My Strange Addiction
***Edited to Add:
Even Jimmy Kimmel was disturbed by this. Watch this video from his show last night:
Has anyone else watched this show on TLC? I was getting some things ready for the children's resale yesterday and had a huge pile of things I had to iron. I HATE to iron. That is one of the things I made sure my husband knew when we got married - I don't iron and if it can't be unwrinkled in the dryer then that is his problem. I bet in 7 years of marriage I have ironed maybe 4 times. Anyhoo, the point is I hate to iron so to distract myself I set up the ironing board (we don't even have a real one, it's one of those tiny ones that goes under the bed) on the coffee table and tried to find something entertaining to watch on tv while I got 'er done. My undergrad degree is in psychology so I am drawn to any type of show that examines human behavior. I love Intervention, Hoarders, 48 Hours Mystery, Cops, Deadliest Catch, all of the Real Housewives (ha!) because they show people living in situations so different from my own boring life and I love trying to figure out why these people act they way they act. I had seen My Strange Addiction a few months ago and set it to auto-record when the new season came on. I was delighted to find that two new episodes had recorded and turned them on while I got to ironing.
The episode that I had previously watched was about a woman who ate toilet tissue. Like, she carried a roll around with her and would eat squares of the toilet paper when the craving struck her. The sad part about this show is that most of the strange addictions are very harmful to the addict's health. The toilet paper eating woman was in danger of intestinal blockages and nutritional imbalances. Another episode I watched was about a woman who was addicted to the smell of gasoline. She sniffed gas something like 25 times a day. She carried around a jar of gasoline with her and became combative towards her family when they confronted her about it. Over time, she had developed the same mental impairments that come from having traumatic brain injuries like strokes and aneurysms. How sad, but how fascinating to me. What would compel an adult to put the first piece of toilet paper in their mouth or sniff gas for the first time? What is happening in your brain that a) tells you its okay to do that? and b) that is it rewarding or enjoyable enough to continue to do the behavior to the point of addiction? We all have our issues, I know my drug of choice is food so I am not judging these people at all. I just wonder the path your life has taken to get to this point in your life of having such a strange addiction?
The episodes I watched during my ironing binge were some of the most disturbing I have ever seen. The first person on the show was addicted to snorting baby powder. She could pour baby powder in to a bowl, take a spoon, and pack the heaping spoonful in to her nose. Just like a for real drug, but she experienced no physiological high or reaction to it like one would with any other snorted drug. The sad part about her, and the thing that puzzled me, was she saw nothing wrong with it and had no desire to stop. She had been doing it for 16 years, something like 9000 lbs of baby powder, and since she had experienced no side effects so far she was not going to stop. The physician she met with at the urging of her family told her that most baby powder contains talc, which can lead to lung cancer and other serious respiratory issues with long term exposure. Even with that information, she had no desire to stop.
The next woman on the show was addicted to eating cat food. She had been through a divorce and lived alone with her three cats. One day, for some reason, she ate one of her cat's treats. The overly dramatic narrator on the show let us know that she was instantly hooked. I've heard it goes cocaine, meth, heroin, and then cat food on the addiction scale.... So she lives almost solely on cat food. She eats the treats, talking about which flavors have the best taste and she also eats the wet cat food, with a spoon, straight out of the can. She reasoned that since it was safe for cats, then obviously it had to be fit for humans. Her family was rightfully concerned about her and when she visited the doctor she learned that cat food contains animals byproducts, which are all the leftover pieces from other processing and can contain diseased or decomposing dogs and cats. Barf-a-roni!!! Can you imagine? The smell of cat food makes me want to ralph. And furthermore, why did she think cat food is so much cheaper than human food? There's not a joke about retirees living on Alpo for the taste of it. This woman was able to change her behavior and eventually was able to abstain from the cat food and go back to a diet of human food.
