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[pisskop]

Ponzi scheme.  Or invest in catheters.  Old people in America will apex in coming years.

[Jerick]

I am known on my street as an unapolgetic but reasonable skeptic and some one who frequently debunks things or at least provides a rational alternative explaination (thank you internet for giving me better critical thinking!) to widely held beliefs, myths and advertisments.
Due to this reputation one of my neighbours has asked for my help.
Her twelve year old daughter is utterly convinced the world will end in decemeber (as the Mayans predicted) to the point of avoiding doing anything because "there's no point"
Basicly she's all but completely shut down and is terrified of this.
Her mother has tried everything to make her drop this notion but nothing has worked.
Now I haven't even met her so I can only go on what the mother has told me but I have a few worries;

• An attiude of "There's no hope" is a common symptom of depressive illness
• The child is just kicking up a fuss over the end of the world because it means she can get away with not doing things she doesn't want to do
• It's a symptom of emotional stress (her parents are sperated and from what her mother has told me her step mother doesn't get on with her)
• I, like everyone else, have the power to change what people know but not what they believe. If her mother can't convince her the world isn't going to end a stranger like me likely isn't going to have much luck

I don't want to suggest to the mother that it's a depressive illness unless I'm at least a little more sure and for the record I'm far from quailified from diagnosing this kind of thing.
And yes normaly I would recomend they take her for conseling but they have and apperantly that hasn't helped.
.

[Loud Whispers]

• I, like everyone else, have the power to change what people know but not what they believe. If her mother can't convince her the world isn't going to end a stranger like me likely isn't going to have much luck

You'd be surprised. A lot of people trust their family less than strangers

[The Darkling Wolf]

I am known on my street as an unapolgetic but reasonable skeptic and some one who frequently debunks things or at least provides a rational alternative explaination (thank you internet for giving me better critical thinking!) to widely held beliefs, myths and advertisments.
Due to this reputation one of my neighbours has asked for my help.
Her twelve year old daughter is utterly convinced the world will end in decemeber (as the Mayans predicted) to the point of avoiding doing anything because "there's no point"
Basicly she's all but completely shut down and is terrified of this.
Her mother has tried everything to make her drop this notion but nothing has worked.
Now I haven't even met her so I can only go on what the mother has told me but I have a few worries;

• An attiude of "There's no hope" is a common symptom of depressive illness
• The child is just kicking up a fuss over the end of the world because it means she can get away with not doing things she doesn't want to do
• It's a symptom of emotional stress (her parents are sperated and from what her mother has told me her step mother doesn't get on with her)
• I, like everyone else, have the power to change what people know but not what they believe. If her mother can't convince her the world isn't going to end a stranger like me likely isn't going to have much luck

I don't want to suggest to the mother that it's a depressive illness unless I'm at least a little more sure and for the record I'm far from quailified from diagnosing this kind of thing.
And yes normaly I would recomend they take her for conseling but they have and apperantly that hasn't helped.
.

Point out to her that they found a shitload more Mayan calendar.

[misko27]

I am known on my street as an unapolgetic but reasonable skeptic and some one who frequently debunks things or at least provides a rational alternative explaination (thank you internet for giving me better critical thinking!) to widely held beliefs, myths and advertisments.
Due to this reputation one of my neighbours has asked for my help.
Her twelve year old daughter is utterly convinced the world will end in decemeber (as the Mayans predicted) to the point of avoiding doing anything because "there's no point"
Basicly she's all but completely shut down and is terrified of this.
Her mother has tried everything to make her drop this notion but nothing has worked.
Now I haven't even met her so I can only go on what the mother has told me but I have a few worries;

• An attiude of "There's no hope" is a common symptom of depressive illness
• The child is just kicking up a fuss over the end of the world because it means she can get away with not doing things she doesn't want to do
• It's a symptom of emotional stress (her parents are sperated and from what her mother has told me her step mother doesn't get on with her)
• I, like everyone else, have the power to change what people know but not what they believe. If her mother can't convince her the world isn't going to end a stranger like me likely isn't going to have much luck

I don't want to suggest to the mother that it's a depressive illness unless I'm at least a little more sure and for the record I'm far from quailified from diagnosing this kind of thing.
And yes normaly I would recomend they take her for conseling but they have and apperantly that hasn't helped.
.

Point out to her that they found a shitload more Mayan calendar.

Ask her whether or not the end of HER calender implies the end of theworld. Say is same deal. Plus, ask here where the water comes from. There simply is not enough water to cover all of earth, even with the Icecaps factored in.

[RedKing]

I am known on my street as an unapolgetic but reasonable skeptic and some one who frequently debunks things or at least provides a rational alternative explaination (thank you internet for giving me better critical thinking!) to widely held beliefs, myths and advertisments.
Due to this reputation one of my neighbours has asked for my help.
Her twelve year old daughter is utterly convinced the world will end in decemeber (as the Mayans predicted) to the point of avoiding doing anything because "there's no point"
Basicly she's all but completely shut down and is terrified of this.
Her mother has tried everything to make her drop this notion but nothing has worked.
Now I haven't even met her so I can only go on what the mother has told me but I have a few worries;

• An attiude of "There's no hope" is a common symptom of depressive illness
• The child is just kicking up a fuss over the end of the world because it means she can get away with not doing things she doesn't want to do
• It's a symptom of emotional stress (her parents are sperated and from what her mother has told me her step mother doesn't get on with her)
• I, like everyone else, have the power to change what people know but not what they believe. If her mother can't convince her the world isn't going to end a stranger like me likely isn't going to have much luck

I don't want to suggest to the mother that it's a depressive illness unless I'm at least a little more sure and for the record I'm far from quailified from diagnosing this kind of thing.
And yes normaly I would recomend they take her for conseling but they have and apperantly that hasn't helped.
.

