# Meenie7's invisible friend **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 22, 2008, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409 "2008-07-22T19:38:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 32
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409/621 "2008-08-03T15:32:01Z")
[QUOTE=Ensign Edison] What concern? Where did I show concern? I never said I was worried about him. [/quote] No, you just me too’d the ad hominem hijacking that has been plaguing this thread. It’s a 13 page thread, and it’s been all over the place. Don’t you think discussing Diogenes’ personality in this thread is off topic and getting old? > [@](#): > > ‘Your accusation of me-tooing against me is inaccurate, because I agree with Dio’. You agree with Dio but had to take a shot at him anyway. Why? It’s not concern that’s motivating you, and it’s not the topic of the thread, so… > [@](#): > > Did you have any comment on my actual statements? Not sure why you bothered to post them in a thread that’s not about him. But this thread seems to have gone off the rails of the crazy train a while ago, so I don’t know why I give a shit anymore. Reasonable discussion on the actual topic is over, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409/622 "2008-08-03T15:39:50Z")
[QUOTE=Rubystreak] No, you just me too’d the ad hominem hijacking that has been plaguing this thread. It’s a 13 page thread, and it’s been all over the place. Don’t you think discussing Diogenes’ personality in this thread is off topic and getting old? [/quote] Apparently not to you, because here you are arguing about it. > [@](#): > > You agree with Dio but had to take a shot at him anyway. Why? It’s not concern that’s motivating you, and it’s not the topic of the thread, so… Why do you care why? > [@](#): > > Not sure why you bothered to post them in a thread that’s not about him. But this thread seems to have gone off the rails of the crazy train a while ago, so I don’t know why I give a shit anymore. Reasonable discussion on the actual topic is over, apparently. So, no, then, you have no comment about the content of my statements. Pretty funny for someone complaining about a supposed hijack (hint: you can’t on one hand say the thread has become all about Dio so why am I piling on, then say it’s not about Dio). ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409/623 "2008-08-03T16:08:40Z")
[QUOTE=Ensign Edison] I wonder if Dio is drunk posting half the time and scrambling to cover for it the other half. [/QUOTE] I don’t drink, and my posts are not inconsistent in content. The emotional tone may change over the course of several hours or days. Of course it does. Who’s always at the exact same emotional level all the time (well you seem to always be in a state of indignant rage, but most people have the ability to calm down once in a while)? So yeah, I might be more pissed when I write an OP than I am 4 hours or a week later, but my actual points have not changed. ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409/624 "2008-08-03T16:52:54Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] I don’t drink, and my posts are not inconsistent in content. The emotional tone may change over the course of several hours or days. Of course it does. Who’s always at the exact same emotional level all the time (well you seem to always be in a state of indignant rage, but most people have the ability to calm down once in a while)? So yeah, I might be more pissed when I write an OP than I am 4 hours or a week later, but my actual points have not changed. [/QUOTE] What about my posts indicates a state of indignant rage to you? I think you must be projecting a tone based on a preconceived notion about me. I don’t even know how you’d get an impression about me at all. I spend weeks and months away from this place. I’ve been a member for five years and still haven’t hit 2500 posts. My average is a little over one post per day, most of which have no rage content at all. _Years ago_ I did post in the Pit a lot, but with no more vitriol than is typical and acceptable here, and usually with a lot of clear tongue-in-cheek humor about it. What I perceived was not a general, gradual change in your posting but a tendency to defend obviously hostile remarks as if they were made in the same calm frame of mind you returned with. It’s not the change in moods but the general denial that any change has occurred that made me wonder. Obviously then if you’re acknowledging it, my point is invalid. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409/625 "2008-08-03T17:05:41Z")
[QUOTE=Ensign Edison] What about my posts indicates a state of indignant rage to you? [/quote] You seem to be offended a lot. At least when you post in response to me. > [@](#): > > What I perceived was not a general, gradual change in your posting but a tendency to defend obviously hostile remarks as if they were made in the same calm frame of mind you returned with. It’s not the change in moods but the general denial that any change has occurred that made me wonder. Obviously then if you’re acknowledging it, my point is invalid. It is a quirk of my personality that my temper flares up and then goes out very quickly. I have no simmer. It’s just immediately to 10 and then a few minutes later I’m calm again. It’s how I am in real life. My wife thinks it’s weird too. I don’t know why I’m like that, I just am. ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409/626 "2008-08-03T17:24:20Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] You seem to be offended a lot. At least when you post in response to me. [/quote] I agree with you much of the time. It may be that because I see you as like-minded in general, when I disagree with you I’m quicker to be direct and not sufficiently civil. I’ll try to improve on that. > [@](#): > > It is a quirk of my personality that my temper flares up and then goes out very quickly. I have no simmer. It’s just immediately to 10 and then a few minutes later I’m calm again. It’s how I am in real life. My wife thinks it’s weird too. I don’t know why I’m like that, I just am. Makes sense to me. Thanks for the explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409/627 "2008-08-03T19:24:07Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] I’m talking about people with _untreated_ psychotic disorders. [/QUOTE] And I haven’t been treated in about 15 years. A psychiatrist determined my psychoses are too minor to warrant treatment. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409/628 "2008-08-03T20:31:43Z")
