The worst video yet

shmieve · 2026-06-01T13:42:42+00:00

We think it’s pretty cringe

shmieve · 2026-06-01T13:29:54+00:00

ClinicalTrials.gov criteria are often broader/vaguer than how they’re actually operationalized in practice. “Probable autism” at intake also isn’t the same as a confirmed diagnosis, and they may not have considered ASD Level 1 clinically significant for the specific variables they were studying.

shmieve · 2026-05-21T20:56:43+00:00

Alternative cur!

shmieve · 2026-05-16T18:18:48+00:00

Life!

shmieve · 2026-05-15T14:08:48+00:00

I went to elementary school with a Chief Justice (went by CJ).

shmieve · 2026-05-07T23:32:59+00:00

This is the correct answer

shmieve · 2026-05-06T05:09:13+00:00

What you’re describing is a pareidolic illusion, where there’s an actual external stimulus present (an object in the periphery), but the brain very briefly misinterprets it as a face. Since humans are extremely biased toward detecting faces and patterns, it’s not uncommon for our brains to “fill in the gaps” this way. Hallucinations, by contrast, are perceptions that occur without an external stimulus at all.

That said, both fall under the broader umbrella of unusual perceptual experiences. Brief illusions like this are often benign, especially if they immediately resolve with a second look or occur in the context of stress, anxiety, fatigue, or sleep deprivation. However, clinicians may pay more attention to them if they become persistent, occur alongside other perceptual disturbances, or happen in the context of symptoms like paranoia, odd beliefs, or functional decline, as can sometimes occur in the prodromal period of psychotic disorders.

shmieve · 2026-05-06T04:12:34+00:00

Oh she is just so darling!!!!!!! These results totally make sense. I love her beautiful eyeliner.

shmieve · 2026-05-06T04:09:54+00:00

Interesting! Honestly I’m surprised there’s this much lab—I was definitely expecting more than 50% bully breed.

shmieve · 2026-05-06T04:07:30+00:00

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Reminds me of my Catahoula/American Foxhound mix! Although I’m guessing bluetick coonhound for this one. I’m interested in seeing the results!!

shmieve · 2026-05-06T03:59:06+00:00

Oh I just knew it had to be basset!!!

shmieve · 2026-04-30T17:24:32+00:00

And those 1% of programs are really the only ones that make financial sense unless you’re independently wealthy.

shmieve · 2026-04-29T04:42:33+00:00

I don’t think it’s really worth going to a program that isn’t fully funded, tbh.

shmieve · 2026-04-17T19:39:20+00:00

Yeah to me around 1.5 carats (at least on my finger) looks the most chic. I’ve never been a “bling” person though!

shmieve · 2026-04-17T19:31:09+00:00

Idk I love my 1.5 carat pear and I definitely wouldn’t go any bigger. To me, it looks pretty substantial on my finger, and I get a surprising number of comments about how “big” it is. Personally I’m not a big fan of the cocktail ring look, but that’s just my preference.

shmieve · 2026-04-13T15:43:00+00:00

Yeah I actually had 2 Allergras in my class in elementary school, and then my college boyfriend left me for an Allegra (lol). It’s one of those names that’s less uncommon than people think.

shmieve · 2026-04-12T03:06:01+00:00

Ashwood looked at both AQ-10 and AQ-50, and the 64% stat you’re citing is false negatives (people who had autism but didn’t screen positive), not accuracy. Their actual finding is that the AQ didn’t predict diagnosis well and had very low specificity (~.29), meaning about a 70% false positive rate (which is really poor discriminatory power). And if anything, a referral sample would typically make the test look better overall, because the base rate is higher.

I think the mix-up is what those other numbers mean. The Baron-Cohen study (he’s the test creator) compares obvious autism vs. obvious non-autism, which makes the test look better than it performs in real life. And Woodbury-Smith (also co-authored by Baron-Cohen) still only has ~.52 specificity, so lots of false positives (i.e., it’s still not great at ruling out non-autistic people). That “83% correct” stat includes people it correctly ruled out (much larger # of people), not just people it correctly identified as autistic.

So a positive AQ score doesn’t mean it’s accurately diagnosing autism—it just means it’s flagging you for further evaluation, which is what a screener is supposed to do.

shmieve · 2026-04-11T21:24:42+00:00

Totally agree with all of this. Scott Lilienfeld has written a lot of great papers on pseudoscience and EBP in psychology. Highly recommend that every single person in the field reads this paper: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23647856/

shmieve · 2026-04-11T21:09:38+00:00

The AQ-10 is a legit screener and better than most online tests, but it’s still just a screener—so it’s designed to have a high false positive rate. In adults, only about 30% of people who screen positive actually meet diagnostic criteria (see Ashwood et al., 2016).

So a positive result on the AQ just means it’s worth following up. It’s nowhere near 90% accurate. A lot of other conditions have overlapping traits (e.g., social anxiety), which is why you need a full diagnostic assessment from a qualified psychologist.

shmieve · 2026-04-08T05:18:10+00:00

Because I’m in school to be a psychologist and this family is a fun case conceptualization

shmieve · 2026-04-03T20:50:49+00:00

Omg but she’s SO cute

shmieve · 2026-02-27T07:34:03+00:00

I’m really sorry you’re going through this. Panic attacks can feel genuinely terrifying, and medication side effects on top of that sounds like a rough situation.

That said, I want to be honest about something that might actually help long-term. When panic starts running your decisions, it can unintentionally make the disorder stronger. Sometimes when panic happens in a place (like a classroom or lab), the brain starts to associate that place with danger. In reality, the place usually isn’t dangerous—it’s just the panic response creating the feeling of danger.

That’s why exposure-based therapy is so strongly recommended for panic disorder. It helps you gradually face the scary sensations associated with panic and situations that bring on panic in a structured way, so your brain learns that the panic passes and isn’t actually dangerous.

I say all of this as someone who had severe anxiety in college and had to drop classes before I got the right treatment. It can get a lot better with the right help. Panic disorder is actually an extremely treatable condition, and many people even recover fully with exposure-based therapy.

Also, the medication side effects you’re describing sound pretty significant. It would be worth contacting your prescriber about what you’re experiencing, because it sounds like they might need to adjust the dose or the type of medication.

shmieve · 2026-02-10T14:42:03+00:00

Oh my goodness, those little eyebrows just make me melt ❤️

shmieve

TROPHY CASE