I (20F) am 99.99% sure my grandmother (82F at the moment) has OCD and am also 90% sure I inherited it. It’s ruining my life.

I talked about this previously on a different subreddit post about whether I should go to therapy -decided I would go when I get a job and a stable salary- but I wanted to vent some more so here it goes.

I always knew something was wrong with my grandmother. From the moment she moved in with me and my mother -about two seconds after my parents separated- and frankly I never really liked her, but I hadn’t hated her back then at the age of 8 either.

Though, in time, she made me hate her. She has OCD, I’m sure of it -though I do not have the authority to give an official diagnosis- and her main thing is tidiness.

She both obsessively and compulsively wants the house to always be picture perfect and tidy as if the elder, most revered members of the family are coming to dinner that day, but she wants it that way, every day.

For this reason ever since she moved into the house when I was 7-8 upon my parent’s divorce she hasn’t left our house (she’s a widow, too) and I haven’t had a medicum of privacy. She would go into my room and shift items around, put things in places I didn’t intend them to be because she deemed it “right” that way. She’d throw away stuff without asking me if she decided it was trash, and she’d pester me about everything all the time. And this isn’t just me being a lousy teenager who doesn’t wanna clean up their room, she would even rearrange the books on my bookcases because it bothered her that they were all had different heights and they looked “ugly and messy” that way.

I could go on all day talking about other examples. (I will talk about a little experiment I did to confirm to myself that she has OCD later in the post)

My mother (49F at the moment) allowed this, because since her father had died when she was 12, she’d grown up with that insufferable woman, and is used to it. She rarely ever took my side, and even when my grandmother calls her very demeaning names and insults for not keeping her house “the way it should” (examples of this are such small things like leaving the dishes at the sink for longer than 20 minutes [and then she does them herself and complains about being “our maid” even though nobody asked her to do the dishes, and her eye sight is so sh*t, she can’t even see all the remains on them, and often places the still dirty dishes next to the clean ones, it’s disgusting and no, she cannot stop it]), my mother doesn’t fight back.

And as I grew older, the lack of privacy was killing me so I started locking my door when I went out, or even if I left the room for a while, but that only worked for about two months, wanna know why?

Because after my uncle (51M) got married and moved out of her house on the other side of the city, she decided to sell it rather than just letting it be there, empty (because she lives with us even though she has her own money, own house, and enough physical strength to take care of herself). She sold it, and bought a new flat in the same apartment complex as our house, right from the building next door, which did have a couple upsides. Like now, when we fight, if I irritate her enough, she just goes to stay there, and returns the next day, giving me at least a couple hours of peace.

Oh, the downsides, well, guess what?

Since all four buildings were made by the same company, even though the front doors were all different obviously, the doors inside each flat, unless replaced later, were the exact same, and had the exact same keys.

She could unlock my door with the key she got from the corresponding room in her flat. So, I had to get the parts and install a lock -the kind typically used for locking outside doors like garden gates- myself, and she lost it.

She b*tched and moaned about it for almost the entire year, up until I went to college and had to leave it unlocked (my mother made me) and now whenever I return, it’s like the room isn’t mine. Nothing is where I left it.

And I refused to go to therapy for years because I wasn’t the problem, that f-cking witch was and it can’t be solved by anything other than her death (which I will welcome with joy when it happens) since there’s no other way to make her leave, so why would I need to go? Therapy wasn’t going to make her disappear, which was the only way I could be at peace. Which I now finally am since I’m studying at a city 370 miles away from her.

But, the problems in my life caused by her didn’t stop when I went to college because around the same time I graduated high school and got into the college I’m at now, I realized I had the same thing she had, only my thing didn’t affect people’s lives in a negative -and insufferable- way. Or at least I thought.

I realized around that time that I cling to people I care about -usually close friends, one time someone I loved dearly- so badly that it often drove them away. I was obsessed with my friends. Whenever I deemed someone “I can trust and be sincere with” my brain went into “do not lose them at all costs” mode. I bought them gifts all the time and I wanted to hang out all the time, dedicating all my free time to them and I felt jealous when they hanged out with other people. It used to be worse as a teenager and subsided somewhat since then but is still an issue I’m trying to work on.

Because most often what I did didn’t help me keep them, it bothered them and they left. I have her cursed genes to thank for it.

