are feeling? I'm perhaps more sensitive to 

this TYPE of thing as I have a son with very bad food allergies--tallest in 

his class, but food allergies nonetheless.



Cheers,



Richard



At 08:38 PM 9/16/2002 +0000, Bjorn Cedervall wrote:

>>Also the letters to the discussion forum are so far away from any sense, 

>>that one should probably be sorry for such people, who are afraid of 

>>everything and see dangers in every aspect of life. Isn't that called

paranoia?

>---

>One of their writers is a retired professional to answer such questions 

>(assoc. prof. in psychiatry). He has written about me recently. I 

>presently do not intend to write about him.



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