WEBVTT - Absolute Disgust 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:14.200 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.200 --> 0:00:17.119 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. What 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:20.800 disgust you do? What? What? What do you regularly encounter 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:22.959 in the world around you that SUTs off the disgust 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:25.599 center of your brain. I was thinking about this, and 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:29.000 for me, it's um. I mean, I do have some 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:32.479 visual disgust, Like, for instance, if I watch Clockwork Orange 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:34.839 and they see the scene where they're peeling back his 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:37.839 eyes and they've got the little hooks right on his 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:40.960 the lids of his eyes, that just disgust me. It 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:45.440 makes my stomach turn. Um somehow, something about eyes really 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:49.080 and and poking at eyes disgusting to me. But more 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:51.839 than anything, I think smells, because it could be just 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:55.680 something as you know, normal, as hey, there's some stinky 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:58.920 garbage or cigarette butts that kind of makes me real 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:04.120 coil yourself. Well, I mean, certainly a bad odor will 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:07.080 get to me, but I guess things that seem like 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:10.000 unhygienic things often give me the all over. It's like 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:13.279 if I'm if there's somebody on on on the train 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:17.200 and they're coughing without covering their mouth. Or the time 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:19.240 I saw the chicken lady on the train. Have I 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:21.440 mentioned this before? I do believe I've heard of it. 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:24.760 And she was eating an entire rope. Well, she had 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:28.399 a rotisserie chicken that had been that she had been 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:30.440 eating on and it was down to just like the 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:32.319 little sort of gray slivers, and she was picking the 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:34.320 meat off of it on the train, and then she 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:37.680 would touch the pole on the train, and then she 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:40.199 would go back to eating her chicken, which just totally 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:42.240 freaking me out. I basically had to had to switch 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:44.920 cars at that point, you know, things things of that 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:46.880 nature where I'm like, this is kind of gross, and 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:48.720 that part of my brain is dis wanting me to 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:51.920 flee for for fear of all the diseases rolling off 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:54.840 the situation right right, It's like you're having this this 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:59.520 really powerful feeling for a reason, right. Your body, your mind, 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:02.960 everything is telling you like back away right now, um, 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:04.880 And there's a reason for this, and we're going to 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:07.320 talk about that. Um. I asked Jonathan Strickland of Tech 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:10.280 Stuff what disgusted him, and he gave me a very 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:15.560 specific answer that it was maggots emerging from carcasses, because 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:19.520 you might mistake the movement under the skin for something 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:24.079 else than they emerge, and uh, chaos and sues. Ah, well, 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.840 there's a there's a great example of that in the 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:30.200 book The Wasp Factory. It actually ends up driving a 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:33.600 character in saying that's a Banks book. The guy did 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:36.560 the culture series. Look it up if you want to 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:39.560 be disgusted. But why are we disgusted? Right? Why? Why 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:43.799 does this happen? And where does it occur in nature? Um? 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:45.679 Where does it occur in the brain? Why why is 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:48.600 it such a part of who we are? Well? Joshua 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:52.840 Tiber the universe, the U University excuse me in Amsterdam 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:58.359 proposed three domains of discussed three separate psychological programs. Yeah, okay, 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:01.240 and they all make sense, right, deseese what you talked about, right, 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:04.079 people coughing on the train. Yeah, with putting on their 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:08.120 their chicken juice on the poles. Uh, that just sounded wrong. Mate, 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:12.200 choice and moral judgment. Okay, we'll see, like all three 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:14.040 of those are rolled up in the Chicken Lady because 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:17.400 because I'm like, that's gross and potentially going to strepad 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:20.079 a disease. I really don't want to mate with you. 