I saw a moderator indicate recently that belief in telepathy is psychosis. According to this Gallup poll, 31 Percent of Americans Believe in telepathy.
Does that mean 31 pecent of Americans are psychotic?
- Yes
- No
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Everyone has some unusual beliefs. It is only diagnosable as psychosis when those beliefs interfere with their ability to live a functional life.
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31 Percent hardly qualifies as “unusual.” Unorthodox or unscientific, perhaps. But, not unusual.
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Fair enough. Everyone believes in some unprovable but highly unlikely things. How is that?
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Probably they are stupid
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Woah… was this like a civil interaction… over an issue that could have just been salty?
Ahh almost…lol
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People also think the world is flat.
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Also could be the difference between believing telepathy exists, and believing it happens to you.
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O… what if the 31% have arrived at this belief because of stories about or from individuals suffering from some mi…
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I have a friend who believes dinosaurs never existed and fossils were faked. She’s got a master’s degree, a job, and a husband. She’s never had mental health struggles. She just happens to have this one really bizarre belief.
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Meh. I just think it is important to realize that many functioning people have beliefs that many psychiatrists would consider delusional. The important part may be learning to function while “delusional.” Maybe I should have posted this under health and recovery.
Very little in life can be without a doubt proven. Science has a lot of theory that most people take for fact. Doubt those people would be considered delusional.
There’s a big difference between delusional thought and strange beliefs. I’m sure there’d be a standard scale the shrinks would use or something similar. People believe a lot of weirdness but delusional thought is real to the person and not anyone else.
Ten people in the room who believe in the flat earth aren’t doing it delusionally although you’d have to suspect something! Old sz dude/dudette saying the earth is flat because the television is talking to me is a totally different cup of tea!
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If the science is about ancient writtings… how much more facts are required. Certain subjects more so than others are in the best guess catagory… but any could be altered with new evidence… thus science… its subject to change and is flexible enough for the job.
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You’re misunderstanding the scientific term theory. If something in science is called a theory, that means it has been proven to be true time and time again, but scientists are always open to the possibility of something coming along that breaks the laws of physics.
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Listen to @Ninjastar . The theory of gravity is one of these things. It certainly works and it stops you flying off into the ether. Jump as far as you can…you won’t jump over your house. That is a scientific theory and well pointed out ninjastar!
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There is a difference between a delusion and a bizarre delusion, yes. Personally, I think this flat Earth nonsense is bizarre in itself, and is more like an example of mass psychosis due to the prevalence of skunk cannabis.
You could say the opiod plague was the culprit just as quickly…
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I don’t remember answering the survey to be apart of that statistic. Did they use telepathy?
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“opiates are the only sedative drugs that possess an anti-psychotic effect.”