Delusions of reference

Hey, guys, what do you think makes this type of delusions the most powerful of all? Do you agree with me they are the strongest and most difficult to let go of? If not, which is the strongest delusion in your opinion?

Lots of love :heart:

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I had delusions of reference. But they only happened when I was really ill. I don’t have them anymore.

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Persecutory delusions were a nightmare for me.
I think they are the worse.

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Delusions of grandeur in my case. Only occurred during my first episode though. Paranoia and mean voices during subsequent episodes.

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I had religious delusions of reference for many years. They were very strongly held beliefs. I still believe in them but I am not experiencing the phenomena anymore. They were more than just delusional beliefs, there were illusions and I guess even hallucinations associated with them too. That’s what made them seem so real.

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@SkinnyMe Yeah, hallucinations usually compliment them. I had one where I thought I committed suicide so God and the devil were fighting for my attention and I wanted to choose God so I started praying and even saw a bright light.

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What symptom of the illness is most prevalent and triggering will be personal to you. Schizophrenia as an illness is likely multiple illnesses classed together. With time you will see sub-diagnoses and these different illnesses being delineated from each other. It is likely that you can therefore take comfort that your experience is unique and your own.

Imagine a human being as a biological machine that is programmed to make sense of the world. By making a logical connection of two things cause and effect you produce knowledge that helps you to navigate the environment. It’s impossible to see an objective reality outside the self and you view the world through your own internal projection. Therefore what you see outwards and your consciousness and thought places you at the centre of your own world, at least so to speak.

I understand delusions of self-reference in this way. Your brain as the pattern-making machine tries to make connections between two things, however, the filter on the pattern/sense-making dial is calibrated far too sensitive. As the ‘sensitivity’ is high you make lots of connections. But also make a lot of errors and mistakes, connections between things that may have no real cause and effect. In making sense of patterns in the world it is easy to reference back to the self as that is part of the core being of existence, the self being baked into the thought process. Our brains were programmed in this way and delusions of reference are an easy mistake for a brain to make, that is why it is a common experience :sweat_smile:

@Kirila I don’t meditate often but specifically with delusions of reference I don’t doubt that it would help and would recommend it to anyone :pray:

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