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:24.320 And uh, morally I think it's also yeah, morally, it's 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:26.000 against the rules to eat on the train. What the 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:28.959 heck are you doing? Um? Yeah, yeah, it's a little 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:32.480 bit reprehensible to sit there and basically, you know, essentially 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:35.160 like lick your hands and the chicken and then just 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:37.880 put it all over everything for other people who come 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:41.240 upon and transfer to themselves. Yeah. Though, if you touch 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:43.200 one of those poles with your bare skin, I mean 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:47.160 you're really asking for it. You are always looking arm yeah, 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:50.040 or wearing or just pull your sleep down, yeah, or 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:52.160 just or just fall. Better to fall on the floor 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:54.720 than to touch that pole. Yeah, roll around on that 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:57.240 floor is probably a lot that are Um. Apparently there 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:01.640 is a look of disgust that is universal. So when 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:05.440 we feel disgusted, this look crosses over our faces. Um, 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:08.320 and what it is and this is according to Paul 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:11.360 Ekman of the University of California at San Francisco, the 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:15.040 look is screwing up of our noses and pulling down 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:17.960 at the corners of our mouths. You're doing it right now, Yeah, 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:20.800 you look a little disgusted. And every culture all over 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:25.520 the world, this is the look of disgusting. Yeah look, yeah, 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:27.920 so I mean you know you're in another country you're 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:30.960 disgusted by something. Just keep that in mind that if 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:33.360 you happen to be over at someone's home in another 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:35.520 country and they're cooking you something and it's maybe not 0:04:36.360 --> 0:04:38.960 something that you would try at your own home, trying 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:41.720 not to screw your nose, because there's something universal. It's 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:43.880 not like go in this country. It thumbs up is 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:46.159 good in this country. It's fighting word, you know, or 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:48.720 like or turn you know, the whole thing. Like if 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:51.440 you turn your glass upside down in Australia, it means 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:53.680 you're you're challenging everyone in the bar to a fight. 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:57.640 But I can't back that at That's one thing I've 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:01.440 heard our Australian listeners will sort of thought on that up. Yeah. 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:03.479 Or the soles of your shoes in Egypt, right that 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:06.280 I think I believe that's I put down, or or 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:10.240 like in Thailand, like setting so that your shoes pointing 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:14.359 at somebody, that's that's bad, you know, But here nobody cares. 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:18.000 Now they don't point your shoes all you want. Uh. 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:22.480 But Charles Darwin actually tackled this subject before and the 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:26.080 paper the expression of the emotions in man and animals, 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:28.799 and he described the face of disgust as if we're 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:32.719 expelling some horrible tasting substance from the mouth. So there 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:36.039 has been, you know, historical interest in disgust, but as 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:38.680 of late it's actually getting some some legs, as you 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:42.039 would say, in terms of being studied in earnest. Dr 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:45.000 Valerie Curtis of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:50.200 Medicine is a disgust bologist in fact, and she says, 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:53.520 disgust is in our everyday life. It determines our hygiene behaviors. 0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:55.840 It determines how close we get to people, determines who 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:58.000 were going to kiss, who we're going to meet with, 0:05:58.160 --> 0:05:59.960 who we're going to sit next to. It determines the 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:02.280 people that we shunned, and that is something that we 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:04.800 do a lot of. Yeah, and you look at the 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:07.240 list of things that are typically associated with the disgust 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:09.359 um and certainly it's one of the ones we already 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:11.680 mentioned are on there. I mean, you know, the basically 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:16.320 bodily secretion issues, feces, vomit, sweats, bit blood plus sexual fluids, 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:22.520 body parts, wounds, corpses, tonail, clippings, decaying food, certain living 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:26.800 creatures like the maggots, like lice, like worms, rats, some people, 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:29.719 dogs and cats, which to each their own. And then uh, 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:32.679 and then individuals who are ill the diseased right again, 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:35.360 then there's that visual of that person is someone I 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:37.479 need to back away from. Um. But yeah, and the 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:41.560 body parts uh universals list that you're talking about, toneail 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:43.840 clippings came up. Yeah, and I thought that was really 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.000 interesting because I thought I feel the same way. And no, Um, 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:48.640 I always attributed it to being some sort of weird 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:51.120 idea that I had that someone might take my tonail 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:53.760 clippings and that's just spell against me exactly. I mean, 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:56.760 that's the old magic of be careful with your hair. 0:06:56.839 --> 0:06:59.480 Stuff into the side of you. Don't don't let anybody 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:01.159 get all of your brush or they could keeps cast 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:03.760 magical spells against you. Right. Yeah, there's irrational fears that 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:06.200 we have. Yeah, and it's actually interesting. You know, in 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:10.160 the past we've discussed sympathetic magic and our attitudes towards 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:13.040 discussed or somewhat wrapped up in sympathetic magic, like the 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:16.600 you know, the idea that say, something that has come 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:20.840 into contact with something gross is therefore gross, which is 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:24.560 a which, as a basic physical rule, tends to apply. 