Does the Illness "Protect" Us?

One of the best seminars I ever attended years ago featured a panel member who said – and I will NEVER forget – “The seriously psychotic patient may believe to the core of his being that he needs the delusional and paranoid symptoms of the illness he hates so much to protect him from all the terrifying threat his own mind projects onto those around him.”

2 Likes

Cutting to the core mate.

While I don’t know…

Perhaps the extra mental functioning arises out of some irrational need.

We are still not to blame I don’t think.

Children of the cosmos. Born to imperfect forms and forms. We weren’t given instructions.

(People still believe god(s) and spirits exist)

We are far from refining operable models of the human psyche. For now it’s an individual pursuit.

I Dropped Out Of High School ,

So There Ya Go … ,

(by) (tha) (way) ,

You Protect Yourself ,

and For Some Of Us ,

IT"S EVERY SECOND ,

OF EVERY DAY …

Dude you are incredibly intelligent. Kudos mate.

I’m afraid to lose my delusions because I feel they protect me from danger, though others view me as neurotic. If that’s what you mean.

Lady jasmine protects me with her wolves

there is nothing terrifying out there.
i see hell below my feet, bugs, spiders crawling out of the walls or me…
aliens…operating on me…etc…
and i know it is real…
i am not afraid…
fear is created…by humans…by society…
fear is just a word…humans make it into a concept of thought.
take care :alien:

No I don’t think so , the illness essentially reduces a person to a mess , leaving them vulnerable and ultimately abused.

1 Like

I could see mental illness and sz as Freudian defense mechanisms gone berserk.

2 Likes

Bingo. =Dead= on target.

In the “technical” or “common knowledge” use of that term? (It has a specific meaning to mental health professionals that is only remotely related to the typical lay person’s use, which is somewhat perjorative.)