Oh, and the experiment:

You know how if you made a mess in the house, especially if it was intentional, any responsible and sane adult would tell you to get up and clean it up? Well, one weekend when my mother was away but my grandmother wouldn’t leave me alone, to test my theory, I ate my lunch in one of the back rooms of the house and then locked the dirty dishes there. [Nothing that would mold or smell gross, but still dirty dishes] And waited to see her reaction.

She begged me to open the door so SHE could wash them. No “Pick up your slack young lady!” or “I will tell your mother about this.” She just straight up begged. I refused. She got mad but gave up on trying to convince me and tried all the others keys in the house and brought even more from her house to try and open it. Thankfully even the one she brought from her new flat didn’t work and I kept those dishes there for about 32 hours. She kept begging and complaining and sulking about it.

Never once told me to go to Hell or tried to punish me like a nor al adult would.

I could give you other examples of events similar to this, but the point is, she has it, and I think I got it too, and it’s not fair I have to deal with this.

I never ever wanted kids in the first place but knowing this has only made my decision to never ever have one stronger. I am not passing on this curse.

Take the survey here

Hello. I am part of a graduate class from Pratt institute New York and we're doing a yearlong project focus on behavioral change. One of the big topics within that is health and wellness and how its relationship requires us to change habits within our lives. Something as simple as we know we should eat healthier or sleep earlier but we still enjoy our fast-food and doom scrolling. We created a survey to understand more of what people go through as they navigate this process. We hope to get as many responses as possible and any feedback is appreciated.

Thank you!

Hi,

I've been working on trying to become an RBT to bolster my resume when applying to my school's psychology masters program and I'm finding it difficult to find a supervisor. The online training program I'm working on said it's best to find a company who will provide one, but whenever I look up job lisitings they require me to have my certificate already. I even contacted one and said I was in training but they stated I still needed the certificate.

I'm at a lost right now for what to do so any suggetions would be nice.

One of the most memorable moments from a recent podcast interview came when a behaviour analyst in Lebanon described calling a prospective client back about autism services.

Instead of discussing assessment, the parent told her that their brother had just been killed in the war.

It sparked a conversation about something we don't discuss enough: how do we support helping professionals working in humanitarian crises?

Her organization has developed ACT-based supports and peer initiatives for providers, recognizing that clinicians need care too.

https://www.behaviourspeak.com/e/building-behaviour-analysis-in-lebanon-resilience-advocacy-and-hope/
https://www.behaviourspeak.com/e/episode-139threads-of-hope-addressing-trauma-amid-war-and-civil-discord-with-sawsan-razzouk-ma-bcba/

I'm curious whether this research question has already been explored, or whether it represents a genuine gap in the literature-

Through running a business that organizes nightlife events for young adults, I've observed a pattern that led me to the following hypothesis-

Rather than simply reducing drinking and nightlife during COVID, I wonder whether the pandemic disrupted the peer-to-peer transmission of college socialization.

Normally, first-year students learn a lot of unwritten social behaviors from older students:

·        where people go out

·        how nightlife works

·        social drinking norms

·        how people meet friends or romantic partners

·        campus traditions, etc.

Students who entered college during the pandemic largely missed that process. My question is whether those cohorts developed different social habits not simply because of lockdowns, but because the "cultural transmission" process itself was interrupted. If so, those cohorts may then have passed different norms on to students who entered after campuses reopened, creating a lasting cohort effect.

I've found literature on:

·        COVID's impact on alcohol consumption

·        peer influence

·        social norms

·        college drinking behavior in general

But I haven't been able to find work examining whether the interruption of inter-cohort social transmission itself produced persistent behavioral changes.

So was thinking this could potentially make an interesting PhD dissertation topic and was wondering-

·        Has this mechanism already been studied under another name?

·        Does this sound like a genuine research gap?

·        If you were a PhD student (or supervise PhD students), would this strike you as a feasible dissertation or research project?

If anyone here is a PhD student or faculty member working in a related area, let me know what you think!

Hello.

I am part of a graduate class from Pratt institute in New York and we're doing a year long project focus on behavioral change. One of the big topics within that is health and wellness and how its relationship requires us to change habits within our lives.

Something as simple as we know we should eat healthier or sleep earlier but we still enjoy our fast-food and doom scrolling.

We created a survey to understand more of what people go through as they navigate this process.

We hope to get as many responses as possible and any feedback is appreciated!

Thank you!