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:26.840 You know, if the fork has been in the toilet, 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:29.320 you're not going to eat with the fork, even if 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:33.560 you clean it. Sometimes, you know, to have this association 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:37.240 of the fork of the toilet trying to spear something right, 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:40.640 But then are you know, humans have the ability to 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:44.400 really get out and take things and extrapolate them to 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:47.440 ridiculous levels. So you end up with a situation where 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:48.680 you I mean, that's where we end up with things 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:51.920 like the idea that certain individuals are n'touchable because they 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:55.680 have a particular job in society that that puts them 0:07:55.680 --> 0:07:59.520 in contact with foul things or foul ideas even you 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:01.600 know it, it ends up becoming a part of this 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:04.280 sympathetic magic and the idea that something can be not 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:08.960 only befouled but besmirched, you know. Yeah, and we'll talk 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:10.800 about that a little bit more too later about the 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:14.040 cultural aspect of it and what you're talking about um 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:16.880 in sympathetic magic, because that's really it's such an interesting 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:21.200 psychological component to this. Yeah, but back to the physiological 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:24.600 I found an interesting um uh description of this in 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:27.600 the book Clean A History of Personal Hygiene and Purity 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:29.920 by Virginia Smith, which I think I've mentioned for it 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:31.960 is just a great book on the history of of 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:36.440 hygiene and how hygiene ends up becoming interwoven with these 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:41.360 ideas of purity. But she refers to the nervous reflex 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:46.200 of disgust and repulsion as a physiological safety net, which 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:47.880 I think that you know, ties in nicely with the 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:51.160 with the with the disease and uh uh and and 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:55.920 mating aspect of this trifecta of repulsion. Okay, all right, 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:57.880 I can see that. All right. So diving into the brain, 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:01.080 where is this tech in place? When I when I 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:04.560 see the chicken lady on the on the train, like, like, 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:07.640 what's lighting up? If someone would strapped me into you know, 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:09.600 an fm R I or something. Yeah, if we could 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:11.400 see a scan your brain, we would see a lot 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:14.320 of activity in insula and the amygdala as well as 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:17.520 other especially this frontal insula. It's an area the brain 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:21.120 that in addition to the deep seated discuss you have, 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:24.200 you also have things such as addiction is sometimes tied 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:25.840 up there as well. So it's not it's not like 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:29.760 just the repulsion center of the brain. Um, there have 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:32.320 been studies that have shown that people would damage to 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:35.400 this portion of the brain were actually able to give 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:40.079 up cigarettes instantly. So so there's a lot going on there. 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:41.880 But one of the things that is it is definitely 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:45.160 going on there is repulsion. Yeah, and mygdala, of course 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:49.040 is processing emotions. That that makes sense that you're seeing 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:53.160 the chicken lady on Marta the train system and uh, 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:56.600 you're you're starting to form all of those opinions and 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:59.760 having a very big gut reaction to it. It's also 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:01.880 the like if you were to receive a centual touch 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:06.000 from one significant other that also ends up resonating in 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:09.360 the insula. So there's a lot of physical stimuli and 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:11.880 central simuli in the world around you. You wind up 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:14.320 figuring out what you're supposed to do with it. Yeah, 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:16.440 and it's interesting that you actually just brought up um, 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:19.760 someone that you know um touching you because in a 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:21.840 lot of these studies, and this is going to sound 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:24.520 like a no dumb moment, but of course we find 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:27.240 