I’ve just realized that my information diet is well characterized as an eating disorder. Unfortunately, I’m not able to read about eating disorders (to see if their causes could plausibly result in information-diet analogs and whether their treatments can be used/adapted for information consumption disorders), because I get “sympathy attacks” (pain in my abdomen, weakness in my arms, mild nausea) when I see, hear salient descriptions of, or read about painful or very uncomfortable experiences.
I don’t know what to do at this point. I’d like to have a moderate, preplanned, “3 meals a day” type research schedule. My first thought was to dive into social cognition literature to understand what’s going on behind my sympathy attacks, but then I immediately realized where diving into tangential research usually gets me. What does CBT prescribe in situations like this? Is gradually exposing myself to eating disorder related imagery while in a safe, comfortable environment going to help me extinguish my aversion enough that I can read an article? And not so much that I lose most of my useful negative reaction to eating disorders?
I’ve just realized that my information diet is well characterized as an eating disorder. Unfortunately, I’m not able to read about eating disorders (to see if their causes could plausibly result in information-diet analogs and whether their treatments can be used/adapted for information consumption disorders), because I get “sympathy attacks” (pain in my abdomen, weakness in my arms, mild nausea) when I see, hear salient descriptions of, or read about painful or very uncomfortable experiences.
I don’t know what to do at this point. I’d like to have a moderate, preplanned, “3 meals a day” type research schedule. My first thought was to dive into social cognition literature to understand what’s going on behind my sympathy attacks, but then I immediately realized where diving into tangential research usually gets me. What does CBT prescribe in situations like this? Is gradually exposing myself to eating disorder related imagery while in a safe, comfortable environment going to help me extinguish my aversion enough that I can read an article? And not so much that I lose most of my useful negative reaction to eating disorders?