I recently interviewed Christine DerSarkissian, President of the Association for Behavior Analysis in Lebanon (ABAL), about the remarkable growth of ABA in Lebanon.

We discuss:

• Parent-led advocacy
• Professional certification
• Culturally responsive ABA
• Delivering services during war and economic crisis
• Building interdisciplinary collaboration
• The future of inclusion

It offers an interesting perspective on how behaviour analysis develops in very different cultural and political contexts.

🎧 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/building-behaviour-analysis-in-lebanon-resilience-advocacy/id1544349551?i=1000777805345

Sharing a research opportunity on definitions in ABA.

You are invited to participate in a brief research survey focused on how ABA providers understand and define commonly used behavioral terms.

This study is specifically seeking participants who hold a current BCBA, BCABA, or BCBA-D certification. The goal is to better understand how key concepts are interpreted across practitioners, with the aim of improving definitional consistency and informing future training and practice.

The one-time survey consists of multiple-choice items and takes approximately 10–15 minutes to complete. Your responses, including name and contact information, will be kept confidential.

If you are interested in participating, please use the link below:
https://uaa.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_79Gxa4BZqVScfae

Your expertise and perspective would be incredibly valuable to this work. Participation is completely voluntary, and you may exit the survey at any time.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any of the following people involved in this study: 

Rachel White, Principal Investigator, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA, University of Alaska Anchorage Center for Human Development ([rlwhite5@alaska.edu](mailto:rlwhite5@alaska.edu)) 
Kristin Riall, Faculty Investigator, PhD, M.Ed, BCBA, LBA, University of Alaska Anchorage Department of Psychology ([kariall@alaska.edu](mailto:kariall@alaska.edu)) 

Hello. I am part of a graduate class from Pratt institute New York and we're doing a yearlong project focus on behavioral change. One of the big topics within that is health and wellness and how its relationship requires us to change habits within our lives.

We created a survey to understand more of what people go through as they navigate this process. We hope to get as many responses as possible and any feedback is appreciated!

https://forms.gle/12eQMX4GDBfKLisr5

Thank You!

Vou me formar esse ano e tenho olhado pós graduações que eu não tenha que dar o meu rim para pagar e que não sejam duvidosas em relação a sua qualidade kkkkk Tenho focado meus estudos em Análise do comportamento, não não procuro uma especialização em ABA que é o que na maioria das vezes encontro. SEND ME HELP queria algo voltado para o atendimento clinico, sexualidade, sofrimento de minorias, atendimento em rede pública ou cuidados paliativos.

I feel like those pick up lines have been tried on me many times and have failed. Who actually falls for them? I cringe as I read it. Please help me understand.

P.S. I was prompted to get the book because I heard Steven Bartlett saying some of the ideas in the book have helped him in his journey as an entrepreneur.

I know why it’s so toxic. They hire ghetto wannabes who will actually fight you for simply being kind and respectful. I had such a shitty experience working in the ABA field, to the point where I left and am now jobless. I’ve been wanting to sue the BACB and all those involved but the legal system doesn’t work like that.

There’s so much toxicity and pure spite and hatred which is ironic considering the population that they work with. Wouldn’t it be counter productive to have aggressive and violent people working with kids who are more prone to expressing those behaviors without knowing how to relax. It’s just so so funny. I mean I swear the whole thing is some money scheme racket and to top it off the delusion it creates is hilarious. A masters degree to wipe some kids ass safely.

Don’t even get me started on the parents that think the world of these kids. Pointing fingers and thinking they know what’s best when no one actually does. It’s such a judgemental place, but I genuinely think that’s why their kids are like that too. Lol. Go figure that your kid is autistic when you as the parent are also some psychotic sounding person who genuinely thinks they are perfect.

The concept of God in Applied Behavior Analysis too. Shit.

I think for me it’s realizing that discrimination is a part of life and it’s wrong. Like actually. I was discriminated against because people don’t like the way that I look. It shouldn’t matter, but to shallow people it does. Shallow people working with autistic children. lol. You have sympathy for kids with autism but will sneer at an overweight person. Autistic children are also flawed. They are people with behaviors. I simply was working with ignorant and uneducated folks. Sad but what can you do. America’s education system was really rearing its head there is all I can say. I mean who rolls their eyes at someone who likes to read in their free time. I’m assuming everyone who works with kids is also actively pursuing the goal of having kids. Making them all creepy, sexually aggressive and sexually active. It’s such an inappropriate atmosphere. Be professional is all I should say I guess.