[QUOTE=Lute Skywatcher] And I haven’t been treated in about 15 years. A psychiatrist determined my psychoses are too minor to warrant treatment. [/QUOTE] If it’s too minor to warrant treatment, I don’t think it can properly be called psychosis. Perhaps you mean you were no longer displaying psychotic behavior? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409/629 "2008-08-03T22:05:03Z")
[QUOTE=Vinyl Turnip] If it’s too minor to warrant treatment, I don’t think it can properly be called psychosis. Perhaps you mean you were no longer displaying psychotic behavior? [/QUOTE] No, I still display some psychotic behavior but not frequent enough to be a danger. My stay in the hospital was during an unusually bad period. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409/630 "2008-08-03T22:52:46Z")
A stay in a hospital counts as treatment. You also aren’t done living yet. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409/631 "2008-08-03T23:11:15Z")
[QUOTE=Lute Skywatcher] No, I still display some psychotic behavior but not frequent enough to be a danger. My stay in the hospital was during an unusually bad period. [/QUOTE] Not being a danger isn’t quite the same as not needing treatment, of course, unless by treatment you strictly mean commitment to a hospital. I obviously don’t know the details of your experience, but I find it hard to believe that a psychiatrist wouldn’t recommend _some_ form of ongoing treatment—if only medication or therapy— for a patient still experiencing psychotic episodes, however infrequent. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409/632 "2008-08-03T23:44:20Z")
[QUOTE=Vinyl Turnip] Not being a danger isn’t quite the same as not needing treatment, of course, unless by treatment you strictly mean commitment to a hospital. [/quote] Perhaps I chose the wrong word that time. > [@](#): > > I find it hard to believe that a psychiatrist wouldn’t recommend _some_ form of ongoing treatment—if only medication or therapy— for a patient still experiencing psychotic episodes, however infrequent. All I know is that the psychiatrist who saw me after my attempt (spring, '90) said my illness is not at a level that requires treatment. That obviously changed for about five months in '93 but otherwise I’ve never needed any sort of treatment. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409/633 "2008-08-03T23:52:03Z")
Not as an adult, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409/634 "2008-08-04T00:49:22Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] It is a quirk of my personality that my temper flares up and then goes out very quickly. I have no simmer. It’s just immediately to 10 and then a few minutes later I’m calm again. It’s how I am in real life. My wife thinks it’s weird too. I don’t know why I’m like that, I just am. [/QUOTE] Severe mood swings can be a sign of a serious mental condition. I recommend you see a psychologist. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409/635 "2008-08-04T02:57:31Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] A stay in a hospital counts as treatment. You also aren’t done living yet. [/QUOTE] What is your point? Are you asserting that **Lute Skywatcher** will inevitably descend into madness, like all mental patients? That’s bullshit, by the way. Most schizophrenics actually find that their symptoms _improve_ over time, whether they receive treatment or not. [QUOTE=Lord Ashtar] Severe mood swings can be a sign of a serious mental condition. I recommend you [Diogenes] see a psychologist. [/QUOTE] QFT. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409/636 "2008-08-04T03:13:21Z")
[QUOTE=KGS] What is your point? Are you asserting that **Lute Skywatcher** will inevitably descend into madness, like all mental patients? That’s bullshit, by the way. Most schizophrenics actually find that their symptoms _improve_ over time, whether they receive treatment or not. [/quote] Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409/637 "2008-08-04T03:17:26Z")
Ditton on that cite? What the fuck is “QFT,” by the way? ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409/638 "2008-08-04T03:19:10Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] What the fuck is “QFT,” by the way? [/QUOTE] Quoted For Truth. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409/639 "2008-08-04T03:38:38Z")
> [@](#): > > **DTC** : I do know that even if there is a therapeutic reason to humor psychiatric delusions, the posters on this message board are not the ones to be doing it. Humoring or not humoring someone with possible delusions is a decision that non-trained people have to make from time to time. You seem to have determined that _not humoring_ is the official and correct approach that non-professionals should be taking in the absence of a professional. How did you reach that conclusion? ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409/640 "2008-08-04T03:49:50Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] Humoring or not humoring someone with possible delusions is a decision that non-trained people have to make from time to time. You seem to have determined that _not humoring_ is the official and correct approach that non-professionals should be taking in the absence of a professional. How did you reach that conclusion? [/QUOTE] Some people just dislike bullshit. I know, hard for you to imagine, but there it is. We don’t know if meenie is mentally ill, but on a message board devoted to fighting ignorance (reiterating that cliche sorta makes me gag after this thread), tiptoeing around someone who says they’ve had an intimate personal relationship with a ghost, whether she’s deceptive or delusional, seems like a pretty unacceptable approach. YMMV. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409.md?page=31) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meenie7s-invisible-friend/457409.md?page=33)