I have noticed many similarities between human psychology and computer psychology. Programming computers is like having to teach an alien, or child, how to do human things, which first means having to figure out how a problem can most efficiently be solved by our human brain, then break that process down into steps a computer can be taught.

As the computer grows, no matter how precise the programming of those tasks that we, ourselves, have taught them, they are always learning new things through programs we install, programs other users of the computer install, and programs that get installed with or without our knowledge over the internet, such as software patches and updates or internet cookies. They also get sick (catching viruses and worms), and all these bits interact with each other and some of the bits don’t perform very well in the first place (have bugs), and these malfunctions, interactions and conflicts can create computer psychological disorders. Some of the bits are contradictory and cause the computer to become confused; some are distractions from what the computer is supposed to be doing and slow it down; while some make it entirely dysfunctional and it must be rebooted, which is only a temporary fix.

The problem may, ideally, be solved by examining the computer personality, perhaps attempting to deduce when the problem recurs in order to find clues to the source of the disorder; some of the personality bits may not be easily seen or ascertained; perhaps the computer is in denial (a hidden virus or worm) or being influenced by subconscious forces (programs running in the background that aren't clearly visible), and often painstaking detective work is required because what the computer tells us of its own problem (the error codes) are usually not what they really mean or are meaningless babble to begin with.

There are times when shock therapy is required, and it is often suggested first by amateur computer therapists (technical support humans) who are not experienced enough, or not energetic enough, to spend the time looking for the hard to find clues. There are many levels of shock therapy, from the simple de-installation and reinstallation of a particular program to the massive hard disk erasure and re-installation of the operating system and all software memories (the frontal lobotomy). If the problem still exists after this procedure it may be in the hardware and may require surgery or other invasive techniques.