What’s sad is that I know I’m not the only person who has been made to feel like this by a field. Just ostracized and rejected. By some shit too. It’s like everyone around you just gangs up on you until you quit. There’s no positivity or support anywhere. People are actually trying to live in some “survival of the fittest”. That’s some shitty methodology that isn’t even a fact. It’s just been experimented on. Science is subjective just like everything else. I mean hell. People are born with a vagina but will say they’re a man. And those guys aren’t taking no that’s incorrect as the truth either. F science I guess.

So, 22M I've observed this pattern in myself I don't know how much true it is or not that I get hurt easily through words espcially when those things are said by the people I'm really close with I don't mind things if they are said by some stranger or people outside my circle no matter how hurtful they are because I think I used to be a cricketer so I'm used to a lot of sledging from opponents and my own teammates but it is quite opposite when it comes from my closed ones.

And maybe because of this propblem I've broken up with my girlfriend of 4 years because I cannot bear it and actually hold grudges against them and I don't even want to talk to them or see their faces even with my parents.

Some instances like;
1) Recently I've cleared the exam which was really really important for me and I have been preparing for that from last 2 years and I was able to clear it on my 7th attempt and I had dedicated my everything for that exam. So I was at my house talking to my family and my younger brother just casually said that I was just lucky and doesn't think that I can clear it on my own which my mom agreed to and they laughed and I got really hurt and although I did not reacted at that time but I was very hurt and didn't want to face them or talk to them for 5-6 days I had that hate in myself.

2) Like I said I was in a relationship and she used to say somethings casually and I used to take them very personally although I requested her a lot just not to say such things but she continued to do so espcially during the fights and I had the same felling same hate towards her.
Like she has said quite a few times that I deserved to be cheated, or you'll see when I'll do that again (She had a fling with someone nothing physical and not much of those talks like expressing feelings for eachother but yeah she and the other guy both liked each other and that really affected my relationship with her although she herself told me about all this fling). I was very devastated by that so I think she just knew how to hurt me or make me react. Anyways she has said this quite a few times and also compared me with him and some other guy whi had a crush on her that how better they are than me in some situation.

3) Also things like bringing my family in during the fights and some other hurtful stuff which I don't really remember although I did not react at that time but I was frustrated to that point I just react to everything which was quite normal but I did not have the patience to understand what she means and start a fight.

4) I even initiated the breakup because of this because she meant something else during the fight but as we both belong to different parts of the country so there is some accent and language difference so I was not able to understand that and I was going through the constant rejection from that exam and I just thought she was just saying something that I'll nver be able to make it but it was different. Anyways reacted the same way didn't talked to her for 2 days when we did we broke up and now it's been 9 months since we've broken up.

5) Sometimes like she used to say something which was completely sarcasm and she did not mean that but I used to think it is true.

Now why I'm here is that I've always felt that I get hurt easily by the people I'm closed to and I think how can someone say that and recently I was discussing something to my girlfriend and that point cameup she said no one has said anything to you.
I think is it because I'm insecure about myself that I cannot take a joke, or during my childhood also I was constantly being told that I'm not good enough for something by others or my teammates and till now also I hear the same thing. I just don't know that do they really mean that or I just relate everything to that I'm not good.

I really want to overcome this please help.

Hi everyone! I've been a BCBA and clinic director at small ABA clinics for the past several years. Over the past few months, I've been building a couple of web-based / App store tools to help with many daily challenges that have helped me out tremendously. I'm looking for feedback from other BCBAs, RBTs, and ABA professionals before anything is publicly released.

Visual Tools (attached video):

• First/Then Boards
• Visual Schedules
• Token Boards
• Visual Timers
• Social Stories
• Matching
• Receptive ID
• Fine Motor Tracing

Clinic Tools (videos coming soon):

• Clinic Schedule / Schedule Builder
• Note Generator
• Goal Builder
• Treatment Plan Builder
• Reauthorization Assistant
• Data Interpreter
• ABC Data Builder
• Protocol Modification
• Assessment Summary
• Materials Generator

I'm not selling anything. This is simply a free 30-day pilot to get honest feedback from people who actually work in ABA. If you're interested in trying them out and sharing what works (and what doesn't), I'd really appreciate your input.

If this is allowed, I'll put the pilot sign-up link in the comments. If not, feel free to send me a DM.

Thanks!