Punding

{{Short description|Compulsive performance of repetitive, mechanical tasks}}

File:Punding.jpg (DDS), is the repetition of complex motor behaviours such as collecting or arranging objects.]]

Punding is compulsive performance of repetitive, mechanical tasks, such as assembling and disassembling, collecting, or sorting objects. It can also apply to digital objects, such as computer files and data. The term was originally coined to describe complex, prolonged, purposeless (unproductive), and stereotyped behaviour in phenmetrazine and chronic amphetamine users, by Swedish forensic psychiatrist G. Rylander, in 1968.{{cite conference |title=Clinical and Medico-criminological aspects of addiction to Central Stimulating Drugs |conference=Abuse of Central Stimulants: Symposium Arranged by the Swedish Committee on International Health Relations, Stockholm, November 25–27, 1968 |publisher=Swedish Committee on International Health Relations/Almqvist & Wiksell |publication-place=Stockholm, Sweden |editor1-first=Folke |editor1-last=Sjöqvist |editor2-first=Malcolm |editor2-last=Tottie |oclc=490394292 |date=26 November 1968 |page=257 |volume=III }} It was later described in Parkinson's disease,{{cite journal |journal=Movement Disorders |title=Punding and dyskinesias |first1=Laura |last1=Silveira-Moriyama |first2=Andrew H. |last2=Evans |first3=Regina |last3=Katzenschlager |first4=Andrew J. |last4=Lees |volume=21 |issue=12 |date=1 December 2006 |pages=2214–2217 |doi=10.1002/mds.21118 |url=https://movementdisorders.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/mds.21118 |pmid=17013916 |s2cid=38887798 }}{{cite journal |title=Punding in Parkinson's disease: Its relation to the dopamine dysregulation syndrome |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=397–405 |date=1 April 2004 |access-date=8 October 2021 |doi=10.1002/mds.20045 |url=https://movementdisorders.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mds.20045 |first1=Andrew H. |last1=Evans |first2=Regina |last2=Katzenschlager |first3=Dominic |last3=Paviour |first4=John D. |last4=O'Sullivan |first5=Silke |last5=Appel |first6=Andrew D. |last6=Lawrence |first7=Andrew J. |last7=Lees |journal=Movement Disorders |pmid=15077237 |s2cid=23886073 }} but mainly in cases of patients being treated with dopaminergic drugs.{{cite journal |journal=Molecular Psychiatry |title=Insights into pathophysiology of punding reveal possible treatment strategies |pages=560–573 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/mp200995.pdf |publisher=Nature Publishing Group |issn=1359-4184 |volume=15 |issue=6 |date=21 May 2010 |access-date=8 October 2021 |doi=10.1038/mp.2009.95 |first1=A. |last1=Fasano |first2=I. |last2=Petrovic |pmid=20489735 |s2cid=19014068 }} It has also been described in methamphetamine and cocaine users, as well as in some patients with gambling addictions, and hypersexuality.{{cite journal |title=Drug-Induced Compulsive Behaviors: Exceptions to the Rule |first1=Noni A. |last1=Graham |first2=Christopher J. |last2=Hammond |first3=Mark S. |last3=Gold |journal=Mayo Clinic Proceedings |pmc=2735437 |pmid=19720785 |pages=846–847 |date=1 September 2009 |access-date=8 October 2021 |volume=84 |issue=9 |doi=10.4065/84.9.846 |url=https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/action/showPdf?pii=S0025-6196%2811%2960497-7 |oclc=00822709 |issn=0025-6196 |lccn=sc78001722 }}

For example, punding may consist of activities such as collecting pebbles and lining them up as perfectly as possible; disassembling and reassembling wristwatches; or conducting extended monologues devoid of context.{{cite journal |title=Punding as a Transient Symptom in a Patient With an Early-Onset Form of Dementia |doi=10.1176/appi.neuropsych.11120356 |journal=Neuropsychiatry |first1=Matheus |last1=Oliveira |first2=João R. |last2=Oliveira |first3=José E. |last3=Gomes da Cunha |volume=25 |issue=3 |date=1 July 2013|pages=E08–E10 |pmid=24026724 }}

People engaging in punding find immersion in such activities comforting, even when it serves no purpose, and generally find it very frustrating to be diverted from them. They are not generally aware that there is a compulsive element, but will continue even when they have good reason to stop. Rylander describes a burglar who started punding and could not stop, even though he was suffering from an increasing apprehension of being caught.{{cite book |lccn=74027257 |isbn=9780674831926 |title=The speed culture: Amphetamine use and abuse in America |first1=Lester |last1=Grinspoon |first2=Peter |last2=Hedblom |publication-place=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1976 |orig-year=1975 |edition=2nd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LyStWcRD6QIC |via=Google Books |series=Harvard Paperbacks Series |volume=10 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LyStWcRD6QIC&pg=PT104 |chapter=4. Further psychological effects |page=104 |access-date=8 October 2021 |oclc=164685037 }} Interrupting can lead to various responses, including anger or rage, sometimes to the point of violence.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6vfMjBwzpIgC |via=Google Books |first=Elaine A. |last=Moore |collaboration=Foreword by K. Scott Pacer |publication-place=Jefferson, North Carolina, United States of America |oclc=690209542 |isbn=9780786480128 |date=10 January 2014 |access-date=8 October 2021 |title=The Amphetamine Debate: The Use of Adderall, Ritalin and Related Drugs for Behavior Modification, Neuroenhancement and Anti-Aging Purposes |orig-year=2010 |series=McFarland Health Topics |edition=2nd |publisher=McFarland & Company |volume=10 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6vfMjBwzpIgC&pg=PT186 |chapter=Eight: Short and Long Term Adverse Effects of Psychostimulants }}