The last guys was the most disturbing yet sickly fascinating. He was a young male, probably late 20s or early 30s, who was involved in an intimate relationship with his car. And when they said intimate, they meant intimate. He had named his car Chase and was totally in love with this inanimate object. He spoke about Chase as if Chase were a human, referencing Chase's emotions and feelings. He and Chase went on dates, spent time together, and the human in the relationship felt very jealous if someone else were to drive or ride in Chase. His car. What in the world happened in this poor guy's life that would lead him in to a relationship with a car? He told his poor dad, and the dad had no idea how to react. How would you react if you were related to or friend with this individual? The thing I found most interesting from this segment was the guy went to a psychotherapist and was identified as having object sexuality. Like heterosexual people are attracted to the opposite sex, homosexual people are attracted to the same sex, object sexual people are attracted to objects. What a fascinating organ the human brain is. I mean really, this person - whether by choice or as a result of some type of incident - is attracted to a car. Instead of wanting a relationship with anybody, male or female, he gives all his time, love, and attention to a car. Did I mention how fascinating this stuff is?
I really, really hate to iron. I think I mentioned that. But watching this show made the time fly by and left me with all kinds of questions and observations. First, we should never assume that anyone we meet is normal. All of these people looked normal on the outside. You never would have guessed that they had such strange addictions. Would you ever meet someone and think they ate toilet paper, snorted baby powder, or were in a relationship with their car? Me either. Second, there is always way more to a person's story than what it seems. There is some deep-seated psychological reason all of these people developed an addiction to the things they did. As a parent that scares me, what am I going to do to make my kids want to sniff gas or bathe in bleach (another episode I saw)? But just as with most drug addicts, something happens to these people that screws up their brain and makes them have an undeniable craving for whatever substance calms them. The thing I can't understand though is when someone does drugs, the chemicals cause a reaction in the brain that stimulate the pleasure center of the brain, causing a high. Eventually it takes more and more to cause that same reaction, leading to addiction. Do these strange addictions stimulate the same thing? I would love to know.
So, there is my arm chair psychology discussion for today. As a stay at home mom, I don't get many chances to think critically or deeply as most of my thoughts center on food, poop, or laundry. I do love this stuff though and I often want to get licensed as a counselor so I can help people figure out the whys of their lives. If you have any strange addictions you would like me to analyze, feel free to drop me a note :)
P.S. - The reason I hate to iron is because when I was young my dad would iron every Sunday night during 60 minutes. I thought that was the most depressing thing ever and swore when I was a grown up I would never iron. And I never do. How is that for deep-seated!
Even Jimmy Kimmel was disturbed by this. Watch this video from his show last night:
Has anyone else watched this show on TLC? I was getting some things ready for the children's resale yesterday and had a huge pile of things I had to iron. I HATE to iron. That is one of the things I made sure my husband knew when we got married - I don't iron and if it can't be unwrinkled in the dryer then that is his problem. I bet in 7 years of marriage I have ironed maybe 4 times. Anyhoo, the point is I hate to iron so to distract myself I set up the ironing board (we don't even have a real one, it's one of those tiny ones that goes under the bed) on the coffee table and tried to find something entertaining to watch on tv while I got 'er done. My undergrad degree is in psychology so I am drawn to any type of show that examines human behavior. I love Intervention, Hoarders, 48 Hours Mystery, Cops, Deadliest Catch, all of the Real Housewives (ha!) because they show people living in situations so different from my own boring life and I love trying to figure out why these people act they way they act. I had seen My Strange Addiction a few months ago and set it to auto-record when the new season came on. I was delighted to find that two new episodes had recorded and turned them on while I got to ironing.
The episode that I had previously watched was about a woman who ate toilet tissue. Like, she carried a roll around with her and would eat squares of the toilet paper when the craving struck her. The sad part about this show is that most of the strange addictions are very harmful to the addict's health. The toilet paper eating woman was in danger of intestinal blockages and nutritional imbalances. Another episode I watched was about a woman who was addicted to the smell of gasoline. She sniffed gas something like 25 times a day. She carried around a jar of gasoline with her and became combative towards her family when they confronted her about it. Over time, she had developed the same mental impairments that come from having traumatic brain injuries like strokes and aneurysms. How sad, but how fascinating to me. What would compel an adult to put the first piece of toilet paper in their mouth or sniff gas for the first time? What is happening in your brain that a) tells you its okay to do that? and b) that is it rewarding or enjoyable enough to continue to do the behavior to the point of addiction? We all have our issues, I know my drug of choice is food so I am not judging these people at all. I just wonder the path your life has taken to get to this point in your life of having such a strange addiction?
