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The fact that he said anyone over-reacted is not going to help things. That's not to say I don't think there were overreactions all around: I do. But it's been

The fact that he said anyone over-reacted is not going to help things. That's not to say I don't think there were overreactions all around: I do. But it's been my experience that people really don't like to hear that they're overreacting, especially while they're in the middle of overreacting. They dislike it so much that entire schools of thought are now dedicated quite strongly to the proposition that there is no such thing as overreaction. The author of this article may well have singlehandedly touched off another round of overreaction from all parties involved. And the hell of it is, I agree with his point; I just don't think it was a useful point to bring up.

KVFinn 14y ago
>But it's been my experience that people really don't like to hear that they're overreacting, especially while they're in the middle of overreacting. They dislike it so much that entire schools of thought are now dedicated quite strongly to the proposition that there is no such thing as overreaction. >The author of this article may well have singlehandedly touched off another round of overreaction from all parties involved. Interesting. I can see that. What sort of schools of thought are you thinking about here that talk about this sort of thing?
MartinCron 14y ago
That's an interesting conundrum that I've grappled with myself. Telling myself counter-productive things like "outrage is a perfectly normal reaction to an outrageous situation". How should you tell someone that they're overreacting?
- YuriNiyazov 14y ago
  This particular subthread caused me to google "no such thing as overreaction". This is what I found: http://www.pediatricneurology.com/practica.htm http://www.pediatricneurology.com/practica.htm and the most fascinating paragraph from them there was: 'There Is No Such Thing as Over-Reacting A psychologist I recently met taught me the following: People do not over-react. They react, by definition, appropriately to the meaning a situation has for them. People have "over-meanings," not "over-reactions." When our child blows up over what seems like a trivial issue to us, it may help us to understand that to our child’s mind, this issue must have a tremendous amount of meaning. We could benefit from saying, "Wow, if that’s how it feels to him, we better calmly discuss this," rather than "Wow, he’s overreacting." For example, imagine an ADD child’s tearful screaming over the process of getting dressed. He’s not over-reacting. He is living a tough morning. Maybe that would change our reaction to his behavior. Children’s "over-reactions" are a window into their minds.'

KVFinn 14y ago

>But it's been my experience that people really don't like to hear that they're overreacting, especially while they're in the middle of overreacting. They dislike it so much that entire schools of thought are now dedicated quite strongly to the proposition that there is no such thing as overreaction. >The author of this article may well have singlehandedly touched off another round of overreaction from all parties involved. Interesting. I can see that. What sort of schools of thought are you thinking about here that talk about this sort of thing?

MartinCron 14y ago

That's an interesting conundrum that I've grappled with myself. Telling myself counter-productive things like "outrage is a perfectly normal reaction to an outrageous situation". How should you tell someone that they're overreacting?

YuriNiyazov 14y ago
This particular subthread caused me to google "no such thing as overreaction". This is what I found: http://www.pediatricneurology.com/practica.htm http://www.pediatricneurology.com/practica.htm and the most fascinating paragraph from them there was: 'There Is No Such Thing as Over-Reacting A psychologist I recently met taught me the following: People do not over-react. They react, by definition, appropriately to the meaning a situation has for them. People have "over-meanings," not "over-reactions." When our child blows up over what seems like a trivial issue to us, it may help us to understand that to our child’s mind, this issue must have a tremendous amount of meaning. We could benefit from saying, "Wow, if that’s how it feels to him, we better calmly discuss this," rather than "Wow, he’s overreacting." For example, imagine an ADD child’s tearful screaming over the process of getting dressed. He’s not over-reacting. He is living a tough morning. Maybe that would change our reaction to his behavior. Children’s "over-reactions" are a window into their minds.'