the people that we know less disgusting than the people 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:29.240 that we don't know. And a lot of that is 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:31.600 because you know, there's a familiarity there, even if that 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:36.320 person is truly disgusting. Um, but there's less and opportunity 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:40.080 to objectify that person, and maybe on some level you're like, okay, 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:43.120 well they're not maybe the cleanest of people, but there 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:45.080 are no threat to me. I know this, I know 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:47.800 my immune system knows that this no threat. Well here's 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:50.040 the This one actually came up among some friends. Where 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:55.200 do you stand on using a spouse's toothbrush? Um, okay, Well, 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:58.160 in a situation where it's the only choice, then I'm 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:01.360 fine with it. But when I've accidentally done it, or 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:04.120 my daughter grabbed my toothbrush actually this morning, and I 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:08.319 was like no, no, which was kind of ridiculous because um, certainly, 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:10.199 you know, I eat some of her sandwiches, she eat 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:13.959 some of mine, and we are all exchanging sandwiches sandwiches 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:16.199 and that makes you sound a little like birds, but 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:19.720 yeah we are. We have a little giant nest um. 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:22.960 But yeah, and you know kissing and everything, so yeah, 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:25.520 all the germs are being passed between one another. Well, 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:27.360 I found just in a few people have talked like 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:29.960 they tend to range. There's some people that are like, yeah, 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:31.520 like we're you know, you're on a trip and you 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:33.480 only have one toothbrush in the bag, It's no big deal. 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:37.600 And then other people were like, you know, absolutely not 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:40.560 one person gets to brush their teeth on that trip. Well, 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:42.880 it's kind of like my germs, just my germs, Okay, 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:47.560 no one else's germs. Um, which is just silly and funny. Um. 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:50.719 I guess what we just feel really like we've got 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:53.560 quite a connection with all of the bacteria on our body, 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:56.640 which we've talked about. It's like, you know, there's tenfold 0:11:56.720 --> 0:12:01.720 of foreign bacteria to our to our own cells. So okay, 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:04.959 I guess we start to feel a little bit fuzzy 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:08.640 and lovy for our own bacteria. Um. But anyway, let's 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:11.880 talk about discussed from an evolutionary standpoint. Yeah, like, what 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:16.199 sense does it make, um, evolving? I mean, obviously, the 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:20.600 big pick I'm here is to is avoiding disease. For 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:22.760 for an organism to be successful and doesn't need it 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:27.120 needs to not get taken down by by predators, but 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:29.880 it also has to avoid the ailments that will weaken 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:35.520 it either unto death or into the hands of these predators. Right, So, 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:38.199 I mean, you know, it's makes sense that we would 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:42.840 have these sort of uh signals for us to visual accues, 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:45.560 smell cues that would make us stop in our tracks 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:48.680 and reassess or reevaluate, because this is how we have 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:52.160 been so successful as a species, right, this ability to 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:55.120 step back and evaluate and say this might be something 0:12:55.120 --> 0:12:57.240 that would be harmful to me. Right. We talked about 0:12:57.240 --> 0:12:59.560 some of this in the Science of Stink, where we're 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:02.160 we're talking about how like a like you, you get 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:05.960 hit with a bad smell, and the bad smell will 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:09.640 hit you square in the face, and it's your brain's 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:12.800 way of saying something is wrong here. This is potentially 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:17.120 poisonous or disease written in some way, shape or form. 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:21.319 So you need to at least think about it before 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:25.360 you touch it. You have not just completely avoid it entirely. Yeah. 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:27.680 In fact, the New York Times has an article called 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:29.920 the ick Factor, and in it they talk about how 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:32.920 smell is causes such a powerful response in the brain 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:34.560 that the U. S. Army has been trying to develop 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:37.760 a stink bomb with an odor foul enough to be 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:41.000 used for riot control, and that police are very interested. 