The episodes I watched during my ironing binge were some of the most disturbing I have ever seen. The first person on the show was addicted to snorting baby powder. She could pour baby powder in to a bowl, take a spoon, and pack the heaping spoonful in to her nose. Just like a for real drug, but she experienced no physiological high or reaction to it like one would with any other snorted drug. The sad part about her, and the thing that puzzled me, was she saw nothing wrong with it and had no desire to stop. She had been doing it for 16 years, something like 9000 lbs of baby powder, and since she had experienced no side effects so far she was not going to stop. The physician she met with at the urging of her family told her that most baby powder contains talc, which can lead to lung cancer and other serious respiratory issues with long term exposure. Even with that information, she had no desire to stop.
The next woman on the show was addicted to eating cat food. She had been through a divorce and lived alone with her three cats. One day, for some reason, she ate one of her cat's treats. The overly dramatic narrator on the show let us know that she was instantly hooked. I've heard it goes cocaine, meth, heroin, and then cat food on the addiction scale.... So she lives almost solely on cat food. She eats the treats, talking about which flavors have the best taste and she also eats the wet cat food, with a spoon, straight out of the can. She reasoned that since it was safe for cats, then obviously it had to be fit for humans. Her family was rightfully concerned about her and when she visited the doctor she learned that cat food contains animals byproducts, which are all the leftover pieces from other processing and can contain diseased or decomposing dogs and cats. Barf-a-roni!!! Can you imagine? The smell of cat food makes me want to ralph. And furthermore, why did she think cat food is so much cheaper than human food? There's not a joke about retirees living on Alpo for the taste of it. This woman was able to change her behavior and eventually was able to abstain from the cat food and go back to a diet of human food.
The last guys was the most disturbing yet sickly fascinating. He was a young male, probably late 20s or early 30s, who was involved in an intimate relationship with his car. And when they said intimate, they meant intimate. He had named his car Chase and was totally in love with this inanimate object. He spoke about Chase as if Chase were a human, referencing Chase's emotions and feelings. He and Chase went on dates, spent time together, and the human in the relationship felt very jealous if someone else were to drive or ride in Chase. His car. What in the world happened in this poor guy's life that would lead him in to a relationship with a car? He told his poor dad, and the dad had no idea how to react. How would you react if you were related to or friend with this individual? The thing I found most interesting from this segment was the guy went to a psychotherapist and was identified as having object sexuality. Like heterosexual people are attracted to the opposite sex, homosexual people are attracted to the same sex, object sexual people are attracted to objects. What a fascinating organ the human brain is. I mean really, this person - whether by choice or as a result of some type of incident - is attracted to a car. Instead of wanting a relationship with anybody, male or female, he gives all his time, love, and attention to a car. Did I mention how fascinating this stuff is?
I really, really hate to iron. I think I mentioned that. But watching this show made the time fly by and left me with all kinds of questions and observations. First, we should never assume that anyone we meet is normal. All of these people looked normal on the outside. You never would have guessed that they had such strange addictions. Would you ever meet someone and think they ate toilet paper, snorted baby powder, or were in a relationship with their car? Me either. Second, there is always way more to a person's story than what it seems. There is some deep-seated psychological reason all of these people developed an addiction to the things they did. As a parent that scares me, what am I going to do to make my kids want to sniff gas or bathe in bleach (another episode I saw)? But just as with most drug addicts, something happens to these people that screws up their brain and makes them have an undeniable craving for whatever substance calms them. The thing I can't understand though is when someone does drugs, the chemicals cause a reaction in the brain that stimulate the pleasure center of the brain, causing a high. Eventually it takes more and more to cause that same reaction, leading to addiction. Do these strange addictions stimulate the same thing? I would love to know.
So, there is my arm chair psychology discussion for today. As a stay at home mom, I don't get many chances to think critically or deeply as most of my thoughts center on food, poop, or laundry. I do love this stuff though and I often want to get licensed as a counselor so I can help people figure out the whys of their lives. If you have any strange addictions you would like me to analyze, feel free to drop me a note :)
P.S. - The reason I hate to iron is because when I was young my dad would iron every Sunday night during 60 minutes. I thought that was the most depressing thing ever and swore when I was a grown up I would never iron. And I never do. How is that for deep-seated!
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