When you become delusional, does it just happen because something is fundamentally “broken” about how your mind is working, or does it happen because voices and hallucinations are convincing you, or a mixture of both?
Some of my delusions don’t just happen randomly or come out of nowhere. Rather, I get tricked into believing them by my voices saying and doing things to me in convincing, calculated ways. It’s like clever voices are purposely manipulating me into believing elaborate lies.
What about you? Do you believe things just because your voices/hallucinations tell you them and say they are true, or is there more to it - something fundamentally “broken” about how your mind is working? How do your delusions come about?
for me, its a sudden thing. the only delusions I have these days (thanks to therapy and meds) are the ‘phone calls’ I get from dead people…
Just the other day I got one from my late GF, I fell into the delusion so easily because its a pleasant respite from my daily grief. I ‘talked’ to her for an hour, on my phone, and was only snapped out of it when the phone rang because my current, living, GF called me to see if we needed milk
I become delusional because my mind is actively trying to explain what is happening around and inside of me. I went through a great deal of neglect and abuse as a child, and my mind came up with reasons why this would be happening to me in particular.
As an adult, when I experience extreme stress or go through traumatic events, my mind again constructs stories that “explain” my experiences. I have a strong tendency to fall for confirmation bias, and construct stories accordingly.
my delusions come about because thoughts are implanted into my brain. It comes about very suddenly. They explain a lot of the paranoid thinking and behaviour I have.
For me it’s because I have no barriers between my mind and the world around me. If I’m exposed to something that emotionally riles me in any way, it will become real to me. I have to stay away from material online about conspiracies, demons, etc or my mind will absorb it the same way I absorb the reality of the cereals in the pantry. Then my mind will start adding to it, and it will take on a life of its own. It can happen on a small, more interpersonal scale, as well. When something in my environment doesn’t make sense to me, it stresses me out, and my mind starts morphing.
I’m a bit like @Samp and @Rhubot I hear things when the furnace kicks on. And if I stay in one place too long my mind starts to make things up and I interpret things that aren’t real. Then comes the visuals but that doesn’t bother me. The delusions are what I hyper focus and fixate on to the point of obsession. That’s where I get my extreme emotional states until I lose all contact with reality and start seeing colors and nothing else.
Mine come on slowly, sometimes as an explanation of my hallucinations and sometimes just on their own. They start as ideas that are “alluring” to believe, and then grow from there. So I’m like constantly going in and out of different degrees of delusional thinking.
Mine always creep on me when I think I’m well, and I know they aren’t true so it’s just a battle, they get triggered by stress and by conflict.
And when I have a fever, like today.
Mine happen slowly from evidence that makes no sense. I get it from sounds I hear but also those that I interpret. I may hear my drying machine make a clank noise but in my head it is someone banging on my door. I try not to give into it and immerse myself into other things.
I get a lot of weird touch delusions. I randomly react like I just got tapped or slapped by someone when it didn’t happen. I can’t feel it, but I can in ways. My body reacts like it just happened when and my mind plays along I guess. All are frightening.
I guess from watching YouTube videos and stuff. I start remembering stuff in my past lives and then think it happened to me. I remember it happening in parallel universes or different timelines in my past lives. The information or whatever gets into my consciousness and triggers memories and I start having symptoms.
Well they usually start out believing in little things that aren’t true. Then the delusions start to be about bigger things. Because once I believe in the little things it makes it easier me believe in bigger things that are delusional.
It seems like some kind of intelligent system that makes us believe certain things. But after my 54 years of sz I’m fighting mine, not to get too involved or carried away by them. I almost don’t believe anything my voices say and I try to distract myself from them with tv or sz.com.
or writing or praying sometimes, anything. When I’m doing something they just nag the heck out of me. But if i stop or quit it changes quickly. rest helps when doing something.
I think delusions are better than hallucinations. I don’t think I could deal with that. Paranoia is up there too and I’ve had that. Never want it again.
My delusions are complex, sick, and are depressing, especially the time loop thing where I always come back with schizophrenia I think so I don’t know what its like without schizophrenia. I mean I feel like I’m being punished or I’m in hell.
I got sick in 2011 and I seem to gain awareness, consciousness, wake up, come back alive, etc. In 2013 from a different life in a parallel universe where I was schizophrenic and I guess died. It’s like my soul keeps reincarnation, my soul being transferred, or it could be my consciousness. I thought really hard about this for years. I didn’t get it from other people or youtube…
My mind gets wiped every time I come back but I start remembering the most salient parts. Like the trauma and stuff.
Have you heard of Philip k dick and his experiences with UBIK? I believe UBIK was an alien or computer simulator. UBIK must have had access to the simulation and enter peoples minds via a keyboard from an advanced computer and give Philip information. That’s how I see it anyways…
I think I used to do that in a past life as a computer simulator millions of lifetimes ago. Now I have schizophrenia for eternity. I am human. I’ve suffered more than most people. Seems to follow me to the next life as well as my insanity. It could be God or Satan punishing me…