Point out to her that they found a shitload more Mayan calendar.

Ask her whether or not the end of HER calender implies the end of theworld. Say is same deal. Plus, ask here where the water comes from. There simply is not enough water to cover all of earth, even with the Icecaps factored in.

That one's easy...comet impact.

I had a number of suggestions, but they all essentially constituted trolling an emotionally fragile 12-year old girl. Which is beyond even my pale.

[pisskop]

Ask her what the point of fearing the end is.  If the end comes who is going to be left to care?  If it doesn't than wouldn't you have rather spent your time on something worthwhile and progressive towards your goals?

[kaijyuu]

I'm gonna have to agree with your original assessment that there's more going on here than just her being stupid and believing crazy end of the world theories. She should probably talk to a therapist, not you.

[Frumple]

Ugh. I've been pseudo-taking care of newly hatched chickens (as a proxy for their owner, more or less) for the last day or two, and after getting a little advice from someone and doing a little net checking, it seems like said owner has basically no goddamn idea what they're doing. Area wasn't prepared, the current container is poorly considered, using poorly chosen food, poorly chosen water, they're not warm enough and there's not really any goddamn thing I can do about it, because I've got no cash (and, in strict honesty, this wasn't my damned idea and I really don't want to have to clean up after the proverbial mess. I'd just as soon feed the bloody things to the cats and make it quicker) or means to jury-rig something sufficient.

Thought process going into this was apparently:

• Get incubator.
• Get eggs.
• Hatch eggs.
• Put chicks in plastic box with grits and tap water.
• Heat box by putting a blanket over the top.*
• 
• Profit They all fucking die.

So the net results is about 36 hours after hatching, we've got two dead and one dying slowly, with the rest of them insufficiently heated -- I stuck a desk lamp in there until I can berate the owner to get the actual freaking heat lamp they need to not functionally freeze to death, but there's problems with that and gods fuck is this a mixture of depressing, stressful, and enraging. I don't usually mind lack of forethought or consideration when there's nothing living involved or the effects are limited to the individual in question, but when it's astronomically skyrocketing the chance of living things dying, it starts tweaking all sorts of latent rage and frustration buttons.

Let it be a lesson. If you're going to try to breed something, or raise kittens, or kids, or fucking whatever, do some goddamn research first.

Anyway. Owner's maybe an hour away, on the way back. I'm done. Washing my hands of it. I'll print out some basic instructions, I think, and then if the owner wants a dozen dead baby chickens, well, owner's bloody prerogative.

*Not going to fucking work because it's a plastic box on a hardwood floor and until I came in, noticed shit was going wrong, and mostly wrapped the box in some other stuff, was leaking heat all over the bloody place.

[ChairmanPoo]

I lost my level 22 alchie in Torchlight

[Euld]

I'm gonna have to agree with your original assessment that there's more going on here than just her being stupid and believing crazy end of the world theories. She should probably talk to a therapist, not you.

twelve year old daughter
An attiude of "There's no hope" is a common symptom of depressive illness
It's a symptom of emotional stress (her parents are sperated and from what her mother has told me her step mother doesn't get on with her)

twelve year old daughter

Possible onset of puberty + emotional distress/childhood depression = yeah sounds like a problem.
That girl definitely needs to see a therapist... fast.

[Jerick]

I'm gonna have to agree with your original assessment that there's more going on here than just her being stupid and believing crazy end of the world theories. She should probably talk to a therapist, not you.

twelve year old daughter
An attiude of "There's no hope" is a common symptom of depressive illness
It's a symptom of emotional stress (her parents are sperated and from what her mother has told me her step mother doesn't get on with her)

twelve year old daughter

Possible onset of puberty + emotional distress/childhood depression = yeah sounds like a problem.
That girl definitely needs to see a therapist... fast.

Well I'm holding off judgement just yet as all the information I have is second hand and people tend to exagerate a bit in the retelling.
But generaly the go to advice for this kind of situation is always seek professional help they tend to know way more than people like me.
However I have been hesitant to sugest going to a profesional as I was a little worried the mother might take it the wrong way. (I'm a rather insecure indiviual who's very cautious about what he says and very fearful of offending others, but strangely I'm not cautious of what I type)
Yet the more I think about this the more it makes sense to openly suggest exactly that.
So yes that will certainly be what we talk about next time we meet.

[Hanslanda]

• I, like everyone else, have the power to change what people know but not what they believe. If her mother can't convince her the world isn't going to end a stranger like me likely isn't going to have much luck

You'd be surprised. A lot of people trust their family less than strangers

This. I trust and love my family, but I'll say shit to strangers I would NEVER say to family.[/list]

[Nadaka]

• I, like everyone else, have the power to change what people know but not what they believe. If her mother can't convince her the world isn't going to end a stranger like me likely isn't going to have much luck

You'd be surprised. A lot of people trust their family less than strangers

This. I trust and love my family, but I'll say shit to strangers I would NEVER say to family.[/list]

me to. my parents dont know that any of my gf were bi , much less that all of them were

hell,  they only ever knew about one gf.

[Trapezohedron]

You secretive bastard.

As for the sads, I have crippling social anxiety when it comes to girls and this is impeding my progress with wooing my crush. Life sucks. D:

And by impeding, I mean making no progress at all.