Flip reply.... Um... Have you seen the 10,001 armchair psychology "diagnosing" that happens round here? One paragraph about a stranger, written by a stranger, and all of a sudden diagnoses start flying like snowballs. Narcissist! Psychopath! Run for the hills!!! ;)
More seriously...
When I'm doing badly the impulse to categorize things... Is pervasive. Threat, non-threat, at its most basic. Really, though, it's everything. From dishes to clothes to people. In order to relax? I need shit organized. Lol. Being ADHD this is a little (read completely) contrary to my nature.
People "need" to be categorized more than just about anything.
Sometimes it gets so bad that I see people on the street as caricatures of themselves. It's surreal, and annoying, and I try to avoid going out in public when I'm doing it. When I'm not doing so badly, but also not doing well, profile-mode is still running constantly, it's just not so visually annoying. I generally try to avoid looking at people, and just stay behind my own eyes. It's just exhausting, otherwise. Like searching for someone in a crowd. Nowhere near as awesome, but very much like BBCs Sherlock as he scans everyone, and gets all these details that tells him things about them. It's useful in country, because a "little" thing spells a hidden weapon, or a drug habit that is gonna make someone stupid if confronted a certain way, or they're trying to distract you while their friends get in position to blow you up, or, or, or. Oy. Even thinking about it makes my eyes tired.
You'd think it would end at the front door, but it doesn't. I'm still looking for patterns, nuances, anything different.
<grin> This can be put to good use when I'm in a good place. In large part, because it's no longer overwhelming. I still have decent situational awareness, better really, than when I'm all hypervig... Because I'm not so tunnel vision & exhausted. But when I'm in a difficult place? I want everyone and everything in a neatly labeled box. Or I want to pitch a fit. In both cases, I work on the oh-so toddler lesson of "Ya don't always get what you want."