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:42.440 And so it makes sense. I mean, that's the kind 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:44.560 of reaction you would have, right, that it could disperse 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:48.040 crowds because if something that your body is yelling, this 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:51.559 is bad for me, right without necessarily the more adverse 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:55.080 reactions ones and one encounters with like tear gas and 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:59.680 the like rubber bullets, and yeah, and I was actually 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:02.920 thinking about this too. It's just in terms of my 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:07.959 own personal experiences, uh, with getting ill. And this doesn't 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:10.520 happen every single time, but it's more likely than not 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:13.160 that a couple of days before I get ill, I 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:16.960 will have a dream actually, and in the dream, I 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:19.160 have to use the bathroom. But the only bathroom that's 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:22.080 available to me is one that's a public restroom. And 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:24.480 as soon as I walk in it, I realized that 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:28.200 is the most disgusting public restroom I've ever been in. 0:14:28.840 --> 0:14:32.800 It's feces encrusted everywhere, like every you could not touch 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:35.760 something that's clean if you tried. And in the dream, 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:38.600 I always looked down and I'm barefoot, and there's a 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:41.640 stream of urine and flam and everything that you could 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:44.960 possibly Yeah, it's the Seriously, if you've ever seen Trainspotting, 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:47.920 it makes that that bathroom and Trainspotting look really spick 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:51.280 and span um. But this is and I always have 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:52.960 this stream, and I always like God, I got oh, 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:55.120 and I have had it so much that it's obvious 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:57.280 to me now that I'm about to get sick and 0:14:57.360 --> 0:14:59.120 it's my body trying to tell me something. But it 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:02.280 wasn't until we were doing this research that I realized 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:05.240 that just what a big signal my mind and body 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:07.600 were trying to transmit to me. Wow. Have you tried 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:11.200 hitting that scenario with any lucid dreaming ever? Well, here's 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:12.720 the thing. I mean, I can lucid dream most of 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:16.920 the time, but it's always happens if you ever decided 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:18.920 like I'm going to clean this bathroom in turn, like 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:22.080 cleaning Superwoman, and you just stiff it all because my 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:24.280 because of what happens is the way to unfold is 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:26.920 that I am I look down in my feet and 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:30.320 are now you know, in the muck, and so I 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:32.840 have no I can't even I can't turn back. It 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:35.240 doesn't matter. I'm exposed as the point of the dream. 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:38.280 So because yeah, because sometimes I thought, oh, really seriously, 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:40.680 can I just go to another restroom? But it's too late, 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:44.200 But there you go. So, I mean, these these are 0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:48.240 all things, you know, feces, um, whatever else is hiding 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:52.560 away in that public restroom that pretend potential disease and illness. Right, 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:54.600 those are the things that we look at we have 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:57.400 such a strong reaction to. And even in the animal world, 0:15:57.440 --> 0:15:59.680 I mean anyone who's had a pet. I mean, granted, 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:02.000 if you have a dog, it does seem at times 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:04.920 like the like a dog is disgusted by nothing. But 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:07.480 but even even dogs occasionally encounter something where they're like 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:10.400 they're visibly not wanting any of it. They may not 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:13.240 actually smirk their face up, but they will move away 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:17.360 from it. They will kind of see it in their ears, right, right, 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:19.320 And uh, you know, certainly in my cat, I've seen 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:23.960 him do that, back off on things. Um especially like 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:27.040 if it's chemical too. He seems to have a problem 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:28.640 with that, which is pretty good. All right, Well, let's 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:30.720 take a quick break and when we come back, we 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:41.480 will get into uh, alright, we're back obsessive compulsion disorder. Right, 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:45.800 how does that time with a whole disgust scenario. Okay, Well, 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:49.440 just so everybody knows, this is something that affects about 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:52.080 three point three million people between the ages of eighteen 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:54.400 and fifty four in the United States alone. And the 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:56.640 classic example this off and turned around. They like somebody 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:59.760 who compulsively washed their hands, like their hands cannot I 0:16:59.840 --> 0:17:02.520 mean they're basically lading with Beth because their hands never 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:06.840 feel completely clean exactly. So um. In the context of disgust, 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:09.359 researchers were interested to see how people with how CD 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:14.359 dealt with things that we're disgusting for those people, and 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:17.359 in a study by the University of Florida's Evelyn F. 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:21.160 And William L. McKnight Brain Institute, researchers compared the reactions 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:25.760 of eight people with contamination preoccupation O c D. Okay, 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:28.720 so a lot of handwashing with a group of healthy 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:31.080 adults to a set of thirty pictures that had been 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:34.920 rated in terms of emotional impact. So um, the pictures 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:37.639 that we're talking about had a series of threatening, disgusting, 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:42.000 our neutral images like snakes bearing their fangs, Carrie uh, 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:51.080 flies on pumpkin pie. Yeah, that's what you just swatted away. Okay, 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:54.760 See we have different disgustometers, right, I didn't do not 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:58.159 like flies landing on my food. I figured, like, you know, 0:17:58.320 --> 0:17:59.520 it's kind of one of those things you dropped the 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:01.680 food and or three second roll the same thing with 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:05.320 a fly. I mean, I'm gonna probably still need it, okay, um, 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:07.480 all right, And the other picture they had was a 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:10.040 picture of a sunset lovely right uh, And then they 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:13.200 had Mr I skiing scans of their brains and researchers 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:17.080 found that pictures that induced fear discussed prompted reactions in 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:19.560 different parts of the brain and both groups of participants, 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:22.399 But the level of stimulation in certain areas of the 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:25.639 brain prompted by the disgusting images was greater with people 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:28.520 with O C D are greater for people with O 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:31.119 C D UM and this is really interesting too. The 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:33.960 areas of the brain most affected by these images included 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:38.840 those that process unpleasant taste and smells. So the difference 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:43.400 suggests that obsessive people driven to behaviors like constant handwashing 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:47.440 may be motivated by their extreme sensitivity to discuss, and not, 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:51.159 as commonly thought, by their fear of some sort of 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:55.800 awful outcome. Um, if they were to stop washing their hands. Okay, 0:18:56.040 --> 0:18:58.200 So it's not just it's not like a conscious thing 0:18:58.280 --> 0:18:59.480 like I have to wash my hands or I'm going 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:02.239 to catch the leg. It's it's it's tied up on 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:05.080 a much more primal level, right, yeah, exactly. I mean 0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:08.800 that and I found that absolutely um fascinating because you 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:10.800 think about O c D and you think about hand washing, 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:12.760 and you think about it as some sort of crazy 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:16.480 prevention method, but in fact, it is that they're they're 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:20.760 having this reaction that's so heartfelt that you know, they're 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:24.400 overreacting to the stimuli in front of them, right, which 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:25.600 is why I mean, it's like you're not going to 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:27.640 talk somebody out of O c D. You're not gonna 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:29.160 be able to reason, and not because it's not coming 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:31.720 from a seed of reason. Uh, you know, you're not 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:33.639 gonna be able to say, like, well, logically you're washing 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:35.359 your hands too much and you're actually doing more damage 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:37.760 to your skin. Blah blah blah. It's not gonna well, 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:40.360 especially if you're Amingdala two is having such an overreaction. 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:42.080 I mean, this is these are things that are going 0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:44.560 on undercover that you don't even know. So it's not 0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:46.840 like you could I mean, I guess unless you're some 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:48.880 sort of end master, maybe you could step back and 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:53.639 you know, dial down your your brain waves there um, 0:19:53.760 --> 0:19:56.159 but most likely you know, this is something that you 0:19:56.160 --> 0:20:00.879 can't necessarily control all right now, when one thinks of 0:20:01.000 --> 0:20:07.439 like discuss reactions, especially to smell instantly think of pregnant women. Yeah, 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:09.280 because I mean that's uh, I mean that that's just 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:11.600 one of those things. It's like like if anyone who 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:13.480 has who has been pregnant as a pregnant friend, there's 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:16.080 the whole thing about like suddenly like it'll be like 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:18.359 something like garlic. We'll totally set some people off and 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:19.840 they're like they can't even be in the same room 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:22.560 with somebody who just had breadsticks. It's true. Yeah, you 0:20:22.640 --> 0:20:25.640 get very sensitive to it very quickly. Did you find 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:27.679 this to do the case? I did. Yeah, not the 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:29.800 entire time, but certain times where I was just like, 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:31.600 oh man, and my husband would be like, what what 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:33.560 are you smelling and be like, I don't know, Like 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:36.200 thirty yards away, someone just had some bob choy with 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:39.480 them with some ginger and curry, and the courage just 0:20:39.720 --> 0:20:42.160 really very pungent. I thought, you can get the bob 0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:46.760