This reminds me of the British Psychiatrist R.D. Laing who had a kind of "open house" for people with mental health issues in the late 60s / early 70s, where they could go and live untreatead except as they wished. (There were obvious limits to this, such as violent people not being admitted). One person came to stay and wouldn't talk to anyone, spending the vast majority of his time in his room, and becoming very irritated if anyone spoke to him. He became more and more withdrawn and stopped eating, and the psychiatric team were very concerned about his wellbeing as his weight dropped. One morning he came down from his room, smiling, and asked for a large breakfast. It turned out that he had been trying to count up to one million and back to zero and every time someone spoke to him he'd lose count. Once he'd managed to do it the spell was broken and he was essentially "cured". There are obvious ethical concerns about his treatment, and I often wonder whether he just lapsed back into some other compulsion, but it does make me wonder a great deal about the lack of individual attention and creative thinking about treatments for for patients with mental health issues that the hairdryer incident points to.

Found the story: https://www.madinamerica.com/2013/11/living-one-r-d-laings-p...