Lots of us have had the urge to jump to our doom

YES!!! That is exactly what I feel. Like a magnetic pull. Not an urge

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Do you get the impulse to unsnap the holster on a cop’s gun when you see one? I hesitate to call it an urge, it’s not that strong. It’s more running a scenario through in my head.

I was just talking about this with friends a couple days ago in the context of short-term effects of video games. When I play something like Grand Theft Auto or Saints Row, I have similar impulses to drive like I do in games. It’s not a long-term effect or tough to drive normally. I also run through the scenario in my head of what would happen if I tried to fly off a height. That ends in a splat.

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I am very uncomfortable with heights, and have a couple times been paralyzed with fear in certain situations that in retrospect should not have been so fear inducing.

Huh, interesting. The only time I’ve actually been truly paralyzed was during a silly PE exercise where we had to stand on a gym horse and throw balls. It wasn’t terrifying but I became increasingly aware of an uncomfortable sensation then, suddenly, I couldn’t move; my brain kept asking my limbs to move but the body was completely locked. It was so uncalled for that even the teacher sort of thought I was joking. I managed to snap out of it and get down after a couple of minutes but I never forgot it.

I’d heard it referred to as “L’appel du vide”, the “Call of the void”.
It seems to capture the essence of it rather well, like the similarly French, “L’esprit de l’escalier”

Once I decided to climb down a not so stable rope ladder on the side of a waterfall in the Grand Canyon. I don’t know how high it was, maybe 20 feet? But halfway down I suddenly felt like this was the worse place in the whole world to be, and I couldn’t go up or down until my husband came down the ladder and essentially moved my limbs for me a little so I could climb back up.

I have always had a strong urge to fling myself from high places… Cliffs, towers, bridges etc.

When I was 18 I received donations from my family and friends on my birthday. I had lined up a hang-glider to buy second hand and was all set to learn how to actually fling myself from great heights…

My dearly departed dad took me to one side and begged me to buy a motor-bike!

:smile:

Which I did… Still avoid high places now, and I’m almost 50 now…

:smile:

I always get this… any dangerous situation, my brain goes Hey! You could jump off that!! or You could put your hand in that machine! or Wow I bet if you put your hand in that fire it would really hurt!

I always just assumed it’s that part of the brain devoted to extrapolating from past experience just trying out scenarios and going NOPE

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If you haven’t seen “Quadrophenia”, I’d avoid it.

Well…maybe not. I have Calenture as:
— n     a mild fever of tropical climates, similar in its symptoms to sunstroke
and
noun Pathology . a violent fever with delirium, affecting persons in the tropics.
Perhaps sailors in the tropics who have succumbed to calenture feel they can cool off by